engraving large plastic laminate pieces

Anything and everything CNC-Shark-related

Moderators: ddw, al wolford, sbk, Bob, Kayvon

Post Reply
TD On The Hill
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2018 6:31 pm

engraving large plastic laminate pieces

Post by 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?

User avatar
Kayvon
Posts: 552
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:46 pm

Re: engraving large plastic laminate pieces

Post by 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
Site Admin
Posts: 1524
Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2010 7:04 pm
Location: Kentucky
Contact:

Re: engraving large plastic laminate pieces

Post by 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
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 9:37 pm
Location: Oxford, CT

Re: engraving large plastic laminate pieces

Post by 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.
Attachments
IMG_20180907_122737.jpg
IMG_20181016_110813.jpg
Charlie Conway

Post Reply