Looking for an Engraving Machine

[beeman_mccheyne]

Hi everyone!

I have bought a redsail 24"X36" laser engraver which seems to work alright, but am now looking to upgrade to a table top router/engraver. Maybe even a bigger table size. I mostly do cable tags and legend plates, and sometimes reversed engraved stuff. What machine would you recommend for this type of application? Do the router machines come with automatically selectable bits? Do you normally need a vacume table for holding the material down and if so, does it work well with small items (1"X3" tag)??

Thanks for your help,

Frazer

[underthetire]

I run a old New Hermes rotary. I wouldn't buy one just because of service. We also have a new Roland, very nice unit. I just switched over to sticky mats available through Sign Making, Sign Supplies, Vinyl Cutters, Sign Cutters, Vinyl Banners, Wide Format Color Printers, Laser Engravers. The vac table worked, but is kind of a PIA. Make sure you get a chip vacuum though, the plastic goes everywhere without them. I have not seen one with an automatic tool change. I think you are up in the full router sizes though, not engravers.

[beeman_mccheyne]

What about cutting out the tag? I can see problems if you got the bit too deep and the piece started to move around once the material was cut? Is the solution just to cut deep enough so that you can break it by hand? On the laser you can engrave and cut.. but my laser seems to lack the nice smooth finish (lets say for the engraved bottom) to be able to have the reverse engrave paint show up cleanly. I guess you could just shear cut it after you've engraved?