engraving large plastic laminate pieces

[TD On The Hill]

Hi,

We're going to be making large 4" x 36" laminate pieces with names engraved on them to slide into signs, etc. You know what I'm talking about. It's like name badge material; white plastic with a thin layer of red on top. Any suggestions on best bits and speeds and feeds to use? I did a sample piece and it's a mess around the edges. Maybe my feed is too fast?

[Kayvon]

Have you tried a V bit, maybe 90 degrees, with low RPM? I've spent enough time looking at the nametag to my cubicle that I'm convinced it was made similar to this.

[jeb2cav]

I've moved to bits from ToolsToday for plastic work. Depending on your machine, you may want to slow it down a bit as well. A 'wood bit' doesn't seem to cut as cleanly as it's not necessarily designed for this material.

[cconway]

I have been doing this myself recently and after trial and error I found the best thing to use where the bits actually made for doing this type of work. I tried V bits and engraving bits, but they don't give the right look. Also best to use single line fonts. I got my plastic from a company called bfplasticsinc.com. They are great and I was able to order bits from them custom cut the the length I wanted which was 3" for about $16 a bit. The person to speak with there is Andy. I have included a picture of some of the bits and a few name tags I did as examples.