# How I "Sign" the Bottom of My Turnings



## Dane Fuller (Mar 23, 2013)

The first step in my process is to complete the piece and apply the finish and allow it to dry completely. In this case I was using Antique Oil and had put on 5 coats. The last coat had been applied just over 24 hours previous. We’ll get to why the finish must be applied and completely dry later.
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Next, I take careful measurements of the foot. Normally, I use a more accurate dial caliper but, it seems to have grown legs and walked off from my shop. In this case, I measured and recorded the inside diameter of the foot, and the diameters of the outer and inner rings. Now, to the computer we go.
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CorelDRAW is the graphic design software I use to produce the images that are “printed” by the engraver. In this instance, I am producing a template, drawn to the dimensions that I measured earlier. It will be cut out of a scrap piece of mat board. The outer circle will be a vector or “cut” line, the other circles, text & my brand/signature will be raster or “engrave” image. One could easily sign a piece of paper with a felt tip pen, scan and insert it where my brand is. So yes, I could use my actual signature if I chose to.
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Here is the engraver. I've placed a piece of mat board on the honeycomb cutting tray. When cutting, the honeycomb causes the laser beam to scatter and lose power once it goes through the substrate, so there’s no “back splash” onto the material you are cutting. The red dot is just a laser pointer. It’s an alignment tool that shows exactly where the beam that will be doing all the work is going to hit. The engraver works off X – Y coordinates, just like the old style plotters did. The blue bar is the carriage that moves along the Y axis, and the head moves along the X. The template is now complete and I can tell the text will work nicely in the space allowed on the bowl foot. Notice the tiny black dot in the middle of the template. It is the most important part of the next step.
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Now, I’ll tell you a little about how this thing works. In the picture with all the arrows, the red arrow that points to the right represents the laser beam itself. It, as well as the red laser are shot out of the gun (yeah, a real laser gun) that is mounted to the front of the carriage on the left side. The second red arrow is pointing to a mirror that is mounted on a precise 45^ angle to the two laser beams. It redirects the beams through a lens (blue arrow) that focuses the energy into an hourglass shape. At the very invert of the “hourglass” is where the laser energy is at its highest. The green arrow is pointing to the manual focus device. To make sure your piece is in focus, the tray is moved up or down via servo motors until the device touches. In this case it’s about 2” from the lens, which is the invert of the “hourglass”. The orange arrow is pointing to the auto focus pin. It’s used when the engraving position isn’t as critical. The yellow arrow is pointing to the forced air tube. I connect my compressor regulated at 30 psi to the engraver. The focused laser beam generates a tremendous amount of heat in nanoseconds and literally obliterates what it hits. Most of the time it’s no big deal but some of the things we engrave are highly combustible. The forced air actually blows the fire out before it becomes a problem. Think John Wayne as Red Adair in Hellfighters. All that’s left is to place the template on the foot, align the red dot laser with the black dot on the template, remove the template, and press the go button.
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## Dane Fuller (Mar 23, 2013)

Here we have the bowl fresh from the engraver. Notice the soot and debris left around the engraved area. This is why I make sure the finish is applied and dry. If the piece does not have the finish applied the soot would stain the wood and the only way to remove it would be to sand it out. Also, if it isn't completely dry, it would increase the fire hazard and quickly get to a point beyond what the forced air could handle. Since it’s been finished, a quick swipe with DNA removes the stain and you’re left with a perfectly “signed” piece. I know this seems like a lot of steps but in reality it takes less than 5 minutes to do.
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## Dane Fuller (Mar 23, 2013)

Here we have the bowl fresh from the engraver. Notice the soot and debris left around the engraved area. This is why I make sure the finish is applied and dry. If the piece does not have the finish applied the soot would stain the wood and the only way to remove it would be to sand it out. Also, if it isn't completely dry, it would increase the fire hazard and quickly get to a point beyond what the forced air could handle. Since it’s been finished, a quick swipe with DNA removes the stain and you’re left with a perfectly “signed” piece. I know this seems like a lot of steps but in reality it takes less than 5 minutes to do.
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## Steelart99 (Mar 23, 2013)

Dang ... I "NEED" one of those!!! Dare I ask ... what does an engraver cost, and can it do metal also (I presume so).

