Engraving question

[TheSnail]

Oh. You guys are talking about the FED required engraving. Man I'm slow.

On that note, I would be iffy about getting it done by the trophy guys. Reason I say that is due to fixturing. They typically etch standardized plates.
We have some local machine shops that have done laser work for us. They have yet to mess up any medical and laboratory equipment we have sent them for etching. I'll get you some contacts # here soon.

 

[TheSnail]

If depth is a concern, you could have it milled in. You would be suprised how small of an endmill these machineshops have. Tiny twenty thou ball endmills. I have have some machined components that have artwork on them. I have the same part etched and one machined with a tiny endmill. I can post them so you can get an idea of the difference. Our CAD data just has text on it. Its upto the machine shop to decide how they want to go about "engraving" the art work (text among other things). They just need the DXF file. If it is simple text, they can program the machine on the spot and will not need a dxf file. If for whatever reason they need a dxf file, I can help you with that aswell.

 

[Tony2X]

If depth is a concern, you could have it milled in. You would be suprised how small of an endmill these machineshops have. Tiny twenty thou ball endmills. I have have some machined components that have artwork on them. I have the same part etched and one machined with a tiny endmill. I can post them so you can get an idea of the difference. Our CAD data just has text on it. Its upto the machine shop to decide how they want to go about "engraving" the art work (text among other things). They just need the DXF file. If it is simple text, they can program the machine on the spot and will not need a dxf file. If for whatever reason they need a dxf file, I can help you with that aswell.

Exactly why I'm letting a good machine shop do mine.

 

[JDG.]

If depth is a concern, you could have it milled in. You would be suprised how small of an endmill these machineshops have. Tiny twenty thou ball endmills. I have have some machined components that have artwork on them. I have the same part etched and one machined with a tiny endmill. I can post them so you can get an idea of the difference. Our CAD data just has text on it. Its upto the machine shop to decide how they want to go about "engraving" the art work (text among other things). They just need the DXF file. If it is simple text, they can program the machine on the spot and will not need a dxf file. If for whatever reason they need a dxf file, I can help you with that aswell.

Ok what shop do you recommend, thats what Im looking for. It cost me 30 for the sig556, Ill pick that up this afternoon

 

[TheSnail]

Here is a laser etched vs milled comparison. The teal colored plate is milled and the purple plate is etched. They are both 7075 aluminum. I should of put something next to the letters as size reference, but the letters are about font size 10.

If you wanted to, you could get an endmill half the diameter of the teal plate and have tiny little letters.

I spoke with purchasing and they said our best machine shops are out of state. They did not have any local recomendations, however, its a job any machineshop with a CNC can do. Though I dout you can have the mill work done for $30, unless its a small mom 'n" pop kind of place.

 

[mtdawg169]

You will have to engrave it if you formed 1'd it. Here is a site that does the engraving with some FAQ information.
http://www.orion-arms.com/

Also try Ident Marking. They have one of my lowers now.

Info page:

http://identmarking.com/index.php/sbr-logo-engraving

Order SBR engraving:

http://identmarking.com/index.php/shop/firearm-marking/ar-m16-marking-2-detail

 

[mtdawg169]

Funny I was just on that site looking for a company that will engrave. If Brian Ott answers me, I'll just bring it to him. If not I'll find a jeweler or something. Don't they do it?hahahha

You need to use a good machine shop that is familiar with the NFA engraving requirements. There are minimum height and depth requirements. Also, the use of a project specific fixture and computer controlled mills means that they won't screw up your lower.

 

[Clearance_Clarence]

Has anyone used Specialty Engraving?

 

[No2sc2]

Also try Ident Marking. They have one of my lowers now.

Info page:

http://identmarking.com/index.php/sbr-logo-engraving

Order SBR engraving:

http://identmarking.com/index.php/shop/firearm-marking/ar-m16-marking-2-detail

What's their turnaround time? I noticed that they said everything must be removed even trigger and the trigger guard.

 

[mtdawg169]

What's their turnaround time? I noticed that they said everything must be removed even trigger and the trigger guard.

Their turnaround is getting longer by the day due to the election. Best guess is 4-5 weeks right now. You may want to give them a call to get a better estimate. It used to be a couple of weeks. You don't have to disassemble the entire lower, just remove the trigger and trigger guard if you want it engraved under the trigger. Took me about 5 minutes. Some companies will only do a stripped lower. It just depends on how they set up the fixtures. They have to be able to get the mill into the area that will be engraved, so I don't have an issue with it, especially since I didn't have to strip the whole lower.