We will show you how to engrave letters using a letter engraving machine, using pictures! This engraving method allows you to engrave beautifully on handmade wedding rings and take them home on the same day.
Machine Engraving
Hello everyone, this is Shindo from MITUBACI.
MITUBACI's handmade wedding and engagement rings and silver workshops offer three types of engraving.
The first is "engraving," which you can imprint yourself, and the second is "laser engraving," which is available as an option.
And another option is "machine engraving".
In this issue, I would like to introduce "machine engraving" among them.
At MITUBACI, we read "Kikai-bori" as "machine engraving" when we use a letter engraving machine to engrave letters.
This is the letter engraving machine.
It is difficult to explain the very distinctive shape of the machine, but I would like to explain it again in turn.
1. Fix the ring.
Set the ring in the middle of the round section at the top front of the letter engraving machine.
In the case of a wedding ring, three plastic parts and one screw part, for a total of four parts, are used to secure it firmly in place.
When setting a ring with a stone fastened, such as an engagement ring, the top screw part is used to secure the stone seat, and the remaining three plastic parts are used to secure the ring.
By fixing it in such a way, the circle inside the ring is centered and fixed.
2. Select a dial
Pictured is a circular plate made of brass. It is engraved with alphabets, numbers, etc.?
Letters that are not on the original dial, such as hearts and &, are created originally. For wedding rings, hearts and & are often used.
This brass dial is also set into the machine.
When the triangular pin at the back of the unit enters the groove around the dial and is fixed in place, you can engrave the letter where it is fixed.
3. Carve letters, 1st letter
In the photo, you are trying to carve "M".
Hold the stylus (the part with the pointed tip) from above and place the tip in the groove of the letter and trace the letter.
At that time, the lever on the left side is moved down so that the tip of the letter engraver touches the inside of the ring.
Because different types of metal have different hardness, the amount of force applied to the lever must be considered.
The letters on the dial are about 6 mm in length, but the tip of engraving the letters on the ring can be engraved with the same letters moving in small pieces.
Right hand: stylus (tracing letters)
Left hand: Lever (to adjust carving strength)
Eye: Check inside the ring
Because all three operations are performed simultaneously, it takes a skilled craftsman to engrave letters of uniform depth.
The tip of the engraving is made of diamonds.
In engraving, the engraving is struck directly into the ring with a hammer and the letters are engraved, whereas the letter engraver traces the tip of the diamond inside the ring.
4. Carve letters, 2nd letter
◆Tip photo (4) Insert text Next character
What happens after one letter is engraved?
Now raise the lever that was lowered when engraving the letters earlier all the way up.
At this time, the round part on which the ring is set rotates clockwise to the position where the next letter will be engraved.
Do not immediately lower the lever, but keep it in the fully raised position.
When the lever is fully raised, the triangular pin that fixes the position of the letters described at the beginning of this section has moved to the back.
The dial is then ready to be turned.
While the dial is still movable, turn the dial to the next letter, in this case "I".
When the lever is lowered, the triangular pin enters the groove in the dial and locks it in place.
Now you are ready to engrave the next letter.
This process is repeated to carve the letters.
Since the eyes are checking the ring, the hand is rarely seen when actually engraving the text.
Concentrate on the force exerted by the left and right hands in the work.
Until you get used to it, you may get confused about how to apply force to the left and right hands and end up carving too deeply, or the tip may come off the dial.
For handmade wedding and engagement rings, we use letter engraving machines upon request.
The actual ring will be placed by a craftsman, but if you prefer, you can also experience it on a silver ring, so please ask.
It is difficult to explain the process in writing.
We are happy to introduce the letter engraving machine when you choose a handmade wedding band so that you can check the actual movement.
Even if you choose machine engraving using this letter engraving machine, you can take it home on the same day.
There are many other tools used in the processing of rings that you don't usually see, and I will introduce them in the future.
Thank you for reading to the end, it was MITUBACI's machine-loving craftsman, Shindo.
