slow it down

[John Cole]

Here in the last couple of weeks, I've been getting back to practice on my background removal. I was having tons of issues trying not to gouge the walls and generally making a mess of things. Then I remembered a thread I read that said to slow down the strikes on my engraving unit. Holy Crap, it worked wonders! I have an old model gravemeister that has been fitted to have two hand pieces. I have the large heavy duty hand piece and a light hand piece. I turned the speed all the way down and found that not only did I notice an immediate difference in graver control in cutting out the background with the heavy hand piece, but suddenly I was able to start really tapering my shading lines with the lighter hand piece as well. I also noticed that with the boost in confidence and better graver control, I was able to actually cut more efficiently and more quickly, thus actually speeding up the time it was taking me to do the work instead of the opposite.

I know this is probably old hat for most of the engravers here on the site, but for you newer engravers (and I are one) *SLOW IT DOWN* and I'm sure that you'll be amazed at the result.
side note: I (like most of us) have been drooling over a newer/better engraving unit. However, after this I'm really beginning to appreciate my old steady gravemeister. I will probably get a nice sports car some day, but till then this ol' Chevy will do just fine.

John

 

[monk]

let the chips fall where they may, i have had one a whole buncha years. it's kind of like the proverbial "timex watch". mine is still stroking as if new, and has never been factory overhauled.

 

[scott99]

This will date me I suppose but when the GRS Gravermeister came out I would have shed blood to own one. Well years later I was finally able to purchase a system and I got the long desired GRAVERMEISTER, mostly because that was the machine in my dreams. It has served me very well and I am glad I got it. I know people say they are too hot and noisy but that has never been a problem for me.

So my dream came true and after adding a bunch more stuff from GRS I am finally learning.

I love the service from GRS, I like all of their products, and love the way they stand TALL behind their products.

Hurray Gravermeister.

scott99

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

John,

Bravo! I don't know if it was any of the threads I have posted but I have been preaching that for years. I also asked many times of the makers of the pneumatic tools if they could make the tools go slower with power. No one seemed interested . So being as I am if no one wants to help I just do things myself. That is the main reason behind my designing the Enset.

You said it perfectly going at a slower speed actually made you get the work done faster. This is the same thing that happens when you do machining. If you go too fast you can only make a shallow cut in most cases. slow it down and you can make a substantially deeper cut and remove many more times the material in one pass.

I can say with certainty that if anyone is cutting and having to really push down to keep there tool in the metal than you are going too fast. Sow it down as John says and see what happens. Suddenly you won't be fighting to keep the tool in the the work piece . Then when you get to the hairpin turn you will cut it with ease . Just like driving a car you need to go the appropriate speed for the road your driving. As always don't take my word for it try it yourself and see if your results are as stated.

Now this doesn't mean that higher speeds are not necessary and there are advantages to them sometimes as well, But in more cases than not i would say that for engraving slower is better. I think today that with the advent of super high speed marching which doesn't equate to hand machining at all because you have special cutters for special applications and more so the flood of coolant makes it a different ball game .

The same thing has happened with the micro motor. It's high speed is great for many applications but it's low speed with torque is very much lacking. Polishing at super high speeds for example is good for flat and large surfaces but when you need to get into tight places you need slow speed with torque. I would suspect that most bench jewelers or goldsmith whatever you prefer to be called, that very few have gotten rid of there flex shaft because the micro motor replaced it.

One more thing to remember though and I just wrote it in another thread. All this is moot if you don't practice the most important skills to be an engraver which is drawing and designing. i won't suggest that you have to that before cutting but while you are learning to draw and design cut well made designs that already exist. You will be teaching yourself goo design at the same time and will be happier with your results which in turn will give you confidence which in turn will help you improve leaps and bounds.

Chris