I came to this thread late, but thought I would offer what I do (thanks to Apollo working with me) and it is repeatable and consistent for me.
I am a jeweler. I primarily work with sterling silver and only engrave on the sterling so far.
For engraving, I use PreciseBits 2-flute ball nose end mill, their item number MN208-0250-004B. I also used their ME Lube on the surface of my metal after I have completed the zeroing before starting. To maintain the life of my end mills, I use a bit of Brown polymer MUPS that I buy from Enjen Joes Products.
My settings for engraving areā¦
I set up a contour tool with its unique number in Carbide Create.
The tools settings are:
Depth/pass is .001 in.
Stepover - .003 in
Feedrate 10.100 in
Plungerate 1.262 in
RPM 9000.000
Cutting Depth 0.001 in **** This is very important for engraving otherwise it will go to deep for what I do
Offset Direction - no offset
I too had problems with different engravers breaking. Once I got the PreciseBit and stuck with it, everything works great. Oh, and I get their end mills with the depth ring so my placement of the end mill in Nomad is consistent.
I use the blue wax to adhere my material to the waste board. I apply it with a heat gun and a palette knife, kind of spread it like frosting (thin enough that you canāt see the metal, only the blue wax) so the entire surface is covered. Iāve drawn lines on my waste board so Iām lining up my material correctly. Once I have the material aligned on the waste board, I use my steel bench blocks to secure the metal and let the wax set up so I can start cutting. I probably wait at least 5 or 10 minutes (which may be too long) for the wax to set so I can start the cutting program. I found it was important to weigh down your material while the wax was setting so that your surface is as level as possible. When I didnāt do that, I experienced uneven engraving too.
Now the blue wax is tough to remove and I have since found the white wax is water soluble. But I have a supply of blue wax and I actually like it. I have found that I can remove the excess wax from my pieces using a paper towel and the heat gun, wearing heavy duty leather work gloves to protect my hands from the heat. Once I have most of the wax removed, I soak the pieces in Goo-Gone and that allows me to wipe things clean fast.
Once my blue wax is gone, I will switch to the white as that will be a faster clean up.
Another important point I have found with end mills, have one for each type of metal you are working with. When I cut bronze or mokume, I label and use one end mill per material so Iām never cutting silver with one that I used on bronzeā¦it has extended the life of my end mills.
Hope this helps.
