How to Get Started Quickly with Pneumatic Engraving Machines

Want to learn more hand engraving techniques than just using basic hand engraving tools? It’s time to get your hands dirty and try a pneumatic carver! Whether your goal is to create a creative decorative piece or to build a piece of joinery, you need a proper pneumatic engraving machine. It’s a machine-based carving tool, and the time and effort you’ll save by using it to carve your work will make it very easy and enjoyable. In this article, we will provide a quick start guide to carving with a pneumatic engraver, so that you can quickly learn about it and be able to use it soon after you purchase it.

Preparing Materials for Engraving

Pneumatic engravers are available for a wide variety of materials, and you need to know how each different material should be engraved with a pneumatic engraver. So before you start creating, let’s go over some basics about material selection. If you’re new to engraving, it’s best to choose materials that are easy for your pneumatic engraver to engrave on to minimize wear and tear on the machine.

Cork is the best choice, as it is soft and easy to carve, saves effort and is easy to shape. Soft materials such as carbon, foam, fiberboard, plaster, and plastic are also well suited. Hardwoods are equally suitable for pneumatic engraving machines, just move at a slower speed. Be careful of moving too fast, as the friction can easily set the engraved material on fire.

Basic types of engraving

Purchasing a pneumatic engraver will give you a set of engraving knife set, which can meet different engraving needs, there are mainly the following types. First of all if you are a novice, you can use the pneumatic engraver to practice the basics of engraving first. Use different carving tips to practice carving different grooves in the material. For example, to carve a long cut in the surface of a material, use a flat blade to carve a flat bottom groove, a “V” blade to carve a V-shaped groove, or a “U” blade to make a round groove. This is a simple way to add beautiful decoration to a plain, flat surface. You can also use a pneumatic engraver to learn how to trim the edges, flatten the corners of the material and give it shape. Of course, you can also use a pneumatic engraver to slowly learn the difficult techniques of relief engraving and three-dimensional circular engraving.

Choosing the Right Engraving Knife

While pneumatic engravers can fulfill many basic types of engraving. But most importantly, you need to choose the right engraving knife for your different creations. Here are some basic selection criteria.

• Straight knife: cuts straight lines, square bottom edge grooves, such as mortise and tenon.
• Guide Knife: A guide knife that holds the carving knife in place and is suitable for carving operations when rounding corners and trimming edges.
• Flat blade: carves a flat bottomed recess. Often used to cut off excess material and shape the basic shape of the piece.
• Guided Fillet Cutter: Used for edge sanding to round off the corners of the piece.
• V-Groove Cutter: Cuts through engraved material to create a V-groove in the surface of an object.
• Locking hole cutter: cuts slots. It guides the engraver to cut slots in picture frames or any object that needs to be hung.

Male locksmith worker processes metal with engraving drill cutting. The work of the dremel engraving electric tool. Industrial metal processing industry

Take good safety precautions

You need to stay aware of safety precautions and wear protective equipment when using a pneumatic engraving machine. Wear protective gloves to protect your hands from accidental cuts. Wearing goggles and a dust cover will prevent wood chips or plastic particles from being inhaled or getting into your eyes. Finally, wear a pair of soundproof ear muffs to prevent damage to your eardrums from the high decibel noise of machine operation. Safety work is properly prepared, you can rest assured that the big show.

The correct posture of using the engraving machine

After choosing the right engraving knife and taking proper safety precautions, you can officially turn on the pneumatic engraving machine for work. Once the machine is running, you need to hold the handle of the engraver in a slightly tilted position. This is the most correct position. This is because during the engraving process, the part that really cuts the surface of the material is not the tip of the engraving knife, but its side. Holding the knife at a slight angle allows for smooth engraving. Once the tip of the knife has entered the material, slowly return the knife to a vertical angle.

Setting the rotational speed

The rotational speed of the pneumatic engraver needs to be adjusted to the material being engraved. The rotational speed if not set correctly will make the material or engraving knife too hot and lead to burning. So after setting a reasonable RPM, don’t overexert yourself on the carving knife, move it smoothly and pause for a moment when you feel the material getting hot, so as to avoid danger. Novice if you try oak or other hard materials. It is necessary to turn down the revolutions per minute. Set the machine’s speed according to the RPM recommended setting information labeled on each carving knife package. To carve softwood materials turn up the speed slowly and gradually. Keep the material no more than 3 mm away from each operation and you will eventually be able to safely carve the piece you want. If you don’t know how to adjust the speed according to the guide, practice with scrap material first.

Conclusion

The pneumatic engraver is not that difficult to get started with, so just follow the key points listed in this guide and you will be able to master the pneumatic engraver quickly. Use it to create different engraving works. If there is still something you don’t understand, you can just click on the operator’s manual to see the full details.