Hello everyone, i am new to cnc and i purchased a small 3 axis cnc mill. I only know what little i have learned from reading this forum, the mach2 manual, and google. My question is i would like to make some metal business cards for my home business, just because i think that would be something people would be more apt to hold on to, and its a fun project. I have been looking at the cards from companies such as: http://www.plasmadesign.co.uk/metalbusinesscards.htm
and: http://www.metalcards.com/
I was wondering if anyone could recommend what tooling i would need to pull off cards with cutouts of aircraft, as well as the necessary info engraved into the steel. Also, any recommendations on the type of steel i should use and how i would go about etching it to create a nice finish? Thank you anyone for your help in advance, if it wasn't for this forum i would truly be lost!

how about using a simple business card making software save it as a bitmap then use a bitmap to gcode converter

thanks for the reply dertsap. I am fairly confident i know how to make the cad drawings, i just wasnt sure what tooling, feedrate, depth of cut, etc. would be needed for such small work. I have no experience with such small endmills and ME Consultant wont work with such small tooling as well.

thanks for the reply dertsap. I am fairly confident i know how to make the cad drawings, i just wasnt sure what tooling, feedrate, depth of cut, etc. would be needed for such small work. I have no experience with such small endmills and ME Consultant wont work with such small tooling as well.

How small would you need to achieve the detail you want? If say two lines are spaced .025 apart a .050 endmill with no cutter comp would leave toolpaths that touched causing a bleedover type effect. The only one I have done I used a .050 2 flute carbide em and the graphics where simple enough that I could maintain sufficent spacing to prevent that with fore thought. Since it was naval brass I simply ran the Haas pretty much full out since it couldn't achieve the recommended rpm and adjusted the feed to compensate.

I'd suggest first deciding on the material. You know what the end result should look like so go for as easy to machine steel as possible that will give you those characteristics that you want. Then decied on the detail level you want and find a cutter that will be able to cut without toolpaths touching where they shouldn't. Next based on material check a few manufacture's websites or catalogs looking for the dia endmill you want and then it is a matter of applying the manufacture's recommended SFM and chip load to the cutter. Hope this gets you a little farther along. Until you have a drawing, material picked for stock and know your final depth for you toolpaths it is kind of a shot in the dark in recommending a cutter and how to run it

I would suggest that if you have access to simple tool grinding equipment then change the front of simple " d " bit engraving tools to what you wish to do.

By hand should be fine and with D bit less worry about backing off and cutting edges.

Speed needs to be max and very light cuts at a fast feed rate.

ie .01 at 6" feed ?

No substitute for trying it and adjusting as you go.

Have you thought about using brass plate ?

Easy to machine with minimal heat problems and a light varnish after a polish will ensure it looks good.

Dont be dismayed at the look of your engraving as it develops as burring will make at look awful but a light flat deburr and you will be pleasantly suprised.

Commercial engraved cards would normally be produced with lazer engraving which wont be half as much fun ;p

Good luck :)

Metal business cards are normally photochemically etched to get the very fine detail. I would imagine it being quite painfull process to mill/engrave, lets say, 50 of them. If you count your time, very often it is cheaper to just order from company that specializes in doing those kind of items. Just my $.001

I agree with Rustamd, your lookin at a lot of work, the amount of deburring(if ya have a vibratory tumbler you would be alright). Anyway its nice idea just a nice leap from point A to B.

My son makes custom belt buckles for a few extra buck income. He uses a center drill. You run one part to adjust depth and then you're set to go. He makes them out of stainless steel. Really look sharp after a buffing.

Karl

I've made my own metal ( aluminum) business cards
.100" thick. I used a miniature ball endmill (.03") from Harvey Tool.
Doing it on any thinner material is alot of bother unless you
are just doing a couple for the challenge!
Skip

All the cards i have seen were made with .020" stainless steel, and letters normally being .020" as well, with big letters being .040" wide

I sculpted my own busness card digitally and engraved the steel stamping dies via CNC to make it like a coin. The up-front cost of making the dies is the biggest part of it (but not really for me since I make my own coinage dies). But once the dies are made, you can stamp a lot of them for a reasonable cost. Here is what my business card looks like:

http://www.designscomputed.com/files/dc_pres_brass_ms_obv.jpg
http://www.designscomputed.com/files/dc_pres_brass_ms_rev.jpg

It is 27mm in diameter, brass, and has a faint resemblance to the new US Mint President dollar coins :)

here is a detail of a card sample i got:

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/deneychuk/IMG_1240.jpg?t=1179069335