The Framers Forum

Hi

We do quite a bit of sporting related framing and we often get asked to add a plaque or the like into the piece. At the moment we use a local guy for this - he uses a silver or bronze/gold type of slim acrylic - it's engraved with laser and under the glass it looks fine. But my issue is that he can take a week to complete the item, sometimes it's already scratched when I get it, maybe the spelling or layout is wrong. He will always resolve any issues which is fine but all this takes time I'm thinking of bringing it 'inhouse' - does anyone know what I would need to make little plaques - is there an entry level engraver?? It doesn't have to be big as the plaques I use are fairly small - 50mmx200mm maybe at most.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Steven

Hi,

There are many listed on ebay like this one https://ebay.to/2G0NXRR and not overly expensive - looks like you will need a good sofware program and a bit of trial and error to master them.

Hope this helps you.

Regards

J

That really interesting and could perhaps be a great side line that would go well along side framing as a bit of a cash earner. I'm just wondering what kind of software are we taking about to be able to use a machine like that. It might even be good for engraving onto a wooden frame moulding alsol, So some interesting posibilies there maybe as well.

Are we talking about just needing something like Coreldrawn?, or are we talking about some really specialised engraving software?

Thanks,
Mark.

On the software front, my guy just uses Corel Draw to do all the design/text, then there's an application layer provided by the engraver that converts the 'printing' into laser burning It's pretty straight forward actually.

I've taken a look at those Ebay listings and it looks promising but it almost seems to cheap? The software isn't included but the cost isn't too bad anyway. Maybe that's all I need - it's certainly given me a path to follow anyway!

Cheers

jaybee173 wrote: Wed 26 Aug, 2020 2:54 pm Hi,

There are many listed on ebay like this one https://ebay.to/2G0NXRR and not overly expensive - looks like you will need a good sofware program and a bit of trial and error to master them.

Those are not much good, any laser engraving needs to be done in a cabinet, with extractIng to the outside or filtered, especially if using acrylic, can be smelly,
I have one, ( cheap Chinese O2 laser)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/142269672480?c ... 3kQAvD_BwE
which I'm looking to get rid of, I use Corel Draw to design the artwork, then use a free software to run the engraver.I have not really used it all that much, as I have been too busy to get on top of it, as it's using a laser , burning the material, I would not leave it unattended, what I have done with it, I have been happy with, it can only engrave /cut up to A4 in size,

I looked at something on the internet about laser engraving machines and the lasers in the cheap one's don't necessarily have a very long life. You can get replacement lasers, but needing to keep on replacing lasers makes running a cheap laser engraver a less economical option, than you might be thinking.

Hi Steve

I don't even think I'd ever need to cut something as 'big' as A4, keep me in mind if you ever do put your machine up for sale

Cheers
Steven

Hi Steven
I'm going to put it up for sell within the next week, but going to have it as collection only, as I don't want to spend hours packing it up, plus it very heavy, so if you fancy a trip over the water to the lovely city of Bath, it's yours for £75.00 , bring a big van, and see what else I have to get rid of

Steve N wrote: Thu 27 Aug, 2020 7:11 pm Hi Steven
I'm going to put it up for sell within the next week, but going to have it as collection only, as I don't want to spend hours packing it up, plus it very heavy, so if you fancy a trip over the water to the lovely city of Bath, it's yours for £75.00 , bring a big van, and see what else I have to get rid of

I'd likely be interested in Steven wasn't. I need something that size for an idea I have.

Jimupnorth wrote
" I'd likely be interested in Steven wasn't. I need something that size for an idea I have"
Thanks for your interest Jim, I do have someone coming to look at it next week, if they don't want to buy it, I will let you know
Cheers Steve

Hi, at that price I'd take it anyway even to just to have as a cool gadget But unfortunately, the distance I'd need to cover in order to collect it doesn't justify it. I did look at taking the ferry but even that was in excess of £400 for travelling over the weekend.

It's a bargain anyway

Hi Steven, that's heck of a price for a ferry, you would need to be buying loads of stuff to justify that cost, it would be cheaper for you to get a new one off eBay

Hi Steven
The most cost effective method for plaques is to buy a sublimation printer and a heat press. We use one all the time and it allows you to print off your normal computer onto sublimation paper and then onto sublimation aluminium. It comes in many different colours and it allows you to print colour logos etc too - they look great!
Printers are about £120 and heat presses about £80 so £200 all in and no special software needed either, word or similar is fine!
Feel free to contact me directly if you want more info.
I have an engraver and laser but sublimation is so quick and easy in comparison.....and cheaper too. Plaques work out about 50p each

The sublimination printer option is probably something that many of us don't know much about. What other uses are there for such a printer which are likely to interest picture framing businesses and their owners? It occurs to me that maybe the laser has the advatange of being able to cut shaped supports for use with object framing as well, so there may be other potential uses and options to consider if consider, which option has the most potential uses.

It may surprise some of you to learn that I bought a scroll saw, partly to enable me to cut small shaped supports for object framing and similar uses. If you are using "modified geometry" blades, it is possible to perform very accurate and detailed cutting of shapes from thin perspex, without creating burrs, or rough edges and it is very simple to print out the shape you need to be cutting to onto paper to stick to the under side of the perspex and to remove the remaianing paper afterwards.

So what are the other potential uses of these machines?

A sublimation printer and a heat press sounds like an interesting option. I'd be interested to hear more

Hi 'MountedMemoriesUK', if you see this can you please give me an idea of what equipment/materials I would need

Cheers
Steven

During my investigations into label making I came across the Cricut Maker. It can engrave brass amount ither things. Might be worth a look?

That should read "among other things"!

Hi Alan

Thanks for the tip - I've looked it up and whilst it looks like a nice thing to have I don't think it's for me at the moment. Now, if I had plenty of spare time and money I'd have one on it's way

how do you get the photo printed on the mount with windows cut out? Please advise on how to do this