Problems engraving Bullet Casing

[Erik Johanson]

I am attempting to engrave on a bullet casing and my auto focus plunger keeps striking my rotary attachment causing the bullet to jump and not engrave properly. I attempted to manual focus but I cannot get my manual focus bar adjusted over the casing to get an accurate measure. I am really stuck at this point. I have a longer lens but again I cannot get my manual focus bar above the actual object to get a good reading. I even tried Guessing at the distance with the longer lens but the results were poor at best. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[Bruce Volden]

Erik,

What machine are you using?? I disabled my auto focus day one for reason's like this. What I use is a gauge (homemade) and send the file over, hit stop, then focus manually. Works every time.

Bruce

[Chuck Stone]

You might want to see if anyone local can make you something to hold the casing in the rotary.
(depends on what type of rotary you have, though)
Mine works like a lathe, so I had someone make some steel cones to fit where the rubber cone
and plate went on the existing equipment. The cones work like a live and dead center, holding
pen parts in place and turning them as the rotary's motor moves.
If they're made to a close tolerance, they also act as an extension, which gives you more
room to work. Taking the cover off of the 'guts' on the rotary gave me more room, too.

[Tristan Ranatza]

Just out of curiosities sake what caliber are you trying to mark and with what? I would think that shells would make great pendants and keepsakes.

I would also have to go with manually setting the hight for your laser. When I do odd shaped, fragile or small things on my rotary I almost always use the manual focus tool.

[Bill Cunningham]

Just out of curiosities sake what caliber are you trying to mark and with what? I would think that shells would make great pendants and keepsakes.

Ya providing your not flying anywhere. Some of the safety nazis don't know the difference between empty casings, and the whole cartridge, some are even stripping the guns of kid's GI joes

[Bruce Boone]

I made focus gages from Popscicle sticks. I first dial in the perfect focus by marking a line on a slightly inclined Popscicle stick. The line will appear similar to an hour glass, with the perfect focus located right at the center of the X. Measure the distance from the bottom of your carriage to that spot with calipers. In CAD draw offset lines of exactly that distance and cut another Popscicle stick at exactly that length. I have one for each of my lenses, and these are all I need for rotary or flat objects.
190401

[Kevin Huffman]

If you are using a GCC Laser here is the exert from the rotary attachment instructions.



If you engrave objects with a diameter that is smaller than 3.00 inch’s please use the 2.5 inch or 4 inch lens to prevent collision between carriage and rotary attachment device.
If the diameter is 0.001 to 0.92 inch’s use the 4 in lens.
If the diameter is between 0.92 and 3.0 inch the 2.5 inch lens will be needed

[Martin Boekers]

Ya providing your not flying anywhere. Some of the safety nazis don't know the difference between empty casings, and the whole cartridge, some are even stripping the guns of kid's GI joes


I sell hand turned pens that are made from shell casings at my shop, small ones right up to
50 cal. That is my running joke, don't forget you have one in your pocket when going to
the airport. Saying it's just a pen probably ain't going to cut it!:D

[Bill Cunningham]

I sell hand turned pens that are made from shell casings at my shop, small ones right up to
50 cal. That is my running joke, don't forget you have one in your pocket when going to
the airport. Saying it's just a pen probably ain't going to cut it!:D

When I was a teenager, I had one of those pens you could buy in the back of magazines, that actually shot a .22 LR.. Now, I see they even make cellphones that do that. But a 50 cal casing, you could probably use that to knock someone unconscious..:p