Commercial Engraving Equipment

Commercial Engraving Equipment

Engraving has been a popular method of adding both beauty and function to various supplies for hundreds of years. As the technology has advanced and commercial engraving equipment has become available, engraved items have become more common in everyday life. With the lowered costs of manufacturing, commercial-grade tools and supplies have become more affordable; it is now possible for the home hobbyist to bring professional-grade engraving equipment into their own workshops.

The tools of the engraver have progressed from simple hand tools to high-tech engraving systems. While most hobbyists won't have a high tech, top-of-the-line engraving machine in their tool shed, many of the less expensive commercial engraving options are readily available. In addition, industrial uses for engraving has advanced the technology, and it can be found in a variety of manufacturing scenarios today. A few of the common tool types include:

• Hand Engraving Tools: These engraver supplies, such as the burin, are an inexpensive, no-frills way to get started with engraving as a hobby. Used by engravers for centuries, hand engraving tools can be used to engrave beautiful yet functional art pieces on a variety of stock types, including wood and gemstones. These tools are often employed in a method of engraving called diamond-drag or scratch engraving.
• Burnishing Tools: These rotating tip tools are designed to engrave various stock types by removing the top layers using friction and hard cutting heads called bits or tips. Burnishing is considered to be a fairly new process and is widely used to engrave glass and similar stock, although it can easily be used for most diamond-drag engraver applications.
• Rotary Engraving Tools: The most common industrial engraving machine type, rotary engraving tools use a spinning cutting head that can create deep lines in the project. Due to sharp cutting blades, high cutting speed and reduced friction, this type of engraving machine is suitable for working with softer stock, such as plastic, but is equally useful to engrave hard items, such as metal or gemstones.
• Laser Engraving Tools: A more recent advance in engraving technology, laser engraving systems are precise and virtually unlimited by the constraints of other engraving tools. The only engraving tool currently suited to engrave metals such as titanium, these engraving systems are used by jewelers and precision machine part manufacturers.

• Wood
• Paper or Card Stock
• Ferrous Metals
• Non-Ferrous Metals
• Plastic