Engraving and Cutting Tools.
Engraving, Workholding and Industrial Products.

Engraving and Cutting Tool Feeds and Speeds

• Feeds and Speeds of Engraving - Rigid Toolholder
   
• Feeds and Speeds of Engraving - Spring Loaded Engraving Tool
   
• Feeds and Speeds - Endmills
   
• Printable Version of this page - Feeds and Speeds

Engraving with a Rigid Tool
Engraving Tool Feed and Speed Recommendations

Plunge Feed to Depth at 50% of feedrates listed above. Typical engraving depths for permanently marking workpieces are 0.005” – 0.010”.

Notes: To reduce tip breakage on tougher materials or if small tip widths are being used, reduce feedrates above by 50% and make shallow passes (0.001" depth per pass or less is not uncommon on very tough materials). Use of the Tough Tip tool will allow faster feedrates at deeper cuts in tough materials.

Use of the Spring Loaded Engraving Tool will allow significant increase of feedrates and reductions in cycle times. At feedrates above 15 ipm ensure the high speed lookahead feature is enabled on the cnc machine to prevent rounding of corners and sudden starts and stops in corners.

Use of coolant will extend the life of the engraving toolbit.

Engraved lines that appear rough or jagged are usually caused by a dull toolbit or material buildup on the end of the toolbit. Material buildup mostly occurs with gummy materials such as aluminum or copper. Too fast a feedrate or too deep a cut may not allow the material to be cleanly cut. Taking a finishing pass of .001" - .002" deep at a slower feedrate can be used to reduce any burring or jagged edges. Using coolant to engrave helps reduce this buildup. Engraving Cutters are available specifically for softer materials.

Variations in the above table may be required depending on material being engraved and cutting conditions. Consider the above recommendations as a starting point.

Engraving with a Spring Loaded Engraving Tool
Engraving Tool Feed and Speed Recommendations

• Plunge the tool to depth at a rapid feedrate.  For example: G1Z-0.020F350 or G0Z-0.020 
   
• Decrease the feedrate to produce deeper more pronounced marks and increase the feedrate to produce shallower less pronounced marks. 
   
• When engraving tougher materials, use of the Tough Tip engraving toolbit is recommended. 
   
• Ensure the high speed look ahead feature is enabled on the cnc machine to prevent rounding of corners due to the high feedrates required.
  
  It has been observed that when using the latest generation of cnc machines, the fastest feedrate actually obtained when engraving letters 0.200" tall is approximately 80ipm. Increasing the spindle speed beyond 7500RPM requires feedrates that the cnc machines are not capable of providing and provides no additional benefit in cycle time reduction.
  
   
• The 3/4" Shaft Standard Spring Loaded Engraving Tool has been tested up to 10,000 RPM.
  
   
• The 1/4" Shaft Mini Spring Loaded Engraving Tool should not be used at speeds above 3000RPM.
• The 1/2" Shaft Mini Spring Loaded Engraving Tool should not be used at speeds above 7500RPM.
  (RPM speeds for the Mini Spring Loaded Engraving Tools are due to the reduced shaft diameter. Bending of the shaft may occur at higher RPMs).

Use of coolant will extend the life of the engraving toolbit.

Since the Spring Loaded Engraving Toolholder uses a spring to provide the downward pressure against the toolbit, in general, slower feedrates produce deeper more pronounced marks and faster feedrates produce shallower less pronounced marks.

Slow feedrates allow the spring to press the toolbit into the material being marked for a longer period of time and therefore produce a deeper mark. (i.e. if you completely stop feeding the tool, it will just drill down into the material until it is fully extended.)

Fast feedrates cause the toolbit to skim over the material being marked and produce a less pronounced mark. Too fast of a feedrate will cause the tool to skip over the material without cutting it and will produce marks that appear as dotted lines.

A depth controlling nosepiece is available for absolute depth control.

The feeds and speeds listed above are a good place to start and have been used successfully to engrave a wide variety of materials including aluminum, stainless steel, glass, and plastic parts. Increase or decrease the feedrates to achieve the desired results. Note that as you increase your spindle speed, your feed rates increase also. If you do not have a "look-ahead" feature on your machining center or CNC machine, fast feed rates may create a rounding affect on your engraved lettering.

The depth of cut (total amount of spring travel) can be up to .40". For standard engraving on flat surfaces, a depth of approximately Z-0.020 will compensate for normal material irregularities.

ENDMILL FEED AND SPEED RECOMMENDATIONS

IPM = (No. of teeth) x IPR x RPM

FOR SLOTTING APPLICATIONS:  Reduce Speed to approximately 80% of the lower values for the particular material being machined.

AXIAL DEPTH OF CUT:  These recommendations are for axial depths of cuts not to exceed 1 times the cutter diameter. On tougher materials, depths per pass as low as 0.001" are not uncommon.

NOTE:  Variations in the above table may be required depending on material being machined and cutting conditions. Consider the above recommendations as a starting point.