diamond bit engraved Tree of Life on lighter

[studio-n]

Still in Lighter mode. this is one of a tree of life on an inexpensive black lighter.
done using a diamond engraving bit. cheers!

[jimily]

That's cool. I do have a couple of questions: How do you hold that for engraving? And was it one of the spring loaded diamond tip bits or something else? I'll also be back-reading your other engraving posts too.

This is fascinating stuff to a new cnc'r. Thanks!

Jim

EDIT: I found it, the Widgetworks model. Excellent! Thanks again!

[studio-n]

Hello. Yes, I'm using the Widgetworks diamond drag bit.
I simply use double face tape to hold the lighters down. Originally I had cut a small pocket
to fit them in, but the spoil board gets torn up quickly on other projects so now I simply tape down two small pieces of
wood at 90 degrees to each other for my positioning and repeatability.
Depth is set to 0.05", feed rate is 100 and plunge is 30.
it's worked so far.
-nick

[Rando]

Fifty thousandths engraving depth? 0.05"? Really? That's over a millimater..the lighter case metal isn't even that thick.

Any chance you really me 5 mils, 0.005", or maybe 0.05mm (0.002")?

Nice work, at whatever depth .

[jimily]

Wow double sided tape, that's amazing. Good job!

And the depth question also has me looking around for numbers. This is the first time I have dealt with numbers this small! Cnc'g is just amazing.

Jim

[studio-n]

Fifty thousandths engraving depth? 0.05"? Really? That's over a millimater..the lighter case metal isn't even that thick.

Any chance you really me 5 mils, 0.005", or maybe 0.05mm (0.002")?

Nice work, at whatever depth .

No, it's .05". Remember these drag bits are spring loaded and isn't cutting into the metal just scraping it. The .05 really just translates into how much downward
pressure it is applying. This is just what works for me. thanks for the kind words.
-nick

[jimily]

Ok I was poking around in the tool database in Vcarve and am wondering how you listed the drag bit it in the database? Would that be engraving or specialist? And would you happen to know the width of the cuts of the 90 and 120 degree bits? I might have seen the 120 is .005 but that was in a marketing paragraph. They [widgetworks] don't list that spec anywhere, do you happen to know offhand? I might email them and ask if not. I am only guessing that is an important piece in the database for tool pathing calcs. And does it matter if you set spindle speed to 0 or not?

Man so many cans, so many worms.

Jim

[studio-n]

well for better or worse I just used the defaults that were under the engraving bits
which is a 90 degree drag bit with a .02 line width. The only thing I changed was
the stepover to 0.02. I don't worry about the spindle speed. The router is switched off
during this operation.

[jimily]

Very helpful information, thanks!

Jim

[Rando]

No, it's .05". Remember these drag bits are spring loaded and isn't cutting into the metal just scraping it. The .05 really just translates into how much downward
pressure it is applying. This is just what works for me. thanks for the kind words.
-nick

Ah right...spring. Thanks for clarifying.