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This process is done by a very few, select and highly skilled engravers. The process can be done on aluminum or composite material that has a flat surface. This operation consists of the customer having the panel painted per the directions below. Painting the panel with a primer, a base coat color of the text approximately .005" thickness and finally a top coat is required. The panel is engraved through the top coat into the base coat, but without going to deep into the panel itself. That's why there are just a few engravers that can do such precision work, to cut in between the two layers of paint.
Pricing varies depending on the amount of text and graphics, size, mounting brackets that may interfere with the engraving process and complexity of mounting the panel on the engraving machine.
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OVERVIEW:
Sand aluminum panel, paint primer, sand primer to remove high areas, paint base color (text color) (minimum .004" thick), sand base color to remove high areas, paint top color, sand if needed, repaint top coat lightly if necessary, let dry, ship.
Detail Directions:
* Sand Aluminum with 220 grit sand paper
* Paint panels with a primer such as Zinc Chromate
* Measure thickness of the panel now to be able to determine how thick the base coat paint will be.
* Paint Base Coat (Text Color) to approximately .005"+ thick. Paint and sand as needed to achieve a .005"+ thickness before applying the top coat. More is O.K., but if too thick the paint may crack if the panel flexes after installation.
* Sand only the high spots until flush to surrounding areas. Common areas of concern are around the holes and edges which tend to have a thicker areas of paint. The reason for sanding these areas is because our engraving machine uses a nose cone to control the cutter depth. This nose cone has a diameter of 3/4" and rides on the painted surface, if the nose cone were to run over a high spot of paint it would lift the cutter away from the adjacent surface areas and the text would not be engraved or have a thinner line width & depth.
* Paint Top Coat as needed to cover base coat. Sand and repaint only if necessary.
* Let dry fully before shipping