I am looking for a way to Etch part#'s onto 440A stainless steel. I have herd you can laser them on or chemically etch them on and so on. but im wondering what is the best method.

There is a kit available to electrically etch part numbers on tools and such, i think i saw it in one of the catalogues of the big supply houues like MSC

I am looking for a way to Etch part#'s onto 440A stainless steel. I have herd you can laser them on or chemically etch them on and so on. but im wondering what is the best method.

I am looking for a way to Etch part#'s onto 440A stainless steel. I have herd you can laser them on or chemically etch them on and so on. but im wondering what is the best method.

Like all such questions: it all depends upon what you're expecting to achieve.

You could try EDM [Electrical Discharge Machining]. Try Ben Fleming's "EDM How-To Book" ISBN 0-9767596-0-8 $19.95

Engraving with High speed spindle with carbide or diamond cutter with mist coolant.

With EDM you can CNC a special electrode in graphite and etch that into any conductive material.

Problems: Slow and expensive unless you take the DIY route, still slow though!

Other ideas Plasma cutting, Water Jet Only suitable for through cutting.

Hope this helps!

totally_screwed

Use a Dremel and a Rotary Burr as a hand etcher.

Use a Dremel and a Rotary Burr as a hand etcher.

Pardon me, but unless I fell asleep and missed what was going on, I thought that this forum was about CNC and not really about hand engraving.

Not that there's anything wrong with hand engraving. In-fact, I rather envy experts at hand engraving,
I could never cope with the torque - itt maadde mmyy wriittinngggg ggooo aalll wowobbllyyyy!!!!!!!

Falls asleep [again] Dopey Git [me]
Snoring Sounds ZZZzzZZZZZzzZZZzzZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZAZZZzzzzzZZZzzzZZZzzzzzz

To etch SS I've used a 30 watt laser and Cermark to do a pretty good job. It's fast and easy to develope files in corel draw to etch with Cermark. You can perform vector lines or raster fill depending on what you want to do.
Dennis