New to engraving from UK

[dave198700]

hi, i have made jewellery for a number of years, looking to try and add engraving, i currently have the pepe hammer attachment on my XL fordum pendant motor. can anyone recommend a good air powered graver please, i dont have a big budget unfortunately. i am looking to do mostly scroll work. many thanks

 

[monk]

you are quitting before you even start. good tools, sadly, come with good price. grs sells ht quality as well as excellent customer support. investing in grs is an investment in your success. don't fall prey to the cheap imported knockoffs. beginners all face this problem. those that are dedicated to the art alrays end up with the best. you can check the classified, "buy and sell". a few bucks can be saved looking there.

 

[oniemarc]

A small budget can be many things to many people. Some may find £200 a lot of money, while others will laugh at spending £10.000. How much are you looking to spend? That might get some better responses as to what would be worth looking into.

 

[dave198700]

A small budget can be many things to many people. Some may find £200 a lot of money, while others will laugh at spending £10.000. How much are you looking to spend? That might get some better responses as to what would be worth looking into.

£500 to get started, i dont want to commit too much to begin with in case i struggle with it.

 

[Gunsmith]

£500 to get started, i dont want to commit too much to begin with in case i struggle with it.

Hi I would suggest you put a bit more towards a Lindsay foot control system they go for about $1500 you can sometimes get them second hand , they are quality bits of kit and make learning easier, if you find you can’t get on it with it you can sell it in a heartbeat.

 

[dave198700]

Hi I would suggest you put a bit more towards a Lindsay foot control system they go for about $1500 you can sometimes get them second hand , they are quality bits of kit and make learning easier, if you find you can’t get on it with it you can sell it in a heartbeat.

do they ship to scotland

 

[rweigel]

Another advantage of starting with high quality tools is, if you one day decide to sell them again, you get good second-hand money for them.

It also works the other way round. I bought all my GRS stuff second hand. I got 20-35% lower prices for 901 hand pieces, Gravermax, Dual angle fixture and Satellite table. Just had to wait patiently until the devices popped up in the internet. Apart from one handpiece and the dual angle fixture, I collected the goods personally, so no risk of cheating me out of my money or selling me knock-offs. Tooks a decade to collect everything. Given the the level of engineering and quality, the tools will probably outlive me. I just lost the „5“ in front of my age…

Using GRS or Lindsay, you‘ll also avoid all the uncertainties and trouble with knock-off products. I started with a chinese „graver helper“ and was first repairing and then improving it for years. Worked for me reasonably well at the end. Then I got a second hand GraverMax G8 last year. It is much more powerful and better to control the my modified chinese machine.

Cheers

Ralf

 

[TwoRivers]

hi, i have made jewellery for a number of years, looking to try and add engraving, i currently have the pepe hammer attachment on my XL fordum pendant motor. can anyone recommend a good air powered graver please, i dont have a big budget unfortunately. i am looking to do mostly scroll work. many thanks

Hi dave
I have both GRS and Lindsay I started with GRS which needs an oil less compressor adding to your cost l use Lindsay’s foot pedal which can run on regular compressor and I consider the best performing by far
with your low budget you will have to go to used
if you are getting into ingraving this is the only way to go long term investment

 

[dave198700]

Hi dave
I have both GRS and Lindsay I started with GRS which needs an oil less compressor adding to your cost l use Lindsay’s foot pedal which can run on regular compressor and I consider the best performing by far
with your low budget you will have to go to used
if you are getting into ingraving this is the only way to go long term investment

i like the idea of the lindsay setup, from what i understand is they are rare used in the usa, so my chances of living in scotland and finding one will be almost none.

 

[ByrnBucks]

Good evening Dave, I fell for the 250$ knock off setup… took a whole bunch of personal engineering to get anywhere close to functional.
This produced a couple of things
1st a taste of a powered hand piece was amazing.
2nd Its sporadic performance made it clear, absolutely no progress would be made in improving at this wonderful art.

This made my decision to commit much more than my intended budget for a quality setup an easy one.
Unfortunately knowing the machine I had was junk made it impossible for me to sale with a clear conscience.

I never made one but Iv seen mentions of Shawn Hughes DIY handpiece and control being a good cost effective way to get started. This could save you the heart break of junk and not spending to much just to start out.

Here is a link to the video for the DIY setup “I think”
Hopes this helps a little and have a great week. BB