Glass jar jig

[ssflyer]

I have an order to engrave 2 sides of 150 small glass jars for a wedding. They will have the names with a heart on the front, and the wedding date on the back. The engraving area is only about 1" square on each side, and they are not flat - there is a small radius on the sides. Wondering how to set these up for engraving, I decided to probe one to half its depth, and carve a jig to hold them.
Here is the start - I'll probably complete for a 15 jar run at a time. Keep my fingers crossed! :eek: Here are some pictures of the test setup:

[zeykr]

Neat jig. Are you using a spring loaded diamond drag to engrave them or something else?

[knight_toolworks]

Neat jig. Are you using a spring loaded diamond drag to engrave them or something else?

that's what you really need. but even then I find the glass does not mark really strongly. myself I would sub it to someone with a laser.

[ssflyer]

Yep - spring loaded diamond drag. I made some samples, and it worked pretty well, considering that the lower case letters were only about 0.09" tall! I was also surprised that it only took about 45 seconds per side.

Ron

[sailfl]

Ron,

Nice thinking out of the box to get the job done.

[wberminio]

Ron

Very ingenious! Where did you get the drag bit?
It would be great to the results.

[dlcw]

Great idea Ron. Did you use the probe to trace the jar so you could carve the mold? Just curious.

[ssflyer]

Thanks guys,

I got the diamond drag bit here. (http://www.widgetworksunlimited.com/) I used the probe to generate a 3d model for the jig, so the jars fit perfectly.

Regards,
Ron

[feinddj]

If you had an indexer you could hold the jars with the expansion mode of the four jaw chuck. But I like that you can run multiples with you method.

[ssflyer]

Well, it seems to have worked out pretty well. With the diamond drag bit set to only 0.01" depth, which is not much pressure, it etched nicely. Here are photos of the front and back. They look better in person, as the flash really shows the edge chipping on the text - which is virtually invisible to the eye! :cool: Keep in mind that the carving area on the jars is only about 1.25" X 1" and the lower case letters are only about 0.09" tall.

Thanks,
Ron

[paul_z]

That turned out great!

Paul Z

[lrheimpel]

Nice job! I like the way it was all done.

[dhunt]

...myself, I would sub it to someone with a laser.That's what I thought..

[ssflyer]

I actually checked around a little locally for laser engraving them, but the cheapest I could find, with setup, was almost $9 per jar. When I did them, the time was about 88 seconds per jar (both sides) and I like the result. My customer is also happy, which helps :)

It went pretty fast, and I gave them to him for $4 + $150 setup.

Thanks for all the comments!

Ron

[SomeSailor]

You should find someone else locally Ron.

I charge $2/min for laser jobs here and a flat $65 shop rate for setup and cleanup.

If you're figuring 88 seconds each you're pushing parts at 40 an hour using singles. With a jig you could do 10 or so at a time and really get that done quicker.

I usually charge around $2.00-$2.50 a piece to engrave wine glasses and they are done one at a time in an indexer.

I'd bet you could share time on machines too. Lots that a Bot can do that a laser cannot (hence owning each is an awesome combo)

[ssflyer]

Thanks SomeSailor,

My jig actually held 15. I agree - the quoted price for laser engraving was very high, in my opinion. I'm going to keep looking, for future projects. I like your idea of time sharing! :)

[scottp55]

Thank You Ron!! :)

[Ajcoholic]

Nice, Ron. And interesting!

[Justin G]

Great looking Jars and method. I have had my diamond bit bought from shopbot since I got my machine and just went to HD and bought some mirror to practice on.

[mikeacg]

Ron,

Those laser prices sound high to me as well. I do wine glasses on my laser with a rotary attachment for $1.50-$2.00 each and make money at it. I bought my Epilog back in May of 2000 and it has paid for itself many times over. Laser beam is getting a little tired so may have to look at replacing it again (did it back in 2007 but I was running a lot more product then). A new beam was around $1500 the last time I did it so it's not too bad to have a like-new machine again.

Mike :)

[gundog]

Very nice Ron. The first thing I thought was broken jars but it looks like it worked well. That is faster than what I was thinking which would have been cutting decals and sand blasting. Your setup would be much faster than the decal and sand blasting.

Mike

[ssflyer]

Thanks guys,

I did those 3 or 4 years ago - and I'm sure I could find cheaper laser prices, today. :)