Engraving on Plastic Mugs

[Tom Chenault]

Howdy Folks, I have been lurking for several months and posted a question about a used laser. With the Creek's advice in mind I did purchase an Epilog 25 watt and am very pleased so far. I have been working on some signs reversed engraved for an Eagle Scout project for a young man and am very impressed with the results. I have a new project which involves engraving on recycled plastic mugs that have a handle that extends almost to the top and bottom edge of the mug preventing the mug from rotating smoothly in the rotary device. I am trying to redneck engineer something that would allow this to fit in the device and thought someone here may have already solved a similar problem. Any thoughts?

Here is a photo I hope!
or here is a link to photos, I hope this is within the Creeks guidelines. http://www.eaglecampmug.com/mugcolors.htm
(http://www.eaglecampmug.com/mugcolors.htm)

http://www.eaglecampmug.com/mugcolors.htm

[Dan Hintz]

Find a piece of pipe that will fit around or inside the cup (you may need more thickness if the pipe isn't the correct size, so use cloth or putty) and set the pipe on the rotary wheels. Don't forget to set your page size to the size of the pipe, not the cup.

[Chris DeGerolamo]

^^what he said.

[Tom Chenault]

Thanks Dan and Chris, that takes care of the open end of the cup but leaves no support for the closed end on my rotary attachment. I have envisioned some wild ideas but not that make it "production plausible" if you smell what I'm steppin' in! My rotary attachment has 4 wheels to rest on, 2 on each end like most I'm sure. Keep em' coming!

[Chris DeGerolamo]

Have you tried taking of the 'extra' two drive wheels to make more (or less) room for the mugs to rest? That's confusing as hell....

Remove the (2) thumb screws from each drive wheel to remove the outer wheels themselves. You should be able to reduce the amount of space needed for the mugs to rest.

[Dan Hintz]

Some sticky putty (like the stuff they use to hang posters) will stick the pipe to the bottom of even the heaviest of mugs.

[Joe Pelonio]

Stick to an area about 1.5" high and wide, focus to a depth right in between the farthest and closest and you can run it without the rotary.
Unfortunately limits what you can engrave but works fine for initials or a round logo.