Memorial Anchor: Plasma Cut, Fiber Etched 304SS
Making a custom memorial anchor is possible at CNCROi.com using both our CNC plasma cutter and our CNC fiber laser etching capabilities.
For this custom memorial anchor, the client chose the style and design they wanted and then CNCROi.com made further modifications as to where the etching would be, adding bolt holes etc.
Especially for stainless steel, it’s important to fiber etch it instead of resorting to screen, UV or any other type of metal bonding process as unlike all of those which CNCROi.com does NOT employ, fiber laser etching will not peel, crack or fade over time.
Plasma cutting out the anchor is a fun process, sparks and flames abound, and although this is 3 mm 1/8″ thick stainless steel, it’s no match for our Hypertherm Powermax85 which can cut up to an inch and a half without breaking a sweat.
Plasma cutting this custom memorial anchor in-house allows us to quickly turn a project of this relative complexity around very fast once we have the materials delivered to us, in this case, we keep a bit of stainless steel on hand to maintain the ability to get jobs done within 24 hours.
My favorite personal project made using my CNC plasma is my Star Trek Bat’leth, just love using it!
For many applications, using the CNC plasma cutter over the CNC waterjet is more cost-effective and a faster production method, where the waterjet shines is on small parts and parts with very fine details, equivalent to what you’d get with a laser, for this custom memorial anchor, the specs were well within the capabilities of our CNC plasma.
The precision that CNCROi.com has between all our equipment is interchangeable, which means, as you’ll see with this custom memorial anchor, we can jump from one machine to another to complete various processes.
One of the hardest jobs for any CNC machine to do is to produce perfect circles, of course, CNCROi.com doesn’t have an issue with circles becoming ovals or start/end points not meeting-up because we invested the time and money into quality equipment from the onset.
We use our plasma cutter for a wide variety of custom projects, bit and small, and not only for memorials.
Keep in mind that the design parameters you see for this specific custom memorial anchor can be customized in shape, size, material and even process, there is no set way for CNCROi.com to produce items nor are there any limitations when it comes to us producing items for our customers in any specific fashion.
CNCROi.com is custom fabrication throughout, what you want, given budget and timeline constraints, we make and ship it right to your door.
Now that this CNC plasma cut custom memorial anchor is cut out, we can take a closer look at what was produced, the first thing I want you to notice is how little dross we have, the cuts are incredibly clean.
More importantly, the circles are circular, minus the wrong angle with my camera below, these are all perfectly round circles produced out of this stainless steel using our CNC plasma cutter.
Although CNCROi.com can also anneal, etching is by far the better way forward when it comes to custom branding metals.
Let’s take one last look at the completed blank custom memorial anchor we just made in the shop, the next step is cleaning it up and polishing both sides.
Once the polishing and clean-up of the custom memorial anchor is complete, it’s time to stick it in our CNC laser fiber etcher to permanently brand the stainless steel, no ink, dyes or wizardry was involved, only photons.
CNCROi.com does A LOT of fiber laser etching on stainless steel, from custom control panels to electrical diagrams, as a result, we have the experience and the equipment to pull off amazing results.
As this was a relatively large surface area, I batched out the job across the custom memorial anchor and moved the video camera round between etchings, this allows absolute perfect focus and good shots for you guys reading these blog posts and watching CNCROi.com‘s videos.
CNCROi.com isn’t limited to flat items when it comes to fiber etching either, we can etch bars and multi-relief items as well.
When it comes to custom fiber etching, the process is slow, it’s hot and you can smell the steel being etched, but we have great extraction systems to safely perform this job.
Etching stainless steel is another fun process as, like our CNC plasma cutter, there is no contact between the machine and the surface, for the plasma, it’s going through the material onto the grounded table and the material just happens to be in the way, with the laser, it’s highly focused right on the surface of the custom memorial anchor.
The completed fiber laser etching comes out fantastic, but there is one more process required, and that’s applying an industrial sealant, this does two things, further prevents corrosion and secondly, helps with creating the contrast required for a wider viewing angle of this custom memorial anchor.
I really love how stainless steel reflects light, it fits in any room or outdoor environment, being incredibly strong, resilient and very corrosion resistant.
Literally any metal can be fiber laser etched by CNCROi.com from saw blades to industrial electrical panels.
After the industrial coating is applied and given 24 hours to dry and cure, the results look spectacular.
The viewing angle of the fiber laser etching on the custom memorial anchor is fantastic and the light isn’t as highly reflective and best of all, fingerprints no longer stay on the stainless steel like your typical kitchen fridge!
One more pic of this amazing custom memorial anchor made at CNCROi.com.
Need a custom memorial? Contact CNCROi.com right now!