Engraving wood

[BTR]

I have been asked by a freind to do him some wooden plaque's with some letters in Arabic for him these plaques will vari in size from 6'' long by 3'' wide to 36'' by 40'' so the wording will have to be different sizes.
The writing is very complex see the attached link can you please help me and tell me the best way to acheive this would be, also just to make this that extra bit special some of the engraving on the plaques i would like to fill with some sort of resin to give it a contrasting look to the wood i will be useing oak ,abw and ash thanks.

 

[big soft moose]

the absolute best way would be a cnc router - but leaving that aside i'd suggest you need a pantograph or similar.

I supose another option would be an overhead router

incidentally on the resin - we've tried that in making signs and had a hell's own time trying to get it to bond to the wood - in the end we gave up and used an airbrush and black gloss to highlght the lettering instead.

 

[mtr1]

CNC 8) 8) like the resin idea :wink:

 

[mtr1]

the absolute best way would be a cnc router - but leaving that aside i'd suggest you need a pantograph or similar.

incidentally on the resin - we've tried that in making signs and had a hells own time trying to get it to bond to the wood - in the end we gave up and used an airbrush and black gloss to highlght the lettering instead.

Should of used epoxy then, sticks like dung to a blanket

 

[big soft moose]

the absolute best way would be a cnc router - but leaving that aside i'd suggest you need a pantograph or similar.

incidentally on the resin - we've tried that in making signs and had a hells own time trying to get it to bond to the wood - in the end we gave up and used an airbrush and black gloss to highlght the lettering instead.

Should of used epoxy then, sticks like **** to a blanket

interesting - I guess it probably came down to cost as we've got a couple of hundred signs to do in oak, plus more in ecodeck.

we were using some sort of modlers resin, it was a two part thing mix with hardener and spread into letters , flippin stuff kept hardening then falling out

 

[BTR]

I love this forum thanks bsm i found this on youtube this pantograph is the way forward for me i beleive thanks .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7Rsb4-6 ... re=related

Where can i buy these pantographs from so far i have only found rutlands that do them.

 

[mtr1]

the absolute best way would be a cnc router - but leaving that aside i'd suggest you need a pantograph or similar.

incidentally on the resin - we've tried that in making signs and had a hells own time trying to get it to bond to the wood - in the end we gave up and used an airbrush and black gloss to highlght the lettering instead.

Should of used epoxy then, sticks like **** to a blanket

interesting - I guess it probably came down to cost as we've got a couple of hundred signs to do in oak, plus more in ecodeck.

we were using some sort of modlers resin, it was a two part thing mix with hardener and spread into letters , flippin stuff kept hardening then falling out

Sounds like you were using poly, which I think is used also, to get impressions of things like castings. Mainly because it doesn't stick, and is much cheaper than epoxy.

 

[CNC Paul]

BTR,

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for ?

To create a special sign CNC is the way to go

I find that engraving wood then infilling with resin looks pretty poor, you might as well stick on letters.

Engraved letters use shadows created by light to make the letters pop, painting or gold leaf to the engraving looks even better.

 

[miles_hot]

This thread seems to have some good stuff on resins - hope this helps.

Miles

 

[acewoodturner]

Good morning

Another way to do it is with a laser. This will burn the wood away and leave a dark /scorched mark behind with no need to infill or colour it. As I am a cabinet maker with a laser, if you wish to have a chat you can give me a call so I could give you more info. My mobile is 07769703520. Its too detailed to type out here.

Mike

 

[gasman]

There is a way to do it more simply.....
I have successfully engraved wood by writing the characters out on the computer in the size that you want the final letters to be
Then you print it out in black ink on adhesive paper - I usually use an A4 sheet of labels.
Then you stick the labels with the letters on onto the piece of wood
Then - difficult part - you get a new scalpel blade - a #11 blade is best (pointy) - and cut out the adhesive letters very carefully leaving the rest of the sticky label behind.
Then you can use a combination of a dremel, chisels etc to carve out the letters.
It is time-consuming but perfectly feasible and I have had good results with it
HTH
Mark

 

[wizer]

Engraved letters use shadows created by light to make the letters pop, painting or gold leaf to the engraving looks even better.

Paul do you hand paint the letters or use some other method?

 

[CNC Paul]

Engraved letters use shadows created by light to make the letters pop, painting or gold leaf to the engraving looks even better.

Paul do you hand paint the letters or use some other method?

It all depends on the job.... Hand paint, spray or leaf transfer.

 

[wizer]

When spraying, would you plane or sand over the top to get ris of the excess or mask\pre-mask?

 

[BTR]

That is exactly the look paul is that done on a cnc router it is very accurate

 

[wizer]

The pic that Paul posted is a 3D image representing what he can do on his CNC.

vCarve Paul?

 

[CNC Paul]

When spraying, would you plane or sand over the top to get ris of the excess or mask\pre-mask?

It depends on the material, the font, the size and the finish, there are no rules you just have to access each job.

 

[CNC Paul]

That is exactly the look paul is that done on a cnc router it is very accurate

Extremly accurate

 

[acewoodturner]

Whilst not wishing to get into a slanging match between what is better -a cnc or a laser engraver. The cnc has to be colour filled or engraved deep enough to allow shadows to be created in order to see the routeing. When I use my laser engraver you can see an engraving that is on 0.5mm deep due to the fact it has been burned out. This is very accurate- up to 1000dpi in materials. 1000dpi is wasted in wood as 300dpi is what I normally use. Several passes can also be made or the power increased and it can do 10mm deep. What it cant do for instance is sloped sides such as with a v carving router bit due to the fact that the laser beam is directly above the substance being engraved.
My party trick for new customers coming to the workshop is to laser engrave a piece of A4 card whereby the first few words are cut out accurately and then the next few are engraved a bit more lightly and actually remove half the thickness of the card and when you hold it up to the light you can see through it.
It is horses for courses. I wouldnt be cutting it out with a dremel or scalpel though but that is one advantage of owning bigger machinery such as a laser or cnc

 

[John. B]

This is laser cut on Maple.



John. B