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Here’s my Marking methods machine - I can print out any pattern, or text and make a negative type template to mark what ever…

Pretty cool stuff

And the results look like what? Durable?

I’ll dig out some of the barrels I have done, basically it etches / removes the metal through the stencil


You can make a light mark, or removed plenty of metal to do a SN to meet ATF spec’s if you need to.
I generally go 2-3 thousands deep unless I’m Cerakoting the barrel, then I go a bit deeper in the numbering.

Here’s a demo they have.. it’s on of the methods approved to mark aircraft parts, they just sell the system commercially vs. to makers… but I know a good deal of knife makers use them as well.

Very cool...thanks for posting it. -Al

So you can recut the roll markings on a welded barrel that had scope mount holes filled?

I can mark just about anything you want but it will be an etched mark vs. a roll mark.

If you can print it on a printer I have a photo-exposure stencil to make an etch stencil out of it - that’s how they do the artwork ones.

So font, picture, whatever… as long as you can print what you want I can pretty much make that mark / etch the metal with that pattern.

Yes.. and the deeper you go the more durable… It’s removing metal with a reverse plating technique.

If I use AC it makes a grey looking surface because it redeposits some of the metal after it pulls it off.

If I use DC and just lift metal off it’s darker and almost black.

I used one for a long time and much prefer it over hand stamps or a pantograph. We never had the printer but Marking Methods has or had a good art department that would draft up stencils for approval and make them for you once you approved.

This is how Gary Reeder offers free “engraving” on his guns if you want your name on one when you order. It’s also what he uses for his “engraving” packages.

I’ve been thinking about making that a service (marking names and images).

Great idea.

I’ve got an etcher. How much for a stencil that says “22CM” shipped?
Had a 22-250 barrel set back and it needs a new marking.

Thanks!

Nimrod - is CM = Creedmoor ?

There are a couple ways of making stencils, one if a single use stencil you can put on an old typewriter…. And as long as you aren’t rough with it, it will work fine.

The second is to make a film stencil template.. I have to got look at what materials now cost.. but I would recommend printing out the name.

The bigger concern is the typeface (how big of print)…

IF you have a printer and can print out the size of text you want I can just mirror that.. You’d be suprised how the size changes things.

My daughter has one of those Cricket machines, do you know if the vinyl used for the sticky letters would work as a stencil? Was thinking you could pull the letters and use the remaining material as your stencil on the barrel, would this work?

Pulllit,

I looked into getting one of those at one point (Vinyl cutter to make stencils)

In the end most stencil material has a super fine micro mesh in them coated with a film like material that is disolved so the etching process can pass the metal through the mesh.

The mesh is important because it holds the edges of your stencil in place when you touch it with the electrode and if you ever lifted an edge it would smudge things if it didn’t go down right the second time.

I went with a photo development stencil process where I print a pattern on a Transparent Slide, then expose photo sensitive stencil material to a UV light which hardeness the stencil but not the material under the printed pattern or letters on the printed transparency.

Once it’s exposed I use a solution that removes the un-hardened film that creates the stencil.

the good part is I can make any pattern that you can print… which is pretty darn cool.

Thanks, marking a barrel is my biggest headache when rebarreling a rifle. There is a place not to far from me that has a laser engraver. Last one I did, I carried down there and had a Sharpe line on the barrel to show the stock line. I told him I wanted "22 Creedmoor" and what size and font to use and that the engraving was to be above the line. When I got it back, I guess he missed the part about I wanted it above the line and 22 Creedmoor was etched right thru the center of the line. When I reinstalled the barrel and put it in the stock, 22 Creedmoor was half above the stock line and half below. I nicknamed that rifle "Kilroy"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kilroy_Was_Here_-_Washington_DC_WWII_Memorial.jpg

LOL…. Yeah it’s good to put a piece of tape on it where the forearm is so they put it above it.

And it better be tight when you put the tape on vs. hand tight because she’ll twist lower on you are well.

Those laser engravers are too pricey, but will probably keep coming down.

I use a brother stencil cutter and a 12v power suppy.

When I was in Colorado I had a buddy, Troy at Colorado Gun Writes laser engrave for me.

He does some beautiful work!

I try to do everything in house, I ever do my own bluing… a laser is so expensive if you aren’t doing mass production or other engraving it’s not going to pay for itself soon enough for smaller precision and or artisan type smiths