Engraving Carabiner key chains

[rsharitz]

Hello Everyone,
I just became a member of the forum tonight and had a question about engraving carabiner key chains.

I just received a Epilog Helix 18 engraver from another High School in my area that lost their technology program.

I have the machine working, but was wondering how to engrave on irregularly shaped objects or objects that are not as easy to layout like glasses, pens and flat objects (and I already bought a few key chains to practice on)?

I tried to do a search, but couldn't find anything on layout (computer) and setup on the engraver.

Thanks
Ron

[kewlkiwi]

Originally Posted by rsharitz I have the machine working, but was wondering how to engrave on irregularly shaped objects

For one job I did the following:

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Put the object on a flatbed scanner (with side to be engraved up)
Scanned it
In software, turned that into a silhouette (and checked the size)
" " converted that to an outline
Layout the desired engraving within the outline (on another layer)
Cut the outline in a sheet of acrylic
Drop object into outline
Engrave.
--------

Since the 'cut along outline' step actually made the cutout very slightly larger, (half the width of the cut) this prevented the object being a tight-fit, and I also added a 'tab' to the outline - since the object wasn't much higher than the acrylic - to make it easier to take out after engraving.

Glasses and pens, of course, usually require a rotary attachment, depending on how much of the circumference you are planning to engrave on.
Bob