I am looking at ways to expand my horizons so to speak. I am looking at getting into engraving, I offer it now but sub it out, I know Roland sells engravers but I would like to find who else manufactuers them.
How bout it? Any info and maybe some insight into this field.
Thanks, Tony B
-------------------- Tony Broussard Graphic Details Digital Media Loreauville, LA Posts: 395 | From: Loreauville, LA | Registered: Jul 1999
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I have been engraving for about 25 years. Started with a Hermes pantograph machine, and have evolved through the computerized mechanical models to the laser.
If you enter the business with anything less than a laser, you will be extremely behind in the field.
There are many good lasers on the market now. Universals have little or now down time. You may also want to join the Awards and Recognition Association. http://www.ara.org/ Or Awards and Engraving. (A&E)
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Meistergram & Hermes were the big names I remember in rotary engravers. Laser is a lot more popular now then when I did some engraving, but I don't know much about them.
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C.J. are you coming down to bayou country in September? I'd like to show you a couple of jewerly pieces my nephew made. He worked for a jewler in his small hometown as a teenager. No computer, all made by hand. Hecho en Mexico. Beautiful work.
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We use 3 different machines, there's the right machine for every job! We use a New Hermes pantograph for the odd shaped itms. We have a Meistergram 2818 computerized rotary engraver. It still uses the DOS software, but for most of the stuff, it works just fine! Don't get suckered into these big buck EngraveLab programs, you won't use most of the features, just throwing your hard earned money away. (just my .02 cents) And for the final machine, we use a Epilog Summit laser engraver. It's driven by cheap 'ol CorelDraw 8. We purchased this 2nd hand straight from Epilog as a refurbished unit. We attempted to purchase a unit from another company, but after 3 different machines and different van lines, and 2 months of waiting, we cancelled the order and went straight to Epilog. The order was placed and the machine was here from Golden, Colorado in less than a week! If you do go with a laser, but it from a dealer, you DO need the training!
It all depends on what your doing...if you are just looking to do simple 2" by 8" plastic signs, a laser would be a waste of a lot of money. However, if you do go with a laser, there are numerous avenues to go down. We use our laser a lot for doing stainless steel outlet/switch plate for electricians.
You have to decide how much you want to plop down. You may want something 2nd hand to start with.
Feel free to contact me if you want.
-------------------- Mike Berry New England Posts: 534 | From: New England | Registered: Jan 2002
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I have a Universal Laser, and can reccomend it highly. I've also heard good things about Epilog. Be aware that you can't "engrave" metal with a laser unless you want to spend big bucks. You can mark metal by removing a coating, like paint or anodizing. I'm guessing that Michael is marking those stainless steel switchplates by coating with a laser marking material, like TherMark, and then lasering. This process permanently marks the metal, but doesn't engrave it. Good luck with the new venture.
-------------------- Eric Barker Rosewood Design LaGrande,Oregon Posts: 107 | From: La Grande, OR | Registered: May 2002
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I would like to have some small brass nameplates done for attaching to our dimensional signs. A guy, here on the board, was going to do them but he vanished without a trace. Can anyone here do that? I would only need a few to start with: say, a couple or three dozen about 1''x2''(or standard size thereabout). Thanks
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7405 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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Santo....... I'd like to, but can't guarantee anything at this point......I' would definatly like to see your nephews work........always like to see "Quality Hand" engraving.
Doin 'lectric light switches..............Man, Now there's something I could really get into.......will it take a lot of training..?? I ain't got a lotta time left here on this earth, so I gotta make my "BIG" money purty quick............
Lectrik switches....Yeah......that has a good ring to it..........!!
Gotta look inta one of them there plotter/weedeater thingies too.....
Gee Guys.....Wuz it somethin I said......?? hahah!!
............cj
[ July 31, 2002, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: CJ Allan ]
-------------------- CJ Allan CJs Engraving 982 English Dr. Hazel, KY 42049
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Here's the deal, all I am looking for right now is a rotary engraver to do plastic nameplates. I have a brother in law who is an architect that does a lot of hospitals and told me that one hospital job is around $10 grand per job (room numbers etc). All I am looking for now is something to get my foot in the door for little expense as possible and if it works out maybe upgrade later on.
Thanks, Tony B
-------------------- Tony Broussard Graphic Details Digital Media Loreauville, LA Posts: 395 | From: Loreauville, LA | Registered: Jul 1999
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Go check out New Hermes.... www.newhermes.com You can get what ya need "NEW" for probably under $1500. That will include a couple different "Letter Styles" (I don't do fontz)
You might even find a small used one on E-Bay for less
The unit you want uses a small sewing machine motor, and foot pedal........You don't need all that fancy stuff till ya find out any of it's gonna pay off, or you even want to get anymore involved.
Hope this helps............cj
PS............. I just went to their site.........Whoever built that site is on crack.........
You want one of their older "Manual" machines....NOT all that computer crap they're trying to pedal now.........I don't even know if they make the older stuff anymore, but look around.......
[ July 31, 2002, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: CJ Allan ]
-------------------- CJ Allan CJs Engraving 982 English Dr. Hazel, KY 42049
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Try to find a New Hermes V7000 or V7200, with the old DOS engraving program. Lots of money to be made doing hospital signs. I make at least 100 name plates a month. Probably another 50 10x10 ADA signs. It think the best money maker would be the ADA signs. Just last week my adminstrator was giving a tour of my operations to a new administrator and the whole time he was here he was bragging about how much money my shop saves the company. I run a sign shop at a large medical center. We (2 of us) take care of 2 hospitals (one is about 2 million sq ft and the other is about 500,000 sq ft.) In addition, we take care of over 60 remote clinic sites. We do all this with one V7000 (backup piece of equipment) and one V7200 New Hermes engravers. A nice thing about New Hermes is you can order all your material online and they give you a discount for online ordering. Also if your online order is over $100, they drop the shipping charges. New Hermes has a great line of modular products. Makes it very easy to use. We also have a Gerber Edge and plotter.
-------------------- Roger Buck Signage System Specialist Geisinger Health System Danville, PA Posts: 2 | From: Danville, PA | Registered: Mar 2002
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It had ta be something I said............ These guys are really serious.......almost like what they were doing was really worthwhile, or important in the whole scheme of things...........
That's Kool.......Better folks than me get ignored on here everyday, that's why we all moved to "Kennyville"...........!!
Wonder why they call it engraving anywayzzzz.....??
Well, Back ta "Kennyville" for me, can't be of any assistance here.......... !!!
.........cj
[ July 31, 2002, 10:13 PM: Message edited by: CJ Allan ]
-------------------- CJ Allan CJs Engraving 982 English Dr. Hazel, KY 42049
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Hey CJ!!....if ya haven't already left for Kennyville, how about those hammers & burins?? Any chance of a good deal on a used engravers block?? (this could be a chance for you to get rid of that old one you've been using & step up to a nice shiny new one) Are you & Timi still gonna come by when ya head for the Hills??
My inquiring mind wants ta know
-------------------- Chris Elliott 1longshot@classicnet.net cell 62084two2232 Posts: 686 | From: Scottsdale, AZ & Anthony, KS, USA | Registered: Dec 1999
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