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Posted: 2/25/2009 8:41:10 AM EDT
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Now, I know Orion Arms does fine work. However I have a local engraver who is willing to do my SBR engravings on my lower. He uses diamond engraving machines. Has anyone done this form of engraving on their AR15 before? I am concerned about the type III hard anodizing chipping or something...heard somewhere on the net to express this concern to the engraver....who assured me his equipment is sharp. He has not done an AR15 before, but I know someone who had him do unfinished suppressors...which turned out great.
Also, what is the best to use to re-blacken the engraving? |
| just make sure he does it facing the right way. I saw a post a while ago - a guy had a friend do it (it looked great, BUT...). He engraved it upside down! it was on his upper, under the pic. rail, so if you stood next to him while he was aiming down range, you would see an upside-down word. NOT a happy camper. Be absolutely clear where and what direction and what you criteria are for satisfactory work. |
I will most likely be there as he does the work. I am engraving my lower, so I hope he can get it right. This is a trophy/engraving shop. I just realized I have an upper receiver I just funked up that I will probably have him do a test engraving. Still wondering if anyone else has used this method and what their results were.
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You're talking about an actual diamond engraver (a large, manual machine) versus a hand-held diamond engraver pen, right? This (the machine) is how I did my lower, and it turned out really nice. I went to the jewelery section in a large gun/pawnshop where they had one of these old manual engravers, and he had me stand there while he did it so that I could make sure everything was right. Not all lower finishes are the same, so they may take it differently.....the one I did is an RRA lower. The Doublestar lowers seem to have a different and thicker finish which may not handle it as well. Or, they may do fine.
Btw, I first had a guy with a hand-held pen try it....the engraving looked very nice, but his pen couldn't get through the finish. The 'engraving' from the pen will appear and disappear depnding on the angle you hold it to in the light. He did a skull on the right side magwell, and this makes for a cool effect in that respect, just not for the required text. The diamond machine however, will most definitely go through the finish to the aluminum. In the event the finish on your lower does chip up any, you should be able to hit it with some aluma black and it shouldn't be noticable. |
| I used a local trophy shop to have my SBR lower engraved. They use a "diamond drag" digital engraving machine. The problem I found was that even after they turned up the pressure all the way, the engraver only engraved slightly into the finish (hard coating on the receiver). I thought it was going to be a deeper engraving than it was, but it looks like it will barely pass the depth requirements. The other problem is that it chipped the finish around the lettering a little and looks sloppier than I had hoped. I used aluminum black to subdue the engraving in spots where it chipped and aluminum was showing in little specs around the letters. I guess I got what I paid for at under $10, but I would have spen more to get a nicer job done had they warned me that the machine may not go through the finish very well. I have seen a Glock they did and it turned out perfect though. It had a Sheriff's star on it and some lettering and it looks amazing, so I think it's just the tough coating on my Stinger Arms (Mega Machine) lower that caused the problem. I'm probably going to use them to engrave a tube for a silencer when I get the papers back and buy some material. I've got to call and see if they can engrave on curved surfaces. Good luck! |
| Thanks for the info. I took the bunged up upper receiver to the trophy engraver to try to engrave. Same as you, it chipped the anno around the lettering. He did 2 passes and it certainly got into the aluminum and was deep enough. He threw some aluma black onto the engraving, but the chips didn't darken. Once home I darkened the chipping with a sharpie just to see what would happen. It covered the chips, but then you could see the sharpie marks on the receiver. I'm going to see if I can find some aluma black locally. I want to try degreasing the upper and reapplying the aluma black. |
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The machine they used on my lower was a manual machine....they set up one line of lettering at a time with a template, and then hand-dragged each letter. Pretty elaborate machine for being so old and manual. Maybe there is a difference in the tips(?), but I didn't get any chipping in my lower, and it's cut pretty dang deep. It's a Rock River lower, so maybe it's a difference in finishes(?).
Anyway, just to see what the results would be I tried Aluma Black on a test letter they made under the grip....it looks like it was engraved before the lower was ever finished. Pretty good stuff. |
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I had a local trophy shop do my SBR lower. Mine is a DPMS. There was no chipping. It took about 3 passes but it is well below the black finish. It looks great and only cost me $15.
I have noticed that when I assembled a Stag lower, the finish chipped around the hole for the trigger guard pin. On the 3 DPMS receivers I assembled there was no chipping. I believe DPMS puts a Teflon coating on their receivers. |
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