Spring loaded diamond drag tip in use.

[knight_toolworks]

I lucked out and got my customer to pay for this sucker. Myself I think it is overpriced for what it is. It has a nice smooth action but it does have a fair amount of side to side slop. Not sure if it really matters but it is there. For the price I think it should not have as much as it does. Hopefully there will be a new manufacturer on the market and give them some competition.
But having this spring loaded solves so many problems. If the material is not perfectly flat no problem. If you’re your doing multiples they don’t have to be all exactly at the same height.
You can spin it with an engraving bit but I have not tried that yet. I have only used it with a diamond drag bit and things sure look nice with it. I will get a good pic of the plates I have done with it tomorrow.
I played with some mirrored plastic today and it looks good. I will grab a few tiles from home depot and try them out.
here is a link to a video and pics I will have more tomorrow. it was hard to get a good picture of the mirror.
http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s266/knighttoolworks/engraving/
http://www.2linc.com/engraving_mini.htm

[knight_toolworks]

I posted some more pics. I engraved some granite and ceramic tiles today. sure looks nice. the pics don't look that great after I make them small enough to post here.

[Call-Tech]

Looks good Steve,

I have done quite a bit of engraving with my bot using collets and super small bits. Getting the Z correct was always the hardest part. So if you don't mind me picking your brain a little, I'd like to know more about this as I may be interested in one myself.

Which model did you buy?
I assume the full engraving software is not needed.
Any idea yet on how long the diamond drag bit is going to last?
Did you buy any stronger springs or depth control nosepiece?

-Fred

[knight_toolworks]

yes depth had driven me to this. I could only engrave one plate at a time.
I got the 1/2" model. the 3/4I bet has less slop but of course it won't fit.
no I just used vcarve. I think the tip should last years as long as you don't do high carbon steel. you want all of the springs. I found the one that cam with it was only really good for plastic and that was a light cut. I used the medium for regular aluminum and plastic. heavy for the granite and the extra heavy for ceramic tile. I don't have the nose piece yet I did not plan on spinning it right now.

[knight_toolworks]

here are some more pics I was playing around with vcarve filling in letters.

8853

8854

8855

[br928]

Steve,

Who's diamond bit are you using? Size?

All these examples are done without rotating?

[knight_toolworks]

I am using ones from 2l the same company that makes the holder. since it uses a 3/16" shaft it is a bit of a oddball. these were done with a 90 degree tip.
no spinning.

[Call-Tech]

Steve,

You talked me into it. I just received mine and even though it was priced much too high, the time I will save will make up for it very shortly.

The first project I tried was our state seal on a 12"x12" mirror. I do a lot of sandblasting, etching and engraving on glass and mirrors. This was a fairly complex design that would have been difficult with other methods, but this worked very well. Its difficult to photograph mirrors and the double image of the reflection makes it look out of focus. However despite the poor photos, the engraving is perfect with excellent detail. I'm very happy with tool.

1/2 inch tool, 90 degree diamond bit, heavy spring.


8856
8857

Fred

[carter_beck]

i wonder if u can make steel shop rulers with that thing on a shop bot?

[Call-Tech]

Steve,

Do you mind if I ask what you are using to generate the crosshatch vectors? I am using Flexisign and Artcam Pro and I do not see a easy way to create a crosshatch vector fill.

Carter,

I'm not sure if the engraving is deep enough to fill with something. I haven't tried yet. Without filling the engraving with a contrasting color, I think it would be a hard shop rule to read. But the tool would inscribe a metal ruler.

I'll let you know when I have tried filling engraving. It's on my list of things to try.

Fred

[knight_toolworks]

vcarve has a fast engrave toolpath button that has the fill choice. it can really add to the time ot do it though.
I did a yellow ceramic tile and stained the lines. so it works.

[Call-Tech]

I keep hearing good things about vcarve and photocarve. I just haven't wanted to spend the money for the few things that it does easy, that I can do with what I have, just takes a little longer. However the features are growing.

Good to hear about the staining.

[knight_toolworks]

yes I could not see buying vcarve for what you need. I wanted artcam but my budget did not (G)

[rick_woodward]

Steve
i clicked on your home page in your profile. It wouldn't come up. I am using firefox, so maybe thats why ? Not had much problems using firefox before though. rick

[geoff]

won't work for me either

[knight_toolworks]

oops had .com should have been .biz
need more of a page the guy that was doing it in trades vanished.

[boet]

Just received my spring loaded engraver from 2L. The instructions say to set the Z level without compressing the spring, if it is just set like that how would it compensate for height if the z level is a bit lower in place, I can understand if the z level is higher in places it would compress the spring but how does it do it if it is lower than the place where you set the z level should the spring not be a bit compressed from the start so it can compensate for higher and lower places?

[Call-Tech]

I just got a couple more diamond bits for mine. 2L thinks I applied too much pressure to diamond and broke it. They say that lightest spring should be used with diamond even on glass. I am not sure, I believe that my diamond bit was defective from the start, 2L does not. However they did agree to give me free one if I bought 1. I guess that is fair.

I am trying to get a little wider and more noticeable etch in glass and mirrors than the drag diamond will give. I have started to spin it at low speeds, but got very erratic etch, sometimes no etch at all on glass and then real wide etch a second later. turns out my diamond was broken. I haven't tried again since receiving new bits.

Boet, I was setting my Z about .250 inch below surface of my material. That gave me about the same movement up and down from my etch surface.

Fred

[knight_toolworks]

I cracked one of my tips but I was using the extra heavy spring on some tile and that just scratched it. for granite I needed the heavy spring and anodized aluminum I needed the medium spring.

[Call-Tech]

I'm thinking that maybe we need to slow down the z speed. I don't think the down pressure from any of those springs feels like much pressure to me, but maybe the speed in which it contacts the surface of material might be fracturing diamonds. Don't really know, just a thought.

Fred

[bcammack]

Diamonds _are_ hard, but that makes them extremely brittle. I wouldn't move very quickly at any point in the process unless it's only in contact with the air.