Rotary engravers

[letterman7]

It seems that there is still a need for these, and there is literally nobody within 20 miles of me that has one. So, I'm looking (maybe) to get a machine but have absolutely no idea where to start. I know Roland makes one (or at least relabels a common unit). Is there a go-to for a "regular" rotary engraver? Right now I'm getting requests for the plastic name tags, some brass award plaques, stuff like that - and almost everyone has said they want to be able to "feel" the engraving. Makes sense to me - I don't know if a laser engraver would be able to offer the 'old school' look and feel of the rotary, but I know it would be able to offer much more accurate lines and texts at the expense of the depth.
Thoughts?

-Ricj

 

[weyandsign]

Laser can remove material from plastic and wood, so those surfaces have depth of engraving. Laser can't engrave metal like a rotary can. It's more of 'marking' than engraving on metal. You don't need to replace bits on a laser. Laser needs fume extraction. Rotary creates debris. You'll want to use plastic and wood materials that are made for laser engraving. Where rotary can use a wider range of material.

 

[letterman7]

Laser can remove material from plastic and wood, so those surfaces have depth of engraving. Laser can't engrave metal like a rotary can. It's more of 'marking' than engraving on metal. You don't need to replace bits on a laser. Laser needs fume extraction. Rotary creates debris. You'll want to use plastic and wood materials that are made for laser engraving. Where rotary can use a wider range of material.

Well, kinda my point. I have a buddy with a laser, but he can't do certain items. I am receiving more calls for engraving on lock-out tags and stuff like that. I have a 4x8 cnc for the sign end of things, but it doesn't have the resolution needed for a 2" square piece of metal. I'm looking for suggestions for what machines most engravers use as their go-to. I have a line on an old Roland EGX-30A for a decent price, but the seller doesn't have the software or dongle. Waiting to hear back from Roland if those can be purchased.

 

[weyandsign]

Yeah I would go with Roland or Gravotech.

 

[GB2]

Vision seems to be good choice in that area:

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Also, Xenatech was another in this area but recently I've seen they have a lot of complaints so I'd steer clear of them

 

[binki]

We had a small, table top Roland engraver and it did a good job.

 

[John Miller]

Google Bell ADA signs. aside from being a good source for volume ADA signs, they also sell engraving machines.

 

[Superior_Adam]

We have 4 rotary engravers. Xenetech used to be the top dog but once the founder died they fell back quite a bit. The other 3 that we run are Vision. They are solid machines as well. We use the 1212 for small parts but also go all the way up to their 2550 bed. You can laser plastic wood and brass on a laser it just depends on what exactly your looking for. A lot of our nametags are laser engraved now as they want their logos on them. You only really need to rotary engrave stuff if your wanting depth of the character like on police namebadges that are paint filled and such. For lasers I would recommend Trotec. We run 4 of their lasers and have been pleased over the last 15 or so years with them.