Laser Engraving my barrels

[Carlos Hathcock]

Stopped to pick up some countertop supplies from an old friend and after touring his new facility, whad'ya know, he gots a laser engraver in there. They are in the beginning stages of offering engraving services, and have completed quite a few projects on all sorts of materials. Of course the wheel started turning so I brought him some things he could engrave for me. We did a loose stock RPR 6.5 Creedmoor barrel (obviously) and a mounted 6.5 Grendel barrel stainless (obviously). Apparently the stainless needs a special coating apply to allow the lettering to show up "black". I plan to donate my cooked 6 Creed barrel for them to experiment with various settings and tweeks.

Everything they laid out was from their own software and we even downloaded a logo from the interwebs. Was pretty cool to see it done.

I was surprised at the level of detail and definition this thing could achieve even at blurring speeds. I have a number of other ideas turning and will most likely be back there sooner than later. If anyone has any interest in things such as this, please PM me until the mods tell me if posting their information is taboo or not.

 

[Saltwater60]

That could be fun.

 

[GOPerfect]

Awesome!

 

[Acer-m14]

no " please smile" on the muzzle lol

 

[repete]

I have a laser but can only do flat objects unless I buy a rotating attachment for an extra 2 grand. What happens is the POI fir the beam HAS to be an exact distance and 90* if it hits at an angle it "splatters" or fans out a little and causes the engraving to lose detail. I've thought about buying the attachment and doing wine bottles, they can be done while filled and would be great gifts for wedding and such. But before I do all that I really need to learn to use the thing at it's full potential.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

I have a laser but can only do flat objects unless I buy a rotating attachment for an extra 2 grand. What happens is the POI fir the beam HAS to be an exact distance and 90* if it hits at an angle it "splatters" or fans out a little and causes the engraving to lose detail. I've thought about buying the attachment and doing wine bottles, they can be done while filled and would be great gifts for wedding and such. But before I do all that I really need to learn to use the thing at it's full potential.

He has the rotator as well for bottles and cups. This was a little unique for him because they never did anything with such a tight radius. It was able to keep the "focus" even as the barrel dropped away due to the radius. It was near the very outermost radius that it got a little wonkey. Locating the barrel perfectly in where it needed to be was a little challenging. It was kind of best guess. I think we were off by maybe 1/16". Next time I would do a simpler logo design.

We downloaded a ruger image and it had to be enlarged a bit to make some of the details visible. It's not an heirloom barrel for me so I wasn't worried about it. The barrel finish itself in relation to speed and power intensity was where it was hard to predict.

We did some test runs on annodized aluminum plate and the detail was pretty impressive. If you just want to do linear text, it's not a problem. His setup is pretty large compared to other table top models I've seen but I'm sure there's more bang for the buck out there.

 

[speedkills27]

thats pretty awesome

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

Back today for another round. Brought my friend's lower in for some personal touches.






After some refining and experimentation I got my actual barrel engraved as well.

 

[Phauxtoe]

I just bought a COVID-19 barrel with my corona bucks I was thinking of commemorating it how much?

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

I just bought a COVID-19 barrel with my corona bucks I was thinking of commemorating it how much?

I can put you in touch with them. It's a new "medium" for them but they seem to be doing well with it. He's been doing them as a favor for me since I'm "donating" my barrels for this. I'm sure it will be reasonable. Let me PM you his information tonight or tomorrow and you guys can figure it out.

 

[Robin]

Love to have access to that thing, my imagination just hit overdrive.
Robin

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

Love to have access to that thing, my imagination just hit overdrive.
Robin

Can pretty much do anything you want.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

A friend of mine bought me some really cool "Mountain" drinking glasses. The mountains actually project into the inside of the glass! Less room for booze but just increase the refill count and your all set. They also did up an oak barrel top for our upcoming annual ERGC raffle / summer picnic. I;m going to be buying at least one for myself and already thinking about future ideas!

 

[togmaster]

I need one of those barrel tops.

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

I need one of those barrel tops.

I'll bet. Demand is already gearing up. They are doing just about anything you can think of.....and believe me, I'm thinking.