Let me introduce ... Gatto from Italy !

[Gatto]

Hi all engravers,

I'm Ettore from Milano, Italy, my nick is "Gatto" (cat in english) and my "hello" in not "ciao" but "Miao" (miaow in english) 'cause all say i'm like a cat in all ..

I engrave only with CNC by now, but I feel my future is in hand engraving, this is the reason why I'm here to learn as much as possible from you before investing in air engraver.

If you want to see some of my "ugly" cnc engravings please go there http:www.gatto.com

Ugly because the feeling, the emotion and the "life" that an engraving made by hand is more and more intense that a cnc one. There is nothing to do.

I'm also trying to "emulate" acanthus hand engraving with cnc, attached some "on the fly" pics taken with compact camera just to show you.

Graphics are from Viljo Marrandi (http://www.knivesandengraving.com/20...1/#comment-211) I simply traced the artwork made by him with air graver on the Zippo lighter.

I hope to learn, I hope to share, even if I'm still cnc and not yet hand engraver.

Miaow

[Roger Bleile]

Benvenuto Gatto!!!

The answers about hand engraving are all here and members are willing to help.

May I suggest you visit the engraving glossary (glossario) to become familiar with the terms we use. There are many Italian terms within the glossary. You can find it by clicking on the word glossary in red at the top of the page or the link under my signature.

Since your photos are so dark, I took the liberty to photoshop one of them posted below. I am quite surprised with the detail you got with CNC machining.

This forum has members from all over the world but with all of the hand engravers in Gardone, I am surprised that we don't hear from any of them.

Buona fortuna,

Roger

[Gatto]

Originally Posted by Roger Bleile

Benvenuto Gatto!!!

The answers about hand engraving are all here and members are willing to help.

May I suggest you visit the engraving glossary (glossario) to become familiar with the terms we use. There are many Italian terms within the glossary. You can find it by clicking on the word glossary in red at the top of the page or the link under my signature.

Since your photos are so dark, I took the liberty to photoshop one of them posted below. I am quite surprised with the detail you got with CNC machining.

Many thanks for suggestion and for pic, I did it yesterday night at home with no quality :(

Originally Posted by Roger Bleile

This forum has members from all over the world but with all of the hand engravers in Gardone, I am surprised that we don't hear from any of them.

Buona fortuna,

Roger

I hope to meet italian engravers, I think the best for me is to see and try air graver to understand exactly how it works, I know a lot about CNC and maybe some guy here in Italy is interested in knowledge exchange.

About details. Nominal accuracy of my Deckel Maho working center is one micron and I have linear encoders on all 3 axis this mean that accuracy can be checked but, as always, there is a minimun tolerance on spring loaded diamond engraver so I evaluate accuracy near 5 microns. Drawing was hand traced from picture in CAD and CAM output defininition was 2 microns, overall machining time is near 80 minutes but speed can be further increased to engrave all the face in 20 minutes.

This is my first emulation and I'm still tuning the cam strategies to be closest as possible to hand engraving. The "black" is not paint but selective oxidation obtained with a "mix" of acids in order to oxidate only copper and not chrome-nickel. Paint is not solvent resistant and if someone refill or clean the lighter can remove paint. As I produce other things, I'll take you updated maybe with decent pics !

If you or someone can supply me a drawing of plain engraving already done will be interesting to cnc emulate it and compare results and discuss about that.

Miao