Small scale Sheet Metal Engraving

[IainCameron]

I'm looking for some help with a one-off commission for a small piece of metal engraving please.

 

My Godson, an Irish lad, is getting married in Edinburgh to a Scots lass at the beginning of April, and I thought I'd make them a quaich (Ceremonial Scottish Whisky drinking vessel) with a small plaque to commemorate the day.  The quaich is done (turned-up from Ash wood) but I'm struggling to find someone who can engrave the design I'm looking for.  

 

Professional hand-engravers are clearly very skilled and can do what I need, but I can't afford them.  All the machine engraving services that I've found can do the names and date in straight lines but not in an arc, and they can't do the image.  This is the effect I'm looking for, sketched-up on MS Word:

 

 

Does anyone have access to more sophisticated engraving machines (laser/CNC??) which could do this kind of work on a 50mm Silver disc, or do you know where I could try?

 

Many thanks, Iain

 

[Trevor Little (Trevturtle) - Treasurer]

29 minutes ago, IainCameron said:

I'm looking for some help with a one-off commission for a small piece of metal engraving please.

 

My Godson, an Irish lad, is getting married in Edinburgh to a Scots lass at the beginning of April, and I thought I'd make them a quaich (Ceremonial Scottish Whisky drinking vessel) with a small plaque to commemorate the day.  The quaich is done (turned-up from Ash wood) but I'm struggling to find someone who can engrave the design I'm looking for.  

 

Professional hand-engravers are clearly very skilled and can do what I need, but I can't afford them.  All the machine engraving services that I've found can do the names and date in straight lines but not in an arc, and they can't do the image.  This is the effect I'm looking for, sketched-up on MS Word:

 

 

Does anyone have access to more sophisticated engraving machines (laser/CNC??) which could do this kind of work on a 50mm Silver disc, or do you know where I could try?

 

Many thanks, Iain

 

If it's not too small or too Intricate, you can cut a vinyl mask and lightly sandblast through the cut holes to etch the metal. I have created metal signs etched glass several times sucessfully.

 

Send over the design with some max size dimensions....I'll have a try on my vinyl cutter and see if it works ok.. 

I might need to smooth some of the more intricate details.. but let's see what works

 

Trevor

 

[DavidMiller]

I have access to a CNC at work, but not a huge amount of spare time. If I have a chance I can do a test out of aluminium, but I would need a high resolution (preferably vector) file to work from

[IainCameron]

1 hour ago, Trevor Little (Trevturtle) - Treasurer said:

and lightly sandblast through the cut holes to etch the metal

Thanks Trevor, I was aiming for more of an engraved finish... do you think the 'light sandblasting' would give a deep enough finish on a silver disk?  I wouldn't want to waste your time cutting out a vinyl mask if the end result is going to be a faint image!  I have zero experience of what the sand blasting finish would look like, so can't judge what to expect!

[IainCameron]

44 minutes ago, DavidMiller said:

high resolution (preferably vector) file

Thanks David, I'm not sure I have the knowledge or software tools to make a high resolution/vector file... any clues for a rank amateur?

 

Edited.... I've just found vectormagic.com online, and if I subscribe for £7.99/month I can upload my png and it will spit out a vector file in SVG, EPS, and PDF formats... would any of these be OK?

[Trevor Little (Trevturtle) - Treasurer]

11 minutes ago, IainCameron said:

Thanks Trevor, I was aiming for more of an engraved finish... do you think the 'light sandblasting' would give a deep enough finish on a silver disk?  I wouldn't want to waste your time cutting out a vinyl mask if the end result is going to be a faint image!  I have zero experience of what the sand blasting finish would look like, so can't judge what to expect!

You can easily  get a 0.5mm depth impression on glass and metal.. hence LIGHT sandblasting.

It's easy to get it too deep

[DavidMiller]

1 hour ago, IainCameron said:

I've just found vectormagic.com online, and if I subscribe for £7.99/month I can upload my png and it will spit out a vector file in SVG, EPS, and PDF formats... would any of these be OK?

If you can create a high resolution PNG image then I can try and convert it. Even if the image and text are separate I should be able to recreate the design