[R-390] Engraved Panels

[Drew Papanek]

Don Reaves wrote:

>So what kind of machine was used to do engravings?  I'm
>familiar with the badge engravers used at conventions and
>'fests to engrave names in plastic.  Is that what Tom means
>by 'rotary tool'?  How much set up time and expense would it
>be to take a silk screened panel and engrave it?  Lets hear
>from you machinists.

A vertical CNC machining center, though overkill, would make quick work of 
engraving a panel.  A PC based CAD program would be used to enter text data, 
including size and position.  The same program would translate that data 
into G-code (CNC machine language).  Once that part was completed, the same 
machine code could be used to do any number of panels.

CNC setup would be fast and easy.  Clamp panel to machine table, establish a 
zero reference (perhaps the KC shaft hole), and hit start button.  Engraving 
would be done in a matter of minutes.

The major time and expense would be a one time effort : use of CAD, fiddling 
with data for a desired appearance, and test runs on CNC (using expendable 
material such as pieces of wood).  It would be most economic to amortize 
that development expense against an eventual large number of panels.  Maybe 
"someone" could do CAD part as a labor of love ala Dave Wise with his 
microcontroller based 3DW7 BallasTube replacement.

Drew



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