Engraving Bricks with a Xenetech 1625

Hey all,

So I recently acquired a Xenetech 1625 and then the next week a customer asked if I would be able to provide 500 engraved bricks for their school. I have a Xenetech 912 which isn't tall enough to fit a brick in so I would have to use the 1625 which I haven't even installed/tried to fight Xenetech for their software which I've heard can be problematic.

The question is two fold-

Can a Xenetech 1625 reliably route out/engrave 500 bricks without falling apart or would that damage the machine?

Is it possible to get the software from Xenetech as I would be installing it on a new computer.

Thank you in advance for your patience; I don't have a lot of knowledge when it comes to rotary engraving, I just parrot what I've seen.

This Forum is primarily about laser engraving. Yes you could laser engrave bricks, not all types however. Rotary engraving I think would be messy, dusty and hard on any machine. Why did you purchase a machine without the software to run it?

I think you're going to have a tough time getting a satisfactory result on bricks with that machine. But that may be the least of your problems. I would not advance any money to Xenetech based on reports we've had posted here. (do a search) Engravlab software is better software and I believe it will work on Xenetech. Contact Fred Schwartz at Quality One engravers and discuss your issue with him.

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Originally Posted by Bill George

This Forum is primarily about laser engraving. Yes you could laser engrave bricks, not all types however. Rotary engraving I think would be messy, dusty and hard on any machine. Why did you purchase a machine without the software to run it?

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Hi Bill,

The bricks will be walked on so I don't think that laser engraving will provide the necessary depth/durability. I've used the cermark on bricks before and I'm not impressed and I wouldn't recommend it to a customer. The machine was given to me as the previous owner couldn't pay his lease and was walking away from his building.

@Mike

Thanks, I'll give Fred a call. I talked to his wife yesterday a little bit, I'll try to get in touch with Fred himself. I'll do a little research on Engravlab; I've read about it before and I assumed that it was a laser only software.

I'd still appreciate any other feedback/experience anyone else has had with engraving bricks with a rotary machine; my wife engraved about 200 ceramic/stone tiles for an apartment complex with a rotary engraver before but the material is different and I don't know if this would destroy the machine.

It won't destroy the machine but it will eat up cutters. A chip collector would be handy. I used Engravlab on my rotary engraver.

Sandcarving is the best process for bricks.

Some guy came by about 3 weeks ago wanting me to engrave a couple of concrete pavers, as a 'mom's memorial' within the patio he's making. Both my fiber and C02 machines will engrave the concrete, but we're talking like 3 minutes with the fiber to get "TEST" in 3/8" high letters deep enough to catch a fingernail. These pavers won't be walked on, so what I did was, I painted the pavers- one 12x12", the other 6x12", with a couple of heavy coats of black paint. Then I put the laser to the pavers, engraving away everything BUT the words, using my 420/300mm lens. Took 3 minutes to swipe the entire 12x12, only took one pass-- and they look great! Then I clearcoated them with Rustoleum 2x matte clear, about 3 heavy coats. The clear darkened the pavers a snick. They've been out in the weather, from 20's to 80's snow rain and clear skies for 2 weeks. I told the guy worst case was he may need to shoot another coat or two of clear on them every year....