Found a laser engraver in my town!

[patrick_1853]

I went to Fayetteville today to go pay for utilities. They were closed, but I was driving around the square and noticed a store called MainvAvenue Engraving. I went in just for the heck of it to see if they did laser engraving, and if they could do pen engraving.

It turned out that the husband of the lady who runs it also turns pens and the front display case had about 10 in it. I asked about engraving and it was 6.50 a pen for low quantity. I had the pen I have been using for a few weeks with me so I said I would go ahead and give it a try. She said they hadn't engraved an acrylic pen yet, but I figured I wouldnt be out much if it messed up, and I had read it would just engrave white. The best part was that the whole process took 15 minutes!! I told her to come here and post information in the business classified section, in case their is anyone in the southeast needing engraving work done.

edit: resized pic

 

[jwoodwright]

Very Nice, Up here it's $20.00 a pen...[:I]

 

[Guest]

Sure is a big pen

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Be that Fayetteville, as in NC?

 

[Randy_]

Patrick.......nice pen; but it is hard to view cause it is sooooo big. Could you resize the picture to about 600 pixels wide and delete the big one?? Thanks.

 

[KKingery]

Nice work!

 

[melogic]

Nice job Patrick. Congratulations on finding an engraver close to you.

 

[Tom McMillan]

Nice Patrick! The engraving looks good!

 

[btboone]

I haven't tried laser engraving an acrylic pen yet. It's encouraging to know it looks that good.

 

[patrick_1853]

yep, it just comes out a grayish color. I'm thinking about filling it with white paint, then refinishing and sealing the lettering with CA.

Patrick

 

[jrc]

If I get 10 pens engraved the same the first pen is $2.00 after that $1.00. My first full year I had 950 engraved

 

[patrick_1853]

Nope, thats Fayetteville, TN. The slightly smaller Fayetteville
(about 10k people). A dollar a pen would be nice, but I cant complain, I'm just happy to have found a local engraver. I'm sure her price would come down with quantity, but I doubt that much.

Patrick

 

[btboone]

Wow that's cheap Jim. There is some setup time in doing the first one, getting the fonts and laser focus and settings dialed in. The next ones are a matter of hitting the button.

Jim, does that laser have a water cooling system? I don't know if the smaller lasers need those or not.

 

[jrc]

He saves the settings and just changes the text. He has a few different setups for me and it only takes an few seconds to change names. His small engraver is 20 watts I think and does a very nice job and is not water cooled. If anyone is interested I can post his website.

 

[jrc]

I forgot to ask Patrick, is the old mill still running in Falls Mill on 64?

 

[patrick_1853]

I think it is. Its still a pretty popular stop for tourists. I haven't been there in quite a few years but, I saw an article about it not too long ago.

 

[Gary]

I'd like to have a laser engraver, but I think they go for about $20K...not in my hobby budget.

 

[btboone]

Gary, you can get small ones for around 8K. Still expensive, but darn handy to have.

 

[Gary]

Originally posted by btboone
<br />Gary, you can get small ones for around 8K. Still expensive, but darn handy to have.

I didn't know that...who is the leader in that area?

 

[btboone]

A few name brands are Epilog, Universal Laser Systems, Pinnacle, and a few others. I got a reconditioned 135 watt sealed CO2 with 4th axis and coolant system for $26K from www.usedlasers.com. I recommend them highly. For wood, a 20 watt laser does fine.

If you think about an 8K laser, a 5 year loan will have payments of something like $150/month. If you became the expert at pen engraving, you could get a lot of business doing those. The big thing is that it can turn a $20 pen into a $30 pen, or a $40 pen into an $80 pen very easily. Take a look at what Rich, Ken, Bev and others have done in that regard. No need to think in terms of squeeking by, why not create a higher end market? Some of Bev's laser scrimshaw lighthouse pens are truely high end. There's a lot less competition at the top.
As for other income, the lasers can make rubber stamps, award plaques in wood or plastic, carve wood inlays and lots of other stuff. I've always made the case that once you have the best tools, you find new and different ways of utilizing them, some of which you can't even think of now. When I bought my laser, I had no real idea if it would pull its financial weight or not. I also got the highest wattage I could find since I really didn't know what I'd end up doing with it. One of the things it does now is turns $95 rings into $180 rings, but it also allows me to think in terms of higher end pens or interlocking flooring tiles or high end furniture or who knows what else.