Name Tags

[mmccue29]

Anybody cut name tags with their bot?
I have several jobs coming up, I dont know if I should sub them out to some one with a laser or give it a shot on the bot.

[harryball]

I guess it would depend on how many you had to cut, if it was a one time deal and how fancy the name badges needed to be.

Vcarve Pro 4.0 has "Plate Production" which can import a list of names from a database and very quickly create a sheet of name tags ready to cut. So the cad work would be a minimum with VCP4.

Holddown would be the real challenge. I think a simple vac holddown using a mask cut into a sheet of laminate or something similar might do the trick. Lay the name tag material on top of the mask and let it cut.

It'd be a lot of setup to go through for a one time deal but if you kept getting work you could probably make it worth while. Also, if the tags are dirt simple it might be difficult to charge enough to make it worth while. If you can make them out of wood and add some decoration it might be worth while.

If you do it, post pictures.

Robert

[jhicks]

Michael, all above being true, you might want to consider a material like the engravers use or if 1/4" works look at Color Core and their competitors.
I would vacuum hold down, use small bit for cut out and maybe name carving with area clear strategy. Could use v bit but we dont really like V bits in this material for several reasons.
If it met your needs/quality requirements a V bit could be a quick letter/name and also an angled edge profile before cut out to expose center/core color at border edges.
Use vacuum hold down for the entire sheet but its slippery so maybe block corners to make sure sheet doesn't slip and slide. Maybe even some rubber cement or silicone dots to grip or even the dots sold by allstar adhesive for grippers plus vac system.
Then carve or area clear all names depending on size and font, then cut out with tab feature so all you need to do is take a sharp chizel to cut the tab and free it from the sheet.
You can also use a small roundover to put on a radius edge and make a very nice presentation in several color combinations.
No finishing, just cut and invoice.
Several tips and tricks for color core elsewhere on forum but i would think about that or maybe engraving stock but I havent used engraving stock personally so not sure about how it cuts or tricks to make it work best.
These were cut with a roundover that has a 7/32" center end mill and cut out with a 3/16" O flute with 2 tabs in 1/4" green/white color core.
Not sure about your sizes but these are 2,1/2" square with 1,1/2" letters so size bits for max clearing and fewest passes for quickest run time.

Good luck with it.
7556

[chodges]

I own a sign shop (but not a ShopBot yet), and we make a lot of name badges. These are done using a CNC engraving machine with cutters that look a lot like pointed router bits. The material we use is made by Rowmark (sold by Johnson Plastics Co.), and it is 1/16" thick, two-ply ABS Acrylic. The top color is usually .004" thick, and the rest is a contrasting core color. We engrave through the face color and expose the core color to produce the lettering.
We use double-sided paper tape called SpecTape to hold each one down to the metal bed on our engraving machine.
Before engraving, we cut out the name badge blanks using a laser.
Not exactly ShopBot techniques, but I thought you might benefit from knowing how this is done at a typical sign shop.

[mmccue29]

Thanks guys. I think hold down would be the key. I may just sub this one out. I had someone local cut a sample for me with a laser, than I got thinking that I could make more if I could do it with the bot.
Charlie how does the engraver compare to the laser and why dont you do it all with the laser?

[sam_harbold]

Here is a photo of a plaque that I done for my RC Airplane club a couple of years ago.

7557

This was done on a PR machine using the 2 ply ABS Acrylic from Rowmark and a .020 conical bit from 2L inc. http://www.2linc.com/engraving_tools_conical.htm
I held the material done with double faced carpet tape.

Here is a rendering of a plaque that I made for a friend of mine last week. This was a rush job so I did not have time to take a photo of them when they were finished.

7558

These plaques were made using the same material and bit as the first plaque. The finished plaque was excellent.

Sam
http://rcplanephotos.com

[drodda]

I cut them and use a piece of corian attached to my table. I then use double sticky tape to hold the plastic name badge material to the corian. Works great and you can cut many at one time.

-D

[chodges]

Michael,
We sometimes do engrave with the laser, but it is a bit harder to control the depth with a laser than it is with a rotary engraving machine, which has a spring-loaded nosecone that adjusts the Z-axis as it engraves over material that might not be perfectly flat.