Another will this New Heremes work for barrels?

Jay, I have a question regarding your vee blocks. Did you make the muzzle side vee block higher to compensate for barrel taper? I will be working on a set up for my engraver soon.
 
They are identical.
Good thing for cutting V at a perfect 90° is you can buy some aluminum angel iron and lay in the v blocks. Stack a few angel irons in the V on the tapered end of yer barrel and square up the end you want engraved. Light and heavy varmints and straight cylinder barrels I just clamp em tight and engrave them.
I can clamp dies and engrave them before I send them to heat treat. I have a die to work on I'll try to post a pic of that setup soon if ya want to see it.
 
They are identical.
Good thing for cutting V at a perfect 90° is you can buy some aluminum angel iron and lay in the v blocks. Stack a few angel irons in the V on the tapered end of yer barrel and square up the end you want engraved. Light and heavy varmints and straight cylinder barrels I just clamp em tight and engrave them.
I can clamp dies and engrave them before I send them to heat treat. I have a die to work on I'll try to post a pic of that setup soon if ya want to see it.

Sure, post em up. I will eventually need to hold a die to engrave as well. I have a bunch of 3/4" x 4" 6061 plate that I can use for my vee blocks and mount.
 
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I was finally able to get a vee block table made and mounted to my New Hermes. I got a 130 degree diamond drag from J&M Diamond Tool. Just waiting for a set of font clamps to come.

Everything seem is working very well. The vee block and clamp really holds the barrel in tight.

I did a small test on an old barrel and there is definitely a learning curve for tracing the letters with the stylus and at the same time holding downward pressure on the spindle. Definitely a coordination thing...

Couple questions...

1. Does anyone lubricate the brass letters with anything to allow the stylus to glide smoother and keep wear to a minimum on letter grooves.
2. Also, how many times do you trace a letter for maximum depth?
3. How long can I expect the diamond scribe to last?




Here is my set up and a test run. Notice the scratches around the letters where the stylus jumped out of the letter grooves. My period needs work too. Just need some practice.

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The letters will wear in as you use them. I started counterclockwise and I notice every once in a while if I for some reason try to go clockwise around the font it'll hang up on me.
It's like they got broke in one way and that's the way they work best. Or maybe it has to do with the direction the letter was milled.
3 trips around each font will give me the depth I want.
I can't tell you how long a scribe will last. I only broke one trying to get the same results with only 2 trips around the font.
 
That sucks. Diamond tooling is very brittle. I used to cut RC motor commutators on a comm lathe and a diamond bit was the defacto standard. They made the best mirror finish on brass comms. They chipped super easy if not careful and don't dare lend it out!
 
Gents,

For your consideration, a picture of the V-blocks I built for my New Hermes. The holes in the top slip over the dowel pins that stick out of the top of the vise and hold the jaws captive (I stole the idea from Butch Lambert).

If I have to grab a taper, such as on a barrel, a couple wraps of masking tape around the small side evens things out. I do scribe a pencil line on the barrel and do a "dry run" to make sure the barrel is sitting straight.

I have never used any support out towards the muzzle, even when grabbing the breech in the jaws...I just let it hang...and never had a problem. However, I will build something to support the off-side, just cause' it sounds like a good idea. Better safe than sorry...

All barrel engraving is done with the diamond drag tip.

Justin
 

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Justin, very nice job on the blocks. Unfortunately, my New Hermes is a pretty compact model and can't accommodate v block jaws in the original vise. I'm able to do barrels, dies and can put my factory vise back in without removing my barrel v block table if I need to engrave a flat plate or whatever. The only thing I am lacking is different fonts and sizes.

Do you have a pic of your entire set up.
 
My new hermes seems to make the nicest letters with one trace. Going back over the letters seems to dull the lines. Also let the tool cut- dont put too much down pressure on it. Once i learned all that my letters look so much better. I have 3 sets of fonts that wont fit in my double slot i need to sell if somebody wants to try them in theirs. They come in a wood box. Not hermes brand but nicer. Dont know what they fit but they should work in a homemade pantograph. They are so close to fitting ive always hated to get rid of em
 
Dusty, what degree diamond drag do you have? I just have one and its 130 degrees. I think I may order 140 or 150 degree drag to see how it works.
 
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My new hermes seems to make the nicest letters with one trace. Going back over the letters seems to dull the lines. Also let the tool cut- dont put too much down pressure on it. Once i learned all that my letters look so much better. I have 3 sets of fonts that wont fit in my double slot i need to sell if somebody wants to try them in theirs. They come in a wood box. Not hermes brand but nicer. Dont know what they fit but they should work in a homemade pantograph. They are so close to fitting ive always hated to get rid of em

Maybe they'll work in mine. Give me some measurements. I need some single line fonts. Email me at jaycutright@gmail.com
 
I think i settled on 130. I looked on the gravograph website and its the middle one recommended for stainless. Ill look afterwhile. Jay- ill get some measurements on em and let you know soon
 
I had a die to engrave so I snapped a pic while it was in my pantograph. Well, several pics. I found I had left out a character on a hand seat die so I polished it off and engraved it. Found another use for that spinning jig. The set up looks a little odd on that little hand seat die but you get the idea of how I clamp em in there. I make a small die sometimes so I don't have to mill out my Redding boxes to fit them in there.
The resize die is screwed onto a used barrel I sacrificed to make this tool for holding dies in the pantograph.
 

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Looks good Jay!

Speaking of font, I just picked up a full master copy set of single line scrip with upper/lower case, numerals, punctuation, special characters and a bunch of spacers. The scrips looks very nice on barrels and stuff! Here is a stub I did...

picsay-1404180216.jpg.jpg
 
How many passes are you guys using when you engrave? And how deep are you setting the cutter? I've been doing two passes with the cutter set progressively deeper. It comes out nice, but in two line fonts, it's not as nice as I would like.
 
Looks good Jay!

Speaking of font, I just picked up a full master copy set of single line scrip with upper/lower case, numerals, punctuation, special characters and a bunch of spacers. The scrips looks very nice on barrels and stuff! Here is a stub I did.
Looks good.
I'm wanting single line print. I have script and double line. You know how we want what we don't have??
 
How many passes are you guys using when you engrave? And how deep are you setting the cutter? I've been doing two passes with the cutter set progressively deeper. It comes out nice, but in two line fonts, it's not as nice as I would like.

Jaychris....you using a rotary or drag type cutter?

I am just using a 130 degree diamond tipped drag and I make 2 passes with downward pressure on the drag. Being a 130 degree drag, depth go only so far. I'd imagine to go deeper, 120 or a 90 degree drag might be in order, but may compromise or put more stress on the actual diamont tip and cause it to to chip or break. I do want to try a 120 and see how it works. I'd like a tad bit deeper engrave.

The stub done above is two passes.

I can see how a double line font might be tricky to engrave with, especially on a cylindrical objects.
 
Jaychris....you using a rotary or drag type cutter?

I am just using a 130 degree diamond tipped drag and I make 2 passes with downward pressure on the drag. Being a 130 degree drag, depth go only so far. I'd imagine to go deeper, 120 or a 90 degree drag might be in order, but may compromise or put more stress on the actual diamont tip and cause it to to chip or break. I do want to try a 120 and see how it works. I'd like a tad bit deeper engrave.

The stub done above is two passes.

I can see how a double line font might be tricky to engrave with, especially on a cylindrical objects.

I'm using a rotary cutter (w/motor), using a 1/4 circle carbide bit.

I might have to try a drag cutter though...
 
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