rweigel
Elite Cafe Member
Dear engravers,
I mostly post technical stuff here, not artist‘s work. This is just another of my technical posts.
I was always taken aback by the prices of GRS graver blanks in Germany. A 2mm CMAX carbide blank would cost me almost 25$, shipping not included. So I was researching sources for ultra-fine grain carbide rods with about 12% cobalt binder, and finally TRIBO Hartstoffe was willing to sell me 2mm rods, 300mm long for about 10$ each. In the start, I cut them to 50 mm, and got 6 graver blanks out of one rod. A good deal, I thought.
2 years after my first purchase, I had almost used up the initial 90 cm of carbide rod. I ordered more carbide rods. I had also bougth some 2.3 mm HSS rods, as they would fit the QC holders directly, without the „beer can sheet“ sleeves. It turned out that this „HSS“ did not have enough point hardness to be used as graver, it got blunt pretty fast.
So I tried to braze a 2 mm carbide tip onto a 2.3 mm HSS support, to save carbide and make use of the „a little bit too soft“ HSS rods. I made a guide to align both rods for brazing. It worked out very well. I use a 33mm HSS piece (those are 100mm rods, I cut them in 3), and a 17 mm carbide piece, and braze them together with LAg45Sn silver solder with Degussa H flux. See attached pictures.
Price: 10 HSS rods are about 6$, and I get 16 carbide tips out of a 300mm rod for 10$. So, the raw material costs less than a Dollar per graver blank. Plus a tiny grain of silver solder, some electricity for my Spirflame (electrolysis HOH gas generator), a bit of wear on my diamond cutting disc, and a bit of work. For me, this works out.
The first guide was of steel, and got contaminated with Silver solder at one occasion. I made today a new one of 6x6mm titanium rod, solder will not stick to it. I took the opportunity to take some pictures and publish it. The groove in the Titanium guide is engraved first, and than filed over with a square file.
Best regards,
Ralf
I mostly post technical stuff here, not artist‘s work. This is just another of my technical posts.
I was always taken aback by the prices of GRS graver blanks in Germany. A 2mm CMAX carbide blank would cost me almost 25$, shipping not included. So I was researching sources for ultra-fine grain carbide rods with about 12% cobalt binder, and finally TRIBO Hartstoffe was willing to sell me 2mm rods, 300mm long for about 10$ each. In the start, I cut them to 50 mm, and got 6 graver blanks out of one rod. A good deal, I thought.
2 years after my first purchase, I had almost used up the initial 90 cm of carbide rod. I ordered more carbide rods. I had also bougth some 2.3 mm HSS rods, as they would fit the QC holders directly, without the „beer can sheet“ sleeves. It turned out that this „HSS“ did not have enough point hardness to be used as graver, it got blunt pretty fast.
So I tried to braze a 2 mm carbide tip onto a 2.3 mm HSS support, to save carbide and make use of the „a little bit too soft“ HSS rods. I made a guide to align both rods for brazing. It worked out very well. I use a 33mm HSS piece (those are 100mm rods, I cut them in 3), and a 17 mm carbide piece, and braze them together with LAg45Sn silver solder with Degussa H flux. See attached pictures.
Price: 10 HSS rods are about 6$, and I get 16 carbide tips out of a 300mm rod for 10$. So, the raw material costs less than a Dollar per graver blank. Plus a tiny grain of silver solder, some electricity for my Spirflame (electrolysis HOH gas generator), a bit of wear on my diamond cutting disc, and a bit of work. For me, this works out.
The first guide was of steel, and got contaminated with Silver solder at one occasion. I made today a new one of 6x6mm titanium rod, solder will not stick to it. I took the opportunity to take some pictures and publish it. The groove in the Titanium guide is engraved first, and than filed over with a square file.
Best regards,
Ralf
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