Which would be good software for engraving pens ?
I see lot of recommendations for Artcam and Vcarve, and both are very good but for 2D and 2.5D routing. I like V-bit engraving and the effect of engravings done like that, so is there a good software for this type of work ?

Turpija, I had a thought.

A long time ago I saw an article on a guy who made what he called a "plasma lathe". He was cutting cylindrical light fixtures with intricate patterns. His software solution was ingenious:

He ran his normal 2D program, which would produce the design as a flat sheet. He connected his Y-axis to rotate the cylinder. With appropriate scaling of steps, or just simply drawing the "flat 2D" to appropriate size, it worked extremely well.

This only helps if drawing on a cylinder, but your pen designs may have cylindrical sections where an intricate vcarve engraving would be nice.

Best,

BW

That makes perfect sense, but with radius change of pen i should recalculate optimal step movement.
I would like more to get a proper software but nevertheless, I like the idea ...

It's interesting how the very simple ideas are purely genius ;)

I have just finished a program that will engrave text on a cylinder using a rotary axis. I'm not sure if you have equipment to do that. Also since my software doesn't have fancy fonts, you may need to create your own font. Creating a font isn't too hard if you can create G-code programs. You can try my software for free here....

CNCWrite.com (http://cncwrite.com)

Chris W

your software seems like it's made for your own requirements, which is fine, but i'm looking for something more user friendly, and WYSIWYG ;)

btw is anywhere a demo of artcam jewelsmith to download, it seems it has very well supported 4th axis, and it should do simple engravings on cylinder with ease ... anyone used it ?

your software seems like it's made for your own requirements, which is fine, but i'm looking for something more user friendly, and WYSIWYG ;)

The software was designed to be used on any CNC machine from the most basic 2.5 axis to 6 axis. It can engrave on any of the standard normal planes, not just XY. It can also engrave around any of the standard rotary axis, A, B, or C. If you take a few minutes to read the instructions below each screen shot on the website, it is really quite easy to use. The only complex part about the software is the Integrex section. If you don't have a Mazak Integrex, which is a very complex mill/lathe, you can ignore that section.

It's true at this time I don't have a preview option. I currently use other tools that provide me a way to get a preview. For most things it isn't really needed. I can't imagine needing it for some simple text around cylinder. The only down side is if you need intricate or fancy fonts you would have to either create your own, or get another CNC program to create each letter for you and create a font file from all the letters. The font file my program uses is simply all the g codes to create each letter one unit tall with the lower left corner at 0,0. The program then translates those g-codes to engrave on the desired surface at the desired height, width, depth, and angle.

Here is an example of the kind of thing you can do with CNCWrite (http://cncwrite.com)

http://cncwrite.com/CNCWriteLogo.gif

As you can see this software doesn't do great job showing what the text will look like. On the actual part the text will have a consistent width. I hope to have some photos of actual parts up soon.

Chris W

Seems simpler now that you clarify it a little ;)

btw about fonts, wouldn't it be easier that to have ability to import dxf files and than wrap it around cylinder, in dxf file (this is just a example, cause most machines work with it, and it's kind of standard) you can create what ever you like, without creating g-code ... this is probably tougher to implement than this what you did with your software, but to me it seems like a logical solution.

And that is because I will be doing mostly engraving of logotypes and simple text, to keep pens clean and classy, which would be better to design in vectors, and then just apply it on shape of pen, cylinder part of it.

and off course, when you finish actual engraving post the images ... it will save you a few thousands words ;)

If you work with pure cylinders then it's really pretty easy. I made Stainless Steel Technical pencils turned on my lathe and custom engraved them. It's simple 2.5D cutting unless the body slopes and then you have to start working in 3D and the price goes up 10X. Even ArtCAM could have a problem with sloping surfaces. If it was a constant slope you could just offset the axis so the surface remained constant but the character size would change unless you compensated in your art work. Another way it to float the cutting head so it's spring loaded and will follow the slop of the object. If it's not too severe you would not have to adjust the letters too much. You can taper a line of text on CorelDraw and probably end up with less work than trying to design something in 3D.

You can engrave pens with a small vertical rotary table and tailstock and by making the rotary axis one of the XY pair. You just draw the artwork/text onto a flat surface that is the same size as the circumference. The trick is you have to set your machine calibration (steps per unit) up to be what the circumference is. I had a formula over my little engraving machine that let me just put in the cylinder diameter and it told me the number of steps per inch (based on the rotary table gear ratio). Takes 15 seconds in MACH to change an axis calibration. I needed to move the surface of the object the right distance. It worked very well and I could engrave a flourish design around the pencil and it would meet up perfectly. One thing I did learn is you really need a floating head and depth control nose piece to get decent cuts. Just depending on everything to be perfectly horizontal and round would end in disappointment.

Thx very much for detailed description of process. So, i could easily get away with 2d design and recalibrating axis in mach ...

As pens are rarely pure cylinder, engravings will be done on the most cylindrical part of them, and yes, i have to agree that floating head would be the best way to go.

I got one more question for you, did you ever try to engrave on pens with v-bit, actually vcarving, not just a plain lines ? I think it would be quite interesting effect, but is it practically doable ?

It's not practical (IMO) to V carve on a pencil or pen. The detail is so small you would need tiny bits and lots of machining time. If your intent is to try and make money on a product, you can't have a lot of time involved in either the artwork creation or the machining time. You find yourself in competition with a laser cutter that can do tiny precise cuts for a few bucks. I don't know this for a fact, but I doubt you can get a buyer to pay 2X for a v carved design over simple engraving or laser cutting.

Perhaps where you are the market will be different but persons willing to spend a lot of money on a writing instrument have extra income and want a Custom design or personalization that takes artwork time.....

TOM CAUDLE
www.CandCNC.com

If you work with pure cylinders then it's really pretty easy. I made Stainless Steel Technical pencils turned on my lathe and custom engraved them. It's simple 2.5D cutting unless the body slopes and then you have to start working in 3D and the price goes up 10X.

Version 2 of CNC Write will have the ability to machine on tapered cylinder or cone, it will also be able to engrave on flat surfaces that are at an angle, not just the standard normal surfaces. How long it takes for version 2 to come out depends on how well version 1 sells. The price has been set for two versions. The standard mill version is 199.99, the Integrex version is $299.99. The only difference between the two versions is the Integrex version has several options to work with special cylindrical interpolation modes of the Maxak Integrex machines.

Chris W

I've mention v carving because i think it looks way cooler than normal flat engraving, and off course it's more time consuming but for special product you need special engraving ;)
And i just though someone tried it just for fun, i know i will when i get my machine assembled ;)

Here is a video of a part I engraved on a mazak mill with the rotary axis. I used Inverse Time (G93) feedrate. The code was created with CNCWrite

http://integrexmachinist.com/PicWeek/Integrexman/InverseTime.avi
http://integrexmachinist.com/PicWeek/Integrexman/sample.avi

Is engraving suppose to be shallower on the end ?
I see that it's also angled, but it's probably on purpose.

It looks very good.

The part was not centered in the 3 jaw chuck very well so the depth of the engraving varied. Yes it was supposed to be angled.