Cheapest laser engraver?

[kasperbunk]

Hallo you guys.
My very first post on the wunderful site!
Being an amatuer pipemaker and still figureing out my style. Im looking for the cheapist way to stamp my pipes. I allready own an traditional stamp and it's working okay (if I manage to squeeze it straigt on)

So my question is. What is the cheapist possible device on the market? only use is to stamp the pipe.

Being from Denmark, products sent from America is a no go......very high import toll.

Been reading post on engravers on this forum, and people seems to choose the 40w co2 laser almost 400 euros.

https://www.ebay.de/itm/CO2-laser-gravi ... Swi7RZNg-w


Is something like this even useful.....could there be any problems using this?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/1500mw-Bluetoot ... SwmwtaJQnr

Hoping for som good advice

[RickB]

So this is one that I've researched quite a bit, largely because stamping scares me shitless and I always fuck it up.
My understanding was that the second one moves the work and not the laser and has a hard time on rounded surfaces, so it's kind of out for pipes.
I've talked a bit with Martin Čermák (https://www.instagram.com/cermakpipes/) who uses the 40w CO2 laser engraver, and he recommends it heartily - he has a few videos of it working, such as this: https://www.instagram.com/p/BYsXhhTjep7 ... ermakpipes
Not cheaper, but you can change what you engrave a whole lot easier than changing your stamp, and it appears to be capable of finer detail (and doing things like changing pipe/year numbers is easy).
Pretty cool.

[sandahlpipe]

I've looked into laser engravers but not pulled the trigger. I stamp by hand because the whole point is not to make pipes that are like what's produced by an assembly line in a factory, but ones that have small imperfections that come from being done by hand. I have my stamps made at Buckeye Engraving. He does great work at a reasonable price. Depending on what he does, the stamps have cost between $100-$150 for me. If you're nervous about hand stamping, practice several times on wood scraps or stummels you've already messed up (I have a whole bucket full of such stummels with flaws) and you'll eventually get the hang of it.

I think a laser cutter would be neat for cutting intricate inlays, etc. But hand stamps make your pipes look less mass produced.

[Pillichody]

I have a stamp from Buckeye also. I sometimes have trouble getting a good impression. Would a press work with stamp? Or would it be to much pressure?

[sandahlpipe]

You can't really use a press, at least not a normal press. You (at least usually) need to rotate the pipe or the stamp from one side to the other. I've seen videos on YouTube of how it's done in factories where they have a multi-axis press for stamping, but that's way too complicated for me. I have had a couple of times when I've finished a pipe and stamped it only to mess it up on the final stamping. Then it's either back to sanding the stamp back or keeping it as a shop pipe.

I find it's fairly secure to put the pipe in my left hand with my left hand resting on a padded surface while I press and roll the stamp with my right hand. I also try to start with either left or right side of the stamp and then rotate the opposite direction. You don't want to try to go back over it or it will just look blurry.

[LatakiaLover]

Laser engraving makes a pipe look like just another piece of that roadside gift shop kitsch-crap that can be found anywhere for pennies:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw ... yEfzSafjNg

It also makes future re-finishing impossible to do invisibly should it ever be needed/wanted.

It also fills with wax that's impossible to invisibly remove.

The dead-square sharp edges also become rounded VERY easily from buffing (of any kind, for any reason), which instantly "kills the new" of stock that doesn't sell immediately.

In other words, it looks like shit on day one, then looks ever-shitter over time/with use. No exceptions.

The inventor of those things should be dragged behind a truck with a chain until there's nothing left but sparks. They are an abomination.

[RickB]

Jeez George how do you really feel?

[LatakiaLover]

Yeah, I need to stop being so concerned with upsetting people or hurting their feelings all the time. Story of my life

Sorry for being so wishy-washy. I'll try to do better from now on.

[kasperbunk]

Not at all upset or offended

[RickB]

Yeah, I need to stop being so concerned with upsetting people or hurting their feelings all the time. Story of my life

Sorry for being so wishy-washy. I'll try to do better from now on.

Ha, you know I love you George. This place wouldn't be right without you.

[LatakiaLover]

...you know I love you George.

I know nothing of the sort.

Nor do I want to.

In fact... ew



Sas! Get your muscular bulk in here... some creeper who pretended to be a pipe maker is hittin' on me!

[Pillichody]

Thanks Sandahlpipe. I will need to practice on stamping. I also may need to get a stamp with less on it. Maybe my initials Instead of my name till I get better at it.

[oklahoma red]

Thanks Sandahlpipe. I will need to practice on stamping. I also may need to get a stamp with less on it. Maybe my initials Instead of my name till I get better at it.

If you are not already doing so, try heating the stamp with a propane torch. Not to the point of turning red of course! You will need a good handle. Like you say, practice on scraps.

[pipeguy]

Yes ,I agree laser engravers suck so bad that Tom Eltang uses one

[LatakiaLover]

Yes ,I agree laser engravers suck so bad that Tom Eltang uses one

Which doesn't make what's wrong with them magically go away. It just means Tom either hasn't thought it through or doesn't care.

[pipeguy]

Well George I will agree with you on that
I get the craft and artistry part but I think in the
End someone is making there living through pipes
and like it or not they are saving time in labor by
Gauranteeing the result it's not right or wrong
It just is

[LatakiaLover]

...but I think in the
End someone is making there living through pipes
and like it or not they are saving time in labor by
Gauranteeing the result it's not right or wrong

That sort of thinking leads straight down the CNC milling machine road. As in, why not surrender all the steps of making a pipe to automated processes? (It can be done)

Plus, the "guaranteed result" you speak of isn't durable. Even if their initial appearance looks OK to "modern minded" people, it looks increasingly crappy over time. And that degradation is NOT recoverable.

Maybe one day all pipes will be unavoidably laser-marked (those hard, clear, clamshell product packages that 100% of the world's population loathes with a vengeance but can't make go away, come to mind), but it won't be from a lack of trying on my part to stop it.

[sandahlpipe]

When machines make something perfectly, nobody is surprised. What is marvelous about a handmade pipe is when it achieves near-perfection without a machine.

[pipeguy]

Yes Jeremiah, But I think you won't argue about the mind set
Hammers are great but air nailers get it done faster Unfortuately
It's dollars and cents to the builder.

[sandahlpipe]

That’s a horse of an entirely different color.

The value of a handmade pipe far outstrips the utility of a smoking instrument. If you’re a factory looking to maximize profit and minimize the variations that collectors find endearing, a laser engraver is the right tool. If you’re making one-of-a-kind pieces of art that people can relate to, it’s too perfect.