Thought you guys might like this.

Post by **Jacampb2** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:36 pm

I spent some time screwing with my CNC mill today. Engraved an O/S PG logo in aluminum, and in plexi. I didn't have any proper engraving cutters, so I just gave it a shot with an old drill. Came out pretty good, the plexi was just a piece of scrap, but I think I am going ot engrave some in thicker plexi and side light them with LED's for a nice touch in my Bronco install.

Here are the pictures:

And here is a link to a crappy video of it cutting the plexi. I have got to remember to take the camcorder to the shop one of these days. Shooting video with a digital camera sucks.

http://www.rollmeover.com/bronco_fab/am ... _plexi.wmv

Later,
Jason

joyride · Post by **joyride** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:40 pm

I do believe that you are going to be getting some business from this phorum! Those look great, and with the right cutters they will be perfect. As soon as I get some expendable income, I know exactly what I may be hitting you up for.

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:51 pm

Looks pretty good.

Post by **Jacampb2** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:00 pm

Yeah, I started one before these shown and I actually *had* a old 3/32 ball end engraver. I started cutting, it had a great, really fine line, good detail, but it wasn't cutting deep enough, so in a bone head move I reset the depth to .5" instead of .005", and sunk it through the aluminum and broke it off. Tried every near by hardware store for a replacement, but everyone was closed on Sunday afternoon :p

I will order some and get back on it on my next day off, next friday.

Later,
Jason

andy600rr · Post by **andy600rr** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:20 pm

Jason, that's sweet as!

I'm sure you'll be doing lots of contract work for Phorum members like joyride said.

rlockwood · Post by **rlockwood** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:14 pm

*sigh*

#1 (1/8) carbide center drills work best. .01 deep.

Post by **Wakeup** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:49 pm

Nice work Jason! Awesome...as stated I am sure you'll be getting some jobs lined up!

You should let us know your rates!

marko · Post by **marko** » Sun May 04, 2008 10:15 pm

awsome!!

nico boom · Post by **nico boom** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:29 am

I see possability's here..

gkitching · Post by **gkitching** » Mon May 05, 2008 5:54 am

That metal piece looks curved. Was that done before or after the engraving? In other words, can you engrave on non-flat surfaces?

thingy · Post by **thingy** » Mon May 05, 2008 6:06 am

what kind of CAD do you use ? - might like to have a copy if i get some extra time at work

denim · Post by **denim** » Mon May 05, 2008 7:31 am

Very cool!

Post by **Jacampb2** » Mon May 05, 2008 7:50 am

gkitching wrote:That metal piece looks curved. Was that done before or after the engraving? In other words, can you engrave on non-flat surfaces?

It is just 16g aluminum sheet I had kicking around the shop. It is slightly curved because of the way it was stored. I tried very hard to get it held down for the engraving, but it was still tweaked up in the middle. There are better ways to fixture it than what I did, but I had limited time to play and limited stuff on hand.

Once I have the 4th axis up and running, I *should* be able to engrave on something round, but I don't even know how to begin setting it up yet

thingy wrote:what kind of CAD do you use ? - might like to have a copy if i get some extra time at work

I use Acad 2006. I pulled the logo from the M100 manual in the PG manuals link at the top of the board. I re-sampled it to an ungodly large size, and then sharpened the edges in photoshop. Then I used the demo version of Magic Tracer 2.0 to vectorize the image. Re-scaled the vector image in Acad. Sent it to CamBam for post processing. CamBam allows me to set up the engraving operation and post G-code to the mill.

Later,
Jason

marko · Post by **marko** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:15 am

there's lots of money to be made here, i'm sure lots of us including myself would pay for good work like that, i'm impressed

Post by **Rold Gold** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:39 am

I'm in line right now!!!!!!!

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:50 am

A bit risky but some M-series cases engraved and then re-finished would look pretty damn sick!

Post by **Rold Gold** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:12 am

fuzzysnuggleduck wrote:A bit risky but some M-series cases engraved and then re-finished would look pretty damn sick!

What's risky?

Post by **fuzzysnuggleduck** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:59 am

FuzzyHoNutz wrote:
fuzzysnuggleduck wrote:A bit risky but some M-series cases engraved and then re-finished would look pretty damn sick!
What's risky?

Well, if for whatever reason the process goes bad or you choose the wrong thing to engrave through bad judgement, you have an ugly broken case. You can't easily refinish an engraved surface! (well, you *could* bondo in the engraving but yuck!)

Post by **Rold Gold** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:10 am

I see. Yeah, not to mention that the material isn't exactly cheap either.

I've been playing with an idea for quite some time now that has some engraving.

M100 and an M44 in an aluminum case, anadized black with all of the original silk-screening engraved. And another with 2-M50's and an M25 to match. I'd like to make a cover for my eq215 also.

Post by **Jacampb2** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:20 am

Got your PM, I will try to reply later, I am at work right now w/ limited time to be online.

Long story short, Let me do my own M100/M44 case and see if you like the results.

In my case, the case will be all new and custom made by myself, so if it sucks, it is no big deal. I wouldn't even think about screwing with a good condition factory case.

In my situation, both the M100 (the kicker amp on ebay) and the M44 are pretty beat up cosmetically to begin with.

Later,
Jason

Post by **AVICJR** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:30 pm

Jacampb2 wrote:I wouldn't even think about screwing with a good condition factory case.

Save the case if possible.

Another option that would look sweet is take the covers off of the amps, install them "butted" together, cut a plexi and lay across the top to show off the insides. Maybe shoot a blue colored light off the top so that the amps/plexi glows blue. It would look like one giant amp.

itchnertamatoa · Post by **itchnertamatoa** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:46 pm

I should have a spare M50 cover you could play with.

of course I'll keep it if the end work is good

Post by **Jacampb2** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:41 pm

Thanks guys! Like I said, the M100 Case I have is plain white now that I scrapped the blasphemous kicker sticker off of it. I may strip it, and engrave and repaint it. I may have to hit someone up for high resolution images of the M series covers. It takes a lot of time to vectorize the image, even with decent software. In all actuality, it would probably be faster to hand trace it to start with, then messing with photoshop...

I have what I think is a killer idea for a M100/M44 combo. Basically, new one piece bottom, amps end to end, but with a 3" wide gap between them. In the center will be forced cooling duct to cool both sinks, and tackle the job of tying them together with out looking ghetto. Two 3 inch fans in the center. Full width aluminum cover, engraved, possibly with plexi inserts.

I am thinking of calling it the Route 666. Ghey? I think it would be an evil combo. I am working on drawing it up in Acad.

You all inspired me to put in an order for more engraving stuff. I just dropped $60 on engraving cutter. If any of you want me to try a certain logo, or graphic, send me an image, PM me for my email addy.

Later,
Jason

Post by **AVICJR** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:45 pm

Let me know if you need a hi-res scan of the covers (M100 and M44).

Irongoats · Post by **Irongoats** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:17 pm

So where do we sign up...