Tag Template?

[Bill Jermyn]

Does anyone have any ideas on making a template for multiple round tags with one hole near the top, to hold the tags so that the holes are lined up, allowing the engraving to be consistently horizontal when the tag is hung by the hole?

[Margaret Turco]

Hi Bill, If you are cutting out the tags themselves, you could make them very slightly wider side-to-side so it isn't obvious visually but you would be able to turn them over in the sheet to engrave the other side. Or you could engrave side one, then turn the whole sheet over and engrave side two and then cut them out. If they are pre-made tags, I would make a sheet with the hole and outline faintly engraved and manually place them.

[Bill Jermyn]

Thanks Margaret. They're pre-made stainless steel tags. I have a whole whack of them to engrave, so I was looking to make a template that would align them rather then having to place them individually, but I may end up doing that if I can't figure out another way to do it.

[Joe Pelonio]

Engrave some 1/4" MDF, deep enough for the circles to fit nicely inside, and on the artwork leave the hole white but a tad smaller so that you are left with a small bump that the hole can set onto.

[Scott Challoner]

You can just engrave the shape of the tag and leave the hole unengraved so it leaves a "peg" to align the tag. I've done this with extruded acylic or hardboard. You don't have to go very deep. Just deep enough so the peg catches the hole and the tag sits in the depression. This takes a long time to engrave if your want a fixture that engraves several tags at the same time, but if you do a lot of these, it may be worth it.

(You beat me to it Joe. Great minds think alike ;) )

[Bill Jermyn]

Yes! Thanks guys.

[Dave Johnson29]

Does anyone have any ideas on making a template for multiple round tags with one hole near the top, to hold the tags so that the holes are lined up, allowing the engraving to be consistently horizontal when the tag is hung by the hole?

Bill,

Just sent you a PM a friend makes stuff like this. Did not want to display URL here as it is probably against the TOS.

[James A. Wolfe]

Bill,
I've used my scanner to scan a black and white image of the tag and dressed it up a little in CorelPaint. I use that file in Draw and create a template in acrylic allowing 2% increase in size to make it easier to insert the piece. After making the template, I turn all the original art to a non-lasering color and save the file as a template. When I need to engrave the piece, I know my alignment will be perfect and only change the text or graphic to suit.

Sounds more complicated than it is but it works well for those oddly shaped dog tags that would be a bear to draw by hand.

Jim