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Posted: 8/21/2010 7:29:12 AM EDT
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Has anybody had any luck with finding a person local to them like a trophy shop or other engraver for the engraving rather than sending it out?
What are you refinishing the engraved part with? Any worries the exposed aluminium will rust? |
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I'm in Florida. I found a local jeweler that has a CNC rotary engraver. With the "pen" stylus, it takes longer to get the lower into the vice than it does to do the engraving. My name and city are stored in this computer.
I use Aluma black to finish the exposed aluminum. The sooner the better since the aluminum starts to oxidize immediately near the beach. |
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Found a local machinist that is into NFA (he got his FFL and then his SOT) with a small CNC engraver in his basement.
He gave me a few discounts cause I showed up with guns he'd never done before and took a while to figure out how to lock them down on the table. 
Aluminum black for lowers, black Testors enamel for steel. Kharn |
| I walked out to my bench to see what I'm really using. Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black. I think Aluma black is a brand name but I'm not sure. I got mine at the local gun store. It was with all the other Birchwood Casey stuff. It claims that there is no dimention change which is good if you're trying to maintain the .003 depth of your engraving. |
| My jeweler invested 30k into his engraver. I have searched for CNC mini mills to no avail. I would invest a grand or two into a machine just for me and the members of my club if I could find one. Anyone find a turn key vertical mini mill that can run from a PC? |
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Quoted: Found a local machinist that is into NFA (he got his FFL and then his SOT) with a small CNC engraver in his basement. He gave me a few discounts cause I showed up with guns he'd never done before and took a while to figure out how to lock them down on the table. Aluminum black for lowers, black Testors enamel for steel. Kharn I think I went to the same guy. Bel Air, MD, right? |
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That's the guy Kharn Hes a good guy. Gave me a couple free examples of other parts he engraves when he did my lower. +1 For Harford Engraving Service, he also did my SBR lower. He has his own forum in the industry section now http://www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=2&f=398 |
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My jeweler invested 30k into his engraver. I have searched for CNC mini mills to no avail. I would invest a grand or two into a machine just for me and the members of my club if I could find one. Anyone find a turn key vertical mini mill that can run from a PC? Keep an eye out for used ones. Last year we scored a used Hermes Vanguard 3400 off of CL for $2500. We updated the PC (early 1990's vintage  ) to a low-end desktop running Win XP. The software upgrade was $1800.
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Has anybody had any luck with finding a person local to them like a trophy shop or other engraver for the engraving rather than sending it out? Ident Marking Services is based in Texas, as well as owned and operated by members Karma and ShortyWithAnAR on these boards. |
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Has anybody had any luck with finding a person local to them like a trophy shop or other engraver for the engraving rather than sending it out? What are you refinishing the engraved part with? Any worries the exposed aluminium will rust? If you are in Dallas I would recommend Identmark as HRT4ME already suggested. If you are in Houston I beleive Keith at NFA investments still does engraving. If you are in Austin I can engrave lowers if you can't find anybody else to do it and you absolutely don't want to send it off. Identmark uses a laser to engrave and that is about the best quality engraving you can get. I beleive that Keith at NFA investment uses a rotary pantograph style engraver as do I. My personal suggestion would be to send it to Identmark, especially if it is just an AR lower. In regards to blackening products, there is a difference between Alumahyde and Alumablack. Alumablack is an oxidizing chemical that oxidizes (or rusts) the bare aluminum black in color. It works well but you need to understand it's limitations. A. You have to use it immediately after the engraving is done in my experience to get a good result. If you take your SBR out shoot it, then order some Alumablack, and then apply it two weeks later it isnt going to work as well. B. If there is any micro-chipping of the annodizing during the engraving process where the letters are engraved but the annodizing ever so slightly flakes around the outside of the engraved letter, sometimes Alumablack won't blacken the area where the annodizing just slightly flaked away on the transition from the fully intact annodizing of the receiver to the bare aluminum of the letter. This can leave a slight white or gray outline around the letters. Alumahyde is basically a coating or paint. You basically have to do the entire receiver and the new paint is generally never as tough as the original annodizing and will scratch and wear over time. Your lower may also no longer match the exact color or sheen of the upper anymore (unless you paint both). The benefits of Alumahyde is that it will cover any problem areas or if you want to change the lowers color to FDE, etc. Hope this helps. |
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A jewelry shop is doning mine now (diamond tip?) but the finish is flaking of around the letters. I'll have to wait until finished product is done but not sure if its worth te savings or not. And here is why going the CHEAP route when talking NFA is a bad idea. Too bad you didn't just spend and extra $20 and get it done RIGHT. |
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i sent out my SBR'd sig 556 "classic" to be marked by ident because i wanted it to look nice - they did a good job. outside of that, i usually just engrave myself with a little engraving tool. looks like hammered shit on some of my guns. on the ones i took my time, you wouldn't even notice it's non-factory markings unless you looked closer. |
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