Drag Engraving - Diamond VS Carbide

Ok... I have a spring loaded drag engraver I use occasionally for misc jobs. I originally used diamond tipped stylus in it, but the diamond tip would snap off on some pretty insignificant irregularities. When I needed to do some stuff once, and did not have a good diamond tip on hand I chucked a broken carbide end mill in the lathe and used a fiber wheel to grind/polish it to a nice point. It worked well enough for the application on brass. I have since used it on aluminum, brass, and steel (tests on the side of a socket). With some steels it take 3 or 4 passes to make a nice image, but it works. What do the diamond tip drag styluses do that this one doesn't?

Well, on some materials (like brass) the carbide one does leave a rough feel if you run your hand over it.

Reply to
Bob La Londe
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Carbide, for one thing....

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

ROFL. OK. I hadn't thought of that. I guess I should get some diamond tip ones to engrave the sides of my carbide end mills. ;^)

Reply to
Bob La Londe

I have a Scripta grinder

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grind a pencil point and then make it into a "D" bit. great use for small used carbide endmills that you can buy for peanuts on fleabay.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

Got you to thinking at least...

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The last table is probably the most relevant

Reply to
PrecisionmachinisT

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