Absolute newbie, looking to get into engraving, would appreciate some advice and info

[Julie Ann Schriber]

First of all, thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and respond to my message. I greatly appreciate any advice and direction those of you with experience can provide me.

Currently, I run my own small business designing, making, and selling beaded jewelry from home. I specialize in beaded replacement bracelet bands for medical ID bracelets. I would like to start offering engraved medical ID tags for my customers so that they can purchase everything in one place, rather than having to shop in several different places online to get their complete medical ID bracelet.

The main problem here is that I know nothing about engraving. I was hoping that someone (or several someones!) here could offer me advice and direction regarding machines that could engrave stainless steel ID tags, and how to achieve a black-filled engraving on the tags. Any direction on where to start my research on costs, types of machines, other things I need to learn and purchase and understand, would be greatly appreciated. I'm starting from ground zero on this endeavor.

Thank you again for your time and any assistance you can offer. :)

Sincerely,

Julie Ann

[David Fairfield]

For stainless steel ID tags, you want a rotary engraver, not a laser. A laser can only mark the surface, using a chemical/laser process. A CNC rotary engraver will cut into the metal, its totally permanent, and generally a less expensive tool. Dave

[Martin Boekers]

Here is another option...

www.rolanddga.com/products/impactprinters/ (http://www.rolanddga.com/products/impactprinters/)


Were are you located and what equipment do you already have? Roland also has some smaller rotary engravers for under $2500.00

[Mike Null]

I would suggest getting a co2 laser engraver and using Cermark. I do diamond drag and don't think it makes a good enough mark on stainless. A lot of people use it but once you see both marks I think you'll select the laser.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I would suggest getting a co2 laser engraver and using Cermark. I do diamond drag and don't think it makes a good enough mark on stainless. A lot of people use it but once you see both marks I think you'll select the laser.

Diamond drag stainless steel leaves a lot to be desired. With a well built machine and the right bit, turning on the spindle makes a HUGE difference. We use a conical bit now after using diamond drag for years and the quality is much better. I'm not sure if you can achieve this kind of mark with an inexpensive Roland machine though.

Since the request is for a black mark, a laser is definitely the way to go. Price wise, you're looking at $3-10,000 for a desktop machine. It's generally suggested not to buy the sub $1000 machines from China.

[matthew knott]

My advise would be to sub it out till you get an idea of how many you will sell! We do this kind of work for about 20 customers, they collect orders over say a week, email us on a set day and we run and ship them back for the next day and let them post to the customer. Worst case is a week wait. You would need to sell lots to justify buying a machine & unless you think people wont wait a week or you need to engrave while people wait its a an easy option. Maybe you can find someone local that can help!
Matt

[Dan Hintz]

I would suggest getting a co2 laser engraver and using Cermark. I do diamond drag and don't think it makes a good enough mark on stainless. A lot of people use it but once you see both marks I think you'll select the laser.

I'll second this...

[Bill Cunningham]

I've done a few of the medic alert type bracelets, usually the cheap chineseium ones. I did one for my wife, and she has been wearing it for a year with no fading of the mark.. I use 1200 dpi/15 speed/100% power. So if it works on those, it should work just as well on a quality one..

[Steven Cox]

Definately go the Laser, you can do S/Steel with Cermark as already mentioned And you could look at Annodized Aluminium tags from Chewbarka as an alternative option. These come in a range of colours with an embossed finish on one side and engrave white on the coloured background.