engraving anodized alum

hello all, I am planning on engraving some aluminum panels, anodized dark blue. and or black. I will need letters ranging from .125 up to .250 tall, just deep enough to expose the shiny metal. I plan on using rotary bits, but would like to try diamond dragging as well (if the bits are reasonable -$)

any tips on depth/speeds, bit angles etc. basically I need to know where to start my experimenting. I have a laminate trimmer 30k rpm.. should I get one of the cheap router speed controls?

And with the diampnd drag, how do you set the drag pressure - spring loaded tool holders? or do you set the Z to go say .002 -.005 below the surface?

diy cnc router, mach3. want to get the vectric software.
newb here thanks for any tips or starting points!

~Steve

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Originally Posted by srmaietta

hello all, I am planning on engraving some aluminum panels, anodized dark blue. and or black. I will need letters ranging from .125 up to .250 tall, just deep enough to expose the shiny metal. I plan on using rotary bits, but would like to try diamond dragging as well (if the bits are reasonable -$)

any tips on depth/speeds, bit angles etc. basically I need to know where to start my experimenting. I have a laminate trimmer 30k rpm.. should I get one of the cheap router speed controls?

And with the diampnd drag, how do you set the drag pressure - spring loaded tool holders? or do you set the Z to go say .002 -.005 below the surface?

diy cnc router, mach3. want to get the vectric software.
newb here thanks for any tips or starting points!

~Steve

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Hi Steve, I used the diamond drag method utilizing a 1/8 shank diameter diamond dressing tool from our grinding dept. and mounted it into the spring loaded tool holder. Worked great!

Thanks 5S dude for the reply. What spring loaded holder are you using? Should I worry about my non lockable spindle messing up the engraving? Does the drag process put heavy side loads on the spindle bearings that I should worry about in the long run?

thanks
~Steve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by srmaietta

Thanks 5S dude for the reply. What spring loaded holder are you using? Should I worry about my non lockable spindle messing up the engraving? Does the drag process put heavy side loads on the spindle bearings that I should worry about in the long run?

thanks
~Steve

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Hi Steve,

I use the spring loaded engraving holder from “2L inc. P.O. Box 105 Hudson, MA 01749 (978)567-8867” http://www.2linc.com/engraving.htm
It works awesome and with the adjustable spring tension there is very little side load if any. I typically program a Z-.007 to .010 deep with a feed rate of F50. to F100. inches per minute and the engravings come out razor sharp. On my V2XT, I place the spindle in neutral and program a spindle speed of S750 because there is a safety interlock that won’t let the X & Y axis move with out a spindle speed.

thanks for the info man!!!!!

ill have to look for the spring loaded tool holder.

cant wait to get going!

~Steve