[HC in KC]

I am looking for an engraver that can do the kind of work that you find on a T&S Mfg RSP, these are 1st class. I think Sam told me these are laser engraved. I have bought from him in the past but since he switched to 100% plates they got too expensive. He only engraves his own work.

I've tried trophy shops...with diamond burrs....the results does not resemble the original roll stamps for this inscription. It's shallow and will wash out with sandblasting.

I've tried Orion, who uses rotary engraving with nice results but at $85 plus $14 for S&I, this causes one to hesitate.

Who else is out there that can provide a 1st class engraving at the $40-$45 level like T&S Mfg ?

 

[Lucky#13]

Remember that Sam is engraving only on his own plates, so he doesn't have to compete on a price level. He is already making money on the plate sale. An outside engraver, like Orion, has to be able to make a profit on the engraving alone. There is a lot of time and effort involved in reproducing the various historical engravings out there. That is of some value.

Maybe you can just take a picture of what you want and bring it to a trophy shop. They might be able to do what you want for a cheap price. Just be sure that they can really match the quality.

 

[HC in KC]

Where are the options?

This engraving thing is certainly making this build a whole lot more expensive if you have a blank plate.

Trophy shops just don't have the equipment to work in 4130 steel, they can't get the depth. The gun would probably look better with a blank side plate than with a feeble cut.

There has to be more people doing this kind of work.

 

[Lucky#13]

I think the challenge is that most of the plate mfgs do their own engraving now. That leaves little incentive for independent engravers to bother. They can't compete on price for obvious reasons. Orion took over his business from Steve Sawyer, who did a lot of engraving for many of us when there was less available from the plate mfgs. Orion's price is in line with what Steve used to charge, especially since some time has passed and things tend to not get cheaper.

What plate do you have? Is it home made?

 

[Steve S]

Check in your yellow pages for an Industrial engraver. I took a 17-4pk stainless steel (VERY hard) to one here in St. Louis and he was able to do it. You may also try John Norrel (google him for website...he makes the molycoat product). He has done some engraving in the past.
Steve

 

[tomt]

engraving

one of the problems we had with engraving was that everyone wanted a different style. there must be a million of em!! anywho, when you engrave a plate it must be perfectly flat ( we indicate each one in) it's a ton of work. and now add to the scinario, the atf. we engrave the inside with the required info( thats the law !) i have several request in to the batf for marking variences. some since aug of this year. some of my customers want their company name on the plate instead of mine( understandable right ?). i have yet to get my first ruling/ok on any of these request !! the last i talked to them it was approved by them , but it then goes to DC for the final. well you can about guess how long that will take. at any rate. it's a real hassle to do the things. thats why we quit. hope this helps explain why we did. tomt

 

[jmann]

The happiness with Ryan's engraving from Orion Arms will be unwaivered long after you have forgotten what you paid. Since you asked for a first class engraver, well He is the only one I trust with my stuff.

 

[FloridaAKM]

I have a 100% KMP plate that is not engraved. I found the solution to engraving by buying pre engraved plates to do my builds on. I am not cheap, just not wealthy enough to do everything I want to.

 

[Roc Rat]

What I would love to run across is the roll dies that were used on the original guns,,, now THAT would be a find.

 

[Roc Rat]

Check this machine out,,, I wonder if it could be applied to our kind of plate? http://www.numberall.com/products/presses/numbLet/m40B.aspx

 

[FloridaAKM]

I operated one of those machines many years ago that made tags for natural gas meters while they were in the repair shop. The tags were brass and relatively soft. I still have a tag or two where I made one with my name on it. I don't think it would work for plate marking.

 

[TARGSHOOT]

if ya want to go cheap there are always the hand stamps at least the serial# will look real. i have seen some good hand stamp jobs..if you are v.f.d "very few dollars" like me than its an option.......

 

[tomt]

stamps

before i did cnc engraving i used stamps. came out ver nice. what you do is get a rectangular block of stel. about 3/8- to 1/2 thick x about 1 " then i made rolls out of bar stock (2 of em ) , graduated to the thickness of stamps plus line clearence. then you need 2 guys to do the rest. try on scrap steel first. use the bottom plate as a guide. you have to do the math on your particular set of stamps. then i used a vernier caliper to move the block across the plate and hit. on the rect block you drill a hole then broach it square to the dim of your stamps ( most are 1/4 ") you move and stamp, move and stamp. each time measuring the block to the end of gun. it time consuming, but works real nice. then when ready for next line ,you use the smaller rollers. and so on. and only 1 hit !!!!!!!! more than that and it will double. so make the first one count. anyway, thats how i did about 4 of em. hth. tomt