BIT: Gun Engraving

[JustinR]

So having picked up a copy of Treasures of the NRA National Firearm Museum, and viewing the opulence of the finest engraving in firearm manufacturing, an idea I've been contemplating came back to the forefront.

With the advent of technology such as Glowforge, and existing graphic design tools such as Photoshop (which I've had a fair amount of experience with) it would potentially be possible to start a custom engraving shop offering a variety of services, from simple name engraving to laser-cut stippling to all-out photo realistic scenes.

I realize there are several shops that already offer this service.

If you could get any kind of engraving done, what would it be?

[Darrell]

Engraving lasers aren't cheap. CO2 lasers generally won't touch bare metal, though they will cut through coatings. YAG or fiber lasers are needed for engraving bare metal.

[evan price]

I'm running eight Rofin Powerline e-Air 25w diode end-pumped fiber optic lasers in our shop for high performance marking/engraving. We will be upgrading to 40w next year for more throughput from less repeat. This is not cheap technology even though it is way cheaper than it was.
Also we are running twenty of our own 30w XE lasers for faster but less critical output. Your imaging software is as important as your emitter.

[JAG2955]

The guy who did my last NFA engraving had purchased a bowling ball engraving machine. It was kind of neat, you spelled out what you wanted to engrave in brass letters on a tray, then traced it, and the machine could reduce it down to 1/7 scale. I'm guessing you could trace anything that you print out, as long as you're careful.

[JustinR]

I knew this was the right crowd to ask.

The Pro model of the Glowforge has a 45w CO2 laser, at $4,800.

https://glowforge.com/tech-specs/

Darrell, you're saying that's not sufficient?

[Darrell]

I knew this was the right crowd to ask.

The Pro model of the Glowforge has a 45w CO2 laser, at $4,800.

https://glowforge.com/tech-specs/

Darrell, you're saying that's not sufficient?

45W would certainly work, though on the slow side. We have 75W and 100W CO2s at work, and several Nd-YAGs, also 100W IIRC. The higher the wattage the faster it will run a job, faster turnaround in other words.

As mentioned, CO2 lasers will not touch bare metal--the wavelength is too long. They will engrave coated metals. YAGs have 1/10th the wavelength, so they work against dense materials such as bare metal.

Also, as mentioned on the page, you'll need ventilation or an air filter. Lasers tend to make stinky smoke/fumes. Some materials, PVC and such, can produce poisonous fumes.

[HTRN]

I wonder if an electro etched would work well enough? It's certainly lyrics good enough to do maker names, and mark barrels for chamberings..

[Netpackrat]

I wonder if an electro etched would work well enough? It's certainly lyrics good enough to do maker names, and mark barrels for chamberings..

Dafuq did you mean to write before auto-corrupt got ahold of it?

[JAG2955]

I just saw a thread on ARFCOM where a guy used a cheap laser engraver to engrave icons, calibers, and QR codes on PMags. That might be a cool niche to start in.

Actually, I'd pay for a mag or two of engraved with a drop and windage chart. (I was working on dope cards this morning)

[evan price]

45W would certainly work, though on the slow side. We have 75W and 100W CO2s at work, and several Nd-YAGs, also 100W IIRC. The higher the wattage the faster it will run a job, faster turnaround in other words.

As mentioned, CO2 lasers will not touch bare metal--the wavelength is too long. They will engrave coated metals. YAGs have 1/10th the wavelength, so they work against dense materials such as bare metal.

Also, as mentioned on the page, you'll need ventilation or an air filter. Lasers tend to make stinky smoke/fumes. Some materials, PVC and such, can produce poisonous fumes.

Fume evacuation is one of our biggest responsibilities. We use standalone Purex vacuum evacuators with a chemical adsorbent media, hepa filtration and activated charcoal and the pvc fumes rust even stainless. You do not want to breathe this poison.
Our 25w Rofins are running about 200 units per hour engraving stainless steel, either Gold/rhodium plated, laminated with pvc or plain, or else a custom metalized polycarbonate. The equivalent would be to a data plate or business card sized amount of text and small graphics.