Need a rough price for engraving.

[Robin Liles]

I am a woodturner and do not have an engraver(although it would be nice). I turn wooden plates that can be laser engraved. African mahogany, walnut,cherry,maple ect... My question is what would be the going price to have say a logo (golf tournament) engraved on a 12" plate. I would supply the logo in vector format. Also for Christmas gifts I would like to use the same style plates for gifts but with photos engraved on them. I guess it would be from what I have read here is a raster engraving? I had several done in the past but it was a friend doing it for free, but he doesn't do engraving anymore. I watched him do it and it took about 10-15 minutes to do each. I would like a rough guess before I approach local engravers for estimates.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Assuming everything is the same dimensions, I'd say around $15-40 per piece. It really depends on what everything looks like. Most engravers charge more for stuff brought in. The reason is simple. They have to treat it as one of a kind. That means longer setup times because if they make an error, it's irreplaceable.

[Robin Liles]

Seems like it might be a big spread of pricing. I guess shopping around is a must.

[Dan Hintz]

I watched him do it and it took about 10-15 minutes to do each.
Get that idea out of your head right now... that's my first suggestion.

From the time a client starts talking to me to the time I hand them back a finished product, the minimum time is half an hour... and that assumes they have a useable vector file, it's a small 3" high image, etc. I would not do that for $15 unless I was doing it in bulk. Friends don't mind if you hang around, they don't have paperwork to do, etc. A real engraving business will need to spend time getting details on what you want, verifying the file is acceptable, doing the actual work, paperwork, and on and on.

The plate may be 12", but how big is the engraving? Is it vectored and very low line count (fast engraving time) or is it rastered (slow engraving time)? Do you want great detail or just a rough image on the plate? A 12" diameter image rastered at low resolution may take my machine 10 minutes, whereas a higher resolution may take 30-40 minutes. Lots of variables here to give you a very valid answer...

[Gary Hair]

I'm with Dan on this one. I would hesitate to ballpark a price until I saw the exact artwork you wanted to use. A WAG would be something like Ross gave you but I wouldn't go as low as $15 unless there were quite a few of the same design. One-off would be $45-$75.

Gary

[Robin Liles]

Dan,
What I said was that I watched him do a plate for me and it took about that amount of time to do an acceptable engraving to me. I never said I would stand around and watch the next person. I only gave the time it actually took to do the engraving.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I'm with Dan on this one. I would hesitate to ballpark a price until I saw the exact artwork you wanted to use. A WAG would be something like Ross gave you but I wouldn't go as low as $15 unless there were quite a few of the same design. One-off would be $45-$75.

Gary

I figured about 30 minutes per piece. If you can find someone working out of their garage that is retired or has no overhead, $30 an hour is not unheard of. Especially in certain parts of America. On the high side, $40 puts you at $80 an hour which is pretty typical for most engraving shops. Would we charge more? Maybe. I could see us charging $50+ a plate. But I try not to apply my inflated Northeast pricing. It's not applicable for most so I try not taint people with it.

[Dan Hintz]

A WAG would be something like Ross gave you but I wouldn't go as low as $15 unless there were quite a few of the same design. One-off would be $45-$75.
My first thoughts were $50+, without knowing what's involved, for one-offs, so we're on the same page. If the entire plate was engraved, $75 would be a likely lower limit.

What I said was that I watched him do a plate for me and it took about that amount of time to do an acceptable engraving to me. I never said I would stand around and watch the next person. I only gave the time it actually took to do the engraving.
Don't get me wrong, Robin, I'm not trying to rattle your tree, I just want you to understand that you've provided too little information for a valid response. Any engraver who has been in business for any length of time has heard many times over "I give you an image and you press print, how hard can it be?" or "When my buddy Joe did it out of his garage, he only charged me $15." If you can find another garage-type guy who's willing to do it for dirt cheap, more power to you, but no one can operate a proper business at those rates and not fold soon after.

If you have a few styles that will be used often, with nothing more than changed text, then you might be able to work out a good deal with a local business. They will make sure the images are acceptable, and they may charge you higher prices on the first few to make sure you are really going to come back (another promise we all hear, "Do a good job on this one and I'll bring in a million orders every week").

Eventually the price will come down to something under $50 if you do them in bulk, but expecting $15 from a business because your friend did them for you in a few minutes is expecting too much.

[Martin Boekers]

I start at $15 and it goes up from there depending on time involved. The first
one takes time as you have to set up the logo and get settings correct. Also
since it isn't a shape that I do all the time I may have to make a jig to position
the plate. If the plates are all the same size and image the ones after don't
take as much time.

How much do you charge for your plates? By the piece, hours it takes, material,
is it more of a hobby or a registered business, do sales support the business etc.
all this effects pricing for you as similar things effect pricing for us.

The other is the experience of the engraver. One may take 15min and another an hour.
You may check with local colleges as some now have engraving equipment. You may
list on something like Craigs List and offer to swap your talents for and engravers.
Also if you have a local woodworks guild check with them as many do use engravers for
their pieces.

So yes, there can be quite a range of pricing. Remember this is a provided custom piece, we don't make
money on the product so the price is usually higher for engraving then the engraving that is
on our products.

Photos are difficult expect to pay quite a bit more. On the golf tournament if all plates have
the same graphic and text and take 10 min ea to do from start to finish you'll probably be charged
$8min as that comes to $48hr which is a bit less than most charge.

[Trevor Howard]

John Keeton posted a thread in the turners forum showing exactly what you are looking to do. He had his done at Woodcraft, not sure on price.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175743-50th-Anniversary-Platter


(http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175743-50th-Anniversary-Platter)

[Gary Hair]

I figured about 30 minutes per piece. If you can find someone working out of their garage that is retired or has no overhead, $30 an hour is not unheard of. Especially in certain parts of America. On the high side, $40 puts you at $80 an hour which is pretty typical for most engraving shops. Would we charge more? Maybe. I could see us charging $50+ a plate. But I try not to apply my inflated Northeast pricing. It's not applicable for most so I try not taint people with it.

I run $120/hour and rarely get negative feedback. If a job takes me 30 minutes then it's going to start at $60 plus setup.

Gary