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To accurately engrave a pen, you will need two important pieces of equipment in addition to your Wizzard.
- The most important is a pen and seal jig, a double sided jig designed for engraving pens, as well as seals and medallions.
- In addition to the pen and seal jig, you will need a set of machinists calipers, as shown in Illustration 2 below.
NOTE: ILLUSTRATION 2 NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
Next to your Wizzard, a set of calipers is one of the most needed items in any engraving shop. You can get by without the calipers, but a ruler will always reflect upon the quality of and accuracy of your work. I recommend a set of calipers, either with a dial or digital readout, for ease of reading and increased accuracy. A good set costs from $50-200, and can be obtained from your local Sears catalog, or most machine shop supply houses.
After you mount the pen and seal jig on your Wizzard with the screws from your standard A-B jigs, you will need to accurately set a starting point from where your engraving is to begin.
Just to make sure you Wizzard is in the correct position before beginning, press the <HOME> key before starting this procedure.
Setting A Jig
- First raise your diamond (or plastics spindle) about 1/2 inch, and press the <SET JIG> key.
- Press the <ENTER> key, followed by pressing the <SPACE BAR> until you get to an open jig selection (C,D,E, etc.). Do not use the P jig, as this is reserved for the pointer jig.
- Press <ENTER> to select the letter you will reserve for your Pen and Seal Jig, and then type in your job description (i.e. PEN HOLDER) followed by another <ENTER> to accept your description. You will only have to set this jig one time (assuming you set it correctly the first time). Then, with your <UP ARROW> key, send your cursor back to the top of the screen.
- Using the <arrow keys>, move your spindle over until the EXACT center of your locator rod (when using a spindle), or your diamond, is on the front edge of the grove shown in Illustration A, and in the center (left to right) of your pen engraving area. Lower your locator rod, or diamond as close as possible to your holder, and carefully recheck your position. Adjust if necessary with the <arrow keys>.
- It is recommended that you note your X and Y positions on the screen, and write them down. If you discover your accuracy is off, you can go back and readjust your X & Y positions accordingly.
- Press the <SPACE BAR> one time, then press the <ENTER> key to `SAVE THE JIG'. The Wizzard will beep, and ask you to press the <SHIFT><ENTER> keys for confirmation.
- When the jig setup is completed (SAVED), press the [JOB SETUP] key.
Entering The Job Layout Data
- Use your calipers, and measure the distance between the outside of the holding slots. When I measured my distance with a Felt Tip Cross Pen, the distance was 0.980 inches. (Your distance will differ according to the type of pen you are engraving, as well as, the accuracy of your measuring instrument - a ruler will work less accurately, but is better than not attempting this procedure).
- At the Job Setup screen, type in your measurement as the `Plate Height'. Type in your plate width, 2.75 for the actual width of the pen/seal jig. At the letter height enter 0.080. Change your type style (optional) and `STRETCH' or expand the width of your lettering to 145% (if possible, depending on number of letters and style). Be sure to use caution when engraving with upper and lower case script letters. The lower case letters `f, g, i, p, q,& y' will drop below your customary base line.
- To figure the baseline, divide the distance between the outside of the holding slots (`DISTANCE TO BE MEASURE WITH CALIPER' - Illustration 1.) by 2. Then add half of the letter height. (.98/2 + 0.080 /2), or .0.530 for the baseline. Then enter your left and right margins.
- Press <SHIFT><JOB SET UP> and type in your Text.
- Next, insert your pen in the jig, making sure that the groove you used for setting your jig is in the center of the blank space on the pen you are about to engrave. On some Cross pens, I also have had to rotate the pen forward or backwards, as the blank space was not always exactly in the same location. Make sure when you engrave Cross pens, that the clip is above the engraved name. A. T. Cross has omitted the lines on this side only for ease of engraving. If you engrave on the back side, your engraving will be inconsistent when the diamond hits the `decoration' lines. Cross also sells caps with the `decoration lines' omitted for two lines of engraving.
- Slow your engraving speed to 5.
- Press <COMPUTE> and then <START>. If the engraving is in the correct position, save the job for future profits. For practice, use a standard round plastic pen that is common around most offices. It helps you gain your confidence, and they are a lot less expensive than the real thing.
Remember, after you have correctly set your jig the first time, and saved your layout, all you will have to do on future pen engraving jobs is to select the appropriate job, and enter the name to be engraved. The computer will even select the previous jig you used at the time the job was saved. If you do not save your job, and select to enter the coordinates manually, be sure to change your `Jig Setting' in the Job Option screen before starting.
Notes
- On Black Cross Pens, you may want to rout out your engraving (with spindle). Use the very smallest nose cone, and a .005 cutter. The depth of your engraving should be around .003. The hardness of the black surface makes the engraving quality inadequate in most cases when using a standard diamond tip. However, I am told that the new 90 degree diamond tip may solve this problem.
- If you are only doing one pen and don't wont to use a jig setting, use the pointer jig, which is temporary.
- I prefer to engrave the coated pens with a .010 diamond tip burnishing tool, with a E-Z Rider Burnishing Adapter, shown below.
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