Tooling Advice Wanted

[Babba]

I have a quantity of circular stainless steel discs that I need to do a simple engraving onto the face.

The max rpm I have is 3500 from a Syil CNC X3 mill & currently I have no flood coolant.

I've experimented today with what I have, a 1mm HSS ball cutter & a can of WD40 with surprisingly good results, tool held in the original X3's drill chuck !

Having just got the machine, & running several projects at the same time, I'm suffering a severe case of information overload. I have the £cash but I don't have the time to spend on the learning curve to discover which tool & holding system is best suited to this type of work.

Can anyone recommend anything available in the UK ???

I'm also after a range of base colour engraving paints, a Google search throws up nothing but another learning curve. What's the best engraving paint available in the UK ????

[Chuck Reamer]

What is the spindle taper of that machine?

An ER-20 collet holder and a "D bit" (engraving tool) should work real well, use a cutting oil like rapid tap or just an air blast to clear the chips. A solid carbide spot drill might work well, or the small ball nose end mills, just go solid carbide because HSS will be pretty flexible.

[Stepper Monkey]

Definitely get a collet holder, a drill chuck is not going to give you the best results and with a "D" bit will probably cause a lot more breakage as well.
3500 RPM isn't exactly optimal, but in stainless and with the right bit you can probably get away with it with reasonable results with a little experimentation. Carbide "D" or "V" bits of a wide included angle would be a good starting point. Small ball mills might work fine, but I don't know how long each one would last, especially without constant coolant flow. You might try a water-based coolant as well, I have had better luck with those than oil-based for engraving.


If you need to do a whole lot of discs, simplest and quickest way might be to do what some folks have done and get one of the little high-speed Proxxon die grinders or the like and mount it to the side of your Z head for the duration of your engraving needs. That will give you the speed if you find you need it or want to speed up a large run.

[MIKE JEFFERS]

i use a 1mm ball nose carbide for engraving has lasted a while
broken small dia carbide bits make excellent tips too after a bit of
grinding ,try it ,but run it on scrap first

[Janardhan]

try HSS with 10% cobalt.

[Baketech]

Originally Posted by Babba I have a quantity of circular stainless steel discs that I need to do a simple engraving onto the face. The max rpm I have is 3500 from a Syil CNC X3 mill & currently I have no flood coolant. I've experimented today with what I have, a 1mm HSS ball cutter & a can of WD40 with surprisingly good results, tool held in the original X3's drill chuck ! Having just got the machine, & running several projects at the same time, I'm suffering a severe case of information overload. I have the £cash but I don't have the time to spend on the learning curve to discover which tool & holding system is best suited to this type of work. Can anyone recommend anything available in the UK ??? I'm also after a range of base colour engraving paints, a Google search throws up nothing but another learning curve. What's the best engraving paint available in the UK ????

For simple engraving that needs to be paint filled, it's really hard to beat the cost effectiveness of a plain old 60 degree center drill. (spotting drill) They are cheap, rugged and fast....

Here is a good source for paints...(and other engraving bits)
http://www.gravograph.com/uk/

Cheers...

[Ginger_Ninja54]

we do 99% stainless, and do masses of engraving.

the best cutters we have found are "Magafor".
uk dealer is ToolEx.
not cheap, but Really good. especially "Hard-X" coated ones.
40 deg'

we do have 40,000 rpm spindles though. and use oil-mist.
you can run slower, but be run fast to maintain accuracy over depth.

[Babba]

Originally Posted by Baketech For simple engraving that needs to be paint filled, it's really hard to beat the cost effectiveness of a plain old 60 degree center drill. (spotting drill) They are cheap, rugged and fast.... Cheers...

Thanks. I'd estimate that over the past few weeks you've saved me at least £300. I was burning out or snapping off £8 a time bits at an alarming rate untill I tried a 50p centre drill. They still snap off or burn out at the same rate, but who cares????

[Baketech]

Stainless can be a problem eh?

Depending upon the size you need, you could experiment by bumping up to the next size center drill...you might be surprised how long they last.

Cheers...

[metalworkz]

I would use a solid carbide cutter for the stainless. I have a .25 dia. 2 flute solid carbide engraving bit with a 90 deg. angle which I use for most of my engraving. I just wish I had a similar bit in a sharper angle for the engraving work that is on small parts and which has paths very close to each other.