Laser and inlay

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Chasper

Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
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1,990
Location
Indiana
I've been working on learning to use powdered stone to do inlays. There is a good video tutorial from Ed Davidson in the library. So far I've simply been turning a groove in the pen and filling it with powder/CA. I think I have that process down reasonably well.

I'm thinking about moving up a level, I have access to some first rate laser cutting equipment at work, and what I had in mind was to take a nearly finished turned tube off the mandrel and cut in a graphic on the laser. Then I would put it back on the mandrel, stone powder fill the cut out image, sand it down to a clean inlay and then finish the pen.

Has anyone done this? I haven't been able to find any pictures in the albums. I'm looking for tips about line width and depth to carve. I'd like to carve in a signature and fill it with powder. I'm thinking about type fonts with fine serifs in about 14 or 16 point. Maybe a company logo that can be represented in one color.

Has anyone tried repeating this process twice to powder fill a two color graphic? I'm using Universal 50 watt lasers (one X-50 and one X-360 with a pen rotating jig) and I have a new Universal XL-9200 120 watt that I haven't figured out yet.

Thanks in advance.

Chasper
 
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Chasper, I did a signature pen like that. It worked pretty well. With hindsight, going a little thicker with the engraved signature lines would have worked better. The bottom arcs were three passes offset about .003" from each other, and they seemed to work well.

signaturepen.jpg
 
Chasper,

I've had a number of pen barrels laser cut (I don't have a laser so I sent them out) and then filled them. The depth and width will depend how fine the fill material is. I prefer to use the finest stuff I can find for that reason. There are a few in my album (see below), but I'm sure there are other, better examples around.

-Barry
 
I use a technique very similar to what you are describing. To do multiple colors, I just mask off certain areas and inlay the fill material.

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Thank you Bruce, Barry and Stan. Very nice work from all three of you. I can see from the pictures that thin lines are not a problem for filling with fine powder. The problem is that a fine line fill does not show up very well against a busy and low contrast colored background. The pictures were really helpful, I appreciate seeing them.
Chasper
 
Where do you guys get these cut ? What is a good price for that ? I am trying to get a little logo cut out of a pen and was quoted 25 bucks for first barrel, 15 after that.
 
Originally posted by Petricore

Where do you guys get these cut ? What is a good price for that ? I am trying to get a little logo cut out of a pen and was quoted 25 bucks for first barrel, 15 after that.
Click to expand...

MRCOOK4570 or KEN at Kallenshan Woods will take good care of you and give you a fair price.
 
Originally posted by GoodTurns

Originally posted by Petricore

Where do you guys get these cut ? What is a good price for that ? I am trying to get a little logo cut out of a pen and was quoted 25 bucks for first barrel, 15 after that.
Click to expand...

MRCOOK4570 or KEN at Kallenshan Woods will take good care of you and give you a fair price.
Click to expand...

Ken is who quoted me that, so looks like I'm in good hands.
 
Fred BRoitblat`s pictures give a very good idea of the colour and edge quality you will get from a laser . Yes , I would seal the wood with 3-4 coats of thin CA before laser engraving . Seal again after engraving , especially if you want to paint in a colour . (No need to limit yourself to powder fills .)I prefer to totally infill the engraving , even when I want to retain the burned wood colour . The engraving is then completely protected . Takes more time , but better product . Charge accordingly . Wayne
 
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