Fibonacci
Member
I don't have a rotary attachment on my mill or software to do a 3D profile for engraving, so I got thinking about how to do larger engravings. I was thinking about how I used to make etched mirrors and such for friends a few years ago by masking and sandblasting.
I decided to try etchgraving on my first cast. I put a strip of blue painters tape on the pen, taped a printout of what I wanted to etchgrave to it, cut it out with an exacto and gave it a light sandblasting.
It came out great. I have a bit of fubar on the edges because I used 3/4" tape and did wrap the rest of the tube, so you can see the lines left there, but it looks great overall.
This takes a $10 sandblaster from Home Depot, a $6 bag of sand from ace, and a few cents worth of tape.
I have found that I can do down to about a 3/32" line by this method, though that would probably be degraded by having to cut it on a curved surface. It is super time consuming, but a much cheaper alternative to customizing than getting an engraver.
After I finished it, my wife comes out and wants to know why I did that by hand, rather than using my vinyl cutter.
*facepalm*
I decided to try etchgraving on my first cast. I put a strip of blue painters tape on the pen, taped a printout of what I wanted to etchgrave to it, cut it out with an exacto and gave it a light sandblasting.
It came out great. I have a bit of fubar on the edges because I used 3/4" tape and did wrap the rest of the tube, so you can see the lines left there, but it looks great overall.
This takes a $10 sandblaster from Home Depot, a $6 bag of sand from ace, and a few cents worth of tape.
I have found that I can do down to about a 3/32" line by this method, though that would probably be degraded by having to cut it on a curved surface. It is super time consuming, but a much cheaper alternative to customizing than getting an engraver.
After I finished it, my wife comes out and wants to know why I did that by hand, rather than using my vinyl cutter.
*facepalm*
