I'm kind of in a quandary. I need to engrave, chemically etch or laser cut three types of radio dials. These dials (see attached) are not made any more and when you find them everyone wants a premium price for them. The dials were originally made by National Radio, who is now defunct. I can cut the blanks and when finished I can drill the appropriate mounting holes and fill the lettering. I guess the question is; what's the least expensive method to go with? I need a run of 100 each. Any help would be appreciated.



TNX, Buzz

You could make your own custom stamp and press these markings.

Numberall (http://www.numberall.com/default.aspx) has an array of options for the number blocks which are not to badly priced. There are other steel stamp outfits that will do custom stamping blocks out of solid.

I have yet to see any software that would do this type of stamping die, but I'd imagine a decent cam package could handle it with a bit of finese.

DC

A correctly shaped engraving tool will have no problem making these dials.
Machining time may be acceptable, depending on the target price.
Mount them on a centre hub. Hold them down securely. You can make these on a CNC. If put into a CAM program, machining time can be estimated readily.