Nice "bottom" 

Dan


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## woodtickgreg (Mar 23, 2013)

Woah now that's just cool. I have seen those lasers being demonstrated at wood working shows but never realized there was so much to them. I watch a big metal cutting laser at I shop I visit and it's really something to watch work. Your BLM bowl was already outstanding with out the cool signature.


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## Mrfish55 (Mar 23, 2013)

I sure hope you bought that for much more than signing your work, nothing like a 25k stamp, I have a 40w and use it to sign my work as well (at least the stuff that fits in the machine).


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## Kevin (Mar 23, 2013)

I was wondering what that thing looked like. Awesome. And thanks for the cool demo!


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## Dane Fuller (Mar 23, 2013)

Steelart99 said:


> Dang ... I "NEED" one of those!!! Dare I ask ... what does an engraver cost, and can it do metal also (I presume so).
> 
> Nice "bottom"
> 
> Dan



Dan,
This one cost $20k a couple years ago. It will "mark" some metals if Cermark is applied first, steels mostly. I've got a knife that has a logo engraved on it. They make different laserable aluminum plates for plaques and such.

Mrfish,
No, I didn't....LOL I use it in my "day job".


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## Mrfish55 (Mar 23, 2013)

Dane Fuller said:


> Steelart99 said:
> 
> 
> > Dang ... I "NEED" one of those!!! Dare I ask ... what does an engraver cost, and can it do metal also (I presume so).
> ...



Thats a pretty good price, when I was shopping for mine a 50w started at 25k and went up depending on attachments, in the end I bought a FSE 40w as I wanted one for personal stuff, didn't want to HAVE to work with it to pay for it, happy with the one I got but wish I went bigger.


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## Dane Fuller (Mar 23, 2013)

Mrfish55 said:


> Dane Fuller said:
> 
> 
> > Steelart99 said:
> ...



The tube in this one is hot and it actually runs closer to a 60w. I use it a lot, but not as much as I'd like. I love running it but my favorite part is figuring out how to engrave different things. Last year I engraved 120 Christmas ornaments I turned.


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## Mrfish55 (Mar 23, 2013)

Do you have a rotary attachment? been thinking of building one for mine so I can custom engrave pens, the possibilities are endless, I started engraving stuff onto the lids of my little trinket boxes, sales have been brisk but I need to be careful, my shop time is my fun time, don't want to get so busy that I have to get out in the shop, got a call from the local gallery that has my stuff this morning they sold 6 last week and want more! nice problem to have if your trying to make a living at it, I just use the proceeds for more tools, materials.


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## Dane Fuller (Mar 23, 2013)

Yes. That's what I used to do the ornaments. I've done pens with it too. I modified a pen mandrel to make it heavy enough to work with the rotary device. I'll take a pic and post it here.


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## oregonburls (Mar 27, 2013)

I have to get one of those. My CNC works but I like this better!:no dice.


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## Dane Fuller (Mar 27, 2013)

oregonburls said:


> I have to get one of those. My CNC works but I like this better!:no dice.



Yep, this works really well. You don't have to lock the piece down because no moving part actually touches it. Plus, you get that burn look.

*@Mrfish*
Here's a pic of the pen mandrel that I modified. I drilled out 1 1/8" pieces of solid acrylic, glued the end that isn't threaded into one piece. Then I threaded the other piece. I load the mandrel with 3 pen uppers at a time, screw on the brass fitting and then the acrylic round stock. The acrylic gave the mandrel enough weight to use it in the gravity cradle rotary device...
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## Dane Fuller (Mar 27, 2013)

oregonburls said:


> I have to get one of those. My CNC works but I like this better!:no dice.



Yep, this works really well. You don't have to lock the piece down because no moving part actually touches it. Plus, you get that burn look.

*@Mrfish*
Here's a pic of the pen mandrel that I modified. I drilled out 2 - 1 1/8" pieces of solid acrylic that are 3" long, glued the mandrel end that isn't threaded into one piece. Then I tapped the other piece. I load the mandrel with 3 pen uppers at a time, screw on the brass fitting and then the acrylic round stock. The acrylic gave the mandrel enough weight to use it in the gravity cradle rotary device...
[attachment=21541]


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