why am i having problems with in-filling engraving?

[David Smith]

Hello Ady.
How are you running the ink into the letters and what type of ink/paint are you using?
I fill my plates by using cellulose paint thinned down to make it flow easily, putting some paint on a piece of card, size varies according to the width of engraving and then drag over the engraving. I’m then left with the letters filled with paint and paint on the brass. After about an hour, just as the paint has dried, I get a smooth disc about 20mm diameter, wrap a piece of cotton tightly around it, put some thinners on it and gently wipe accross the plate in the direction of the grain to remove the excess paint. After that let it harden off and then just wipe over with the cloth.
If I’m filling a large engraved area I tend to use a brush and just lay the paint into the engraving.
I think paint filling machines and pens are available from people like Accuflow and Mastergrave but as I understand it they are only really suitable for larger letters with a bit of width.
Hope some of this makes sense,
David

[Dave & Rob Lowery]

Hi andy,

went to my dentist some time ago and the hygienist used a needle on my gums but the needle part was a soft plastic. I asked if I could have a couple of the syringes and these floppy needle attachements to try for infilling brass and they work great. Had a problem getting them off the supplier due to the fact they only supply dentists, but in the end, they supplied them. They are great, use them once or twice and throw them away. If you pm me your address, I will stick a couple in the post for you to try. I use cellelose paint in them.

Dave

[David Rogers]

Two methods I’ve used – one for large text, the other small.

Small: Thinned Cellulose based paint (apx 50/50) – use non-blooming thinners. Paint should be of a medium consistency (double cream?)

Use a non-scratching ‘scraper’ to drag the flood of paint from one end of the plaque to the other (I used scraps of gravoply), do a line at a time if you want. Removing excess. Allow to dry for 10 mins, then using a cheap A6 pad of paper (the whole pad) slightly soak the top sheets in thinners and drag it over the surface, when it’s ‘dirty’, rip it onto the next clean sheet & repeat (keep it damp). The alternative to jotter pads is to get a rubber sanding block and wrap hand towel round it (non-fluffy) – soak lightly in thinners and unwrap as required to reveal clean paper. It should be kept tight to give a flat surface. Great for small labels, acrylic, brass & st/stl.

Large: Get a supply of cheap nylon bottles with nozzle caps, fill with thinned paint (single cream) & flood the sections. If you’re careful and don’t overfill you shouldn’t get any flowing out and it’ll dry perfectly. If you do overfill, let it almost dry and use the above method(s) to clean it us.

ps. If you can get a glass syringe & some st/steel blunt needles they’ll last for years. Have used them for bonding acrylic with liquid chloroform – nasty stuff! Just clean them well!!

[Rodney Gold]

Flood fill with automotive duco or the like and wipe off excess is the best. We use pieces of post toastie boxes etc cut with a nice straight edge to both flood fill and wipe off excess, removal of excess properly or as much as you can will make life easy later.
However using thinners is a problem on wider letters where it tends to scoop out the middles etc , the key to stopping this is 2 fold , 1 use a VERY thin t-shirt type material stretched across a nice piece of flat stuff (we use scrap perspex) as your removal tool , lightly moistened and 2) Use meths not thinners , meths will remove excess and it wont dull the shiny paint finish and neither will it scoop out the inners of large area fills.

[Mike Grant]

quote Rodney Gold:

We use pieces of post toastie boxes etc

Thats a CORN FLAKES box to the uninitiated. :lol1: :lol1:

[Mike Grant]

Sorry I should have added that I use a syringe and needle from an inkjet refill kit. The plastic does not melt with cellulose paint and the needle is just the right thickness to flood the letters without making a mess. Just clean up the odd bit of overflow afterwards with the disk and fluffless rag jobbie.

[Adrian Neill]

quote Dave Lowery:

Hi andy,

went to my dentist some time ago and the hygienist used a needle on my gums but the needle part was a soft plastic. I asked if I could have a couple of the syringes and these floppy needle attachements to try for infilling brass and they work great. Had a problem getting them off the supplier due to the fact they only supply dentists, but in the end, they supplied them. They are great, use them once or twice and throw them away. If you pm me your address, I will stick a couple in the post for you to try. I use cellelose paint in them.

Dave

Thanks for everyones replies . . . . very helpfull, and we will give all of them a try. . . . also thank you Dave for that offer. I don’t actually have the ability to PM on here, but our address is :

(mod-edit)

Thank you VERY much ! 😀