Rotary Engraving - spefically for ADA signage

I am looking for a quality rotary engraver that we would use primarily for producing ADA signage. We already have an Epilog LEgend EXT laser but after speaking with many different individuals, their belief is that it is much easier & faster to produce ADA signage (Braille raster bead method) with a rotary engraver rather than the laser. We would appreciate help in recommendations on rotary engravers that would work best for ADA signage. Or if there are any insights to consider on this process as well. We expect to be making 20 -50 ADA signs per day to start. Thanks!:)

Ted, I think Newing Hall is one of the few remaining companies out there. I know people speak highly of them. Gravograph makes them, but their service has been getting worse and worse from recent accounts from customers posted on forums.

http://www.newing-hall.com/ and http://www.gravograph.com

I have a Newing Hall which can do the job but I haven't done ADA signs to date.

Xenetech also makes machines that will do it.

http://www.engravingconcepts.com/xen..._engravers.htm

Thank you for your feedback so far. What about the Roland machines such as the EGX-400, does anyone have any comments on these? or perhaps the Vision engravers?:confused:

Xenetech and Gravograph have been earning a reputation of poor customer service, I've never heard anything bad about Newing Hall, and I've heard nothing great about Vision systems. I know a guy with a Vision system and he's never spoken a good word about it. Might just be his machine, might be a larger problem, I don't know.

I own a Xenetech, so that's the only one I can personally speak of. If I was happy with them, I'd have a Xenetech laser. I own a Universal Laser, so that speaks for itself.

If you're talking about doing that many signs a day, I'd be looking more at Photopolymer rather than a rotary engraver to do braille. Just my opinion. Probably the same price for both, but the Photopolymer will crank out a heck of a lot more than 50-100 a day. Probably more like 50-100 per hour, depending on the size.

Newing Hall tech support is superb. And they have an 800 number.

If I was smart enough! Well, not quite true, I would just need to buy the bead plunger/thingy. The machine will make lovely round holes for the raster beads. Don't have the need for it, so haven't pursued it.
I was watching my engraving genius guy figuring out how to do it himself, with his Q1 24"x 24". I believe it's one of the first machines Fred made! He had the bead thingy hooked up separate from the spindle, offset worked out so that the holes would engrave first then, the plastic beads would be placed. This was into lamicoid. He's still r&d'ing it:)

I've had good experience with my Xenetechs. I have two "mature" machines, still working well.. Just don't try to do stainless:)
Good luck!

Barb

Hello,

Sorry to bump a really old thread, but I was hoping to get some current (2013) information about ADA sign making equipment. The ones I am currently looking at now are:

1) Roland EGX-600
2) Vision 1624
3) Xenetech 1625

I work out of the San Francisco Bay Area, so having a local tech to fix any problems that come up would be a factor.

Thanks for any information.


~John A.

You are not likely to find a local tech for any of these. Take a look at Newing Hall as well.

If I had to buy one of those 3, it would be the vision.

Hi Scott,

How much was your Xenetech 13x13? Would that be a good size for ADA signs?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by John Almonte

Hi Scott,

How much was your Xenetech 13x13? Would that be a good size for ADA signs?

---

It was bought more than a decade ago, so I don't recall the price. I think they go for about $10,000 from one of the trade shows we went to. However, I'd never buy another Xenetech, based on their service practices and model. They charge for support, and they don't support legacy software. As soon as new stuff comes out, they virtually stop updating and supporting older stuff. When you call for help under those circumstances, they answer will always be "You need to upgrade to the latest software" and there's a fee with that. So you've forced to stay current and spend money just to keep some level of support.

We had technical issues, we had to pay for support, only to be told "It's a bug in that software and we no longer support it". So I had to pay YOU to tell me there's a bug in YOUR software?". Yup. To me, if your software has bugs in it, then I shouldn't have to pay you to tell me that. I like their machines a lot. They are built really well. However, I hate their service model.

Do research on this forum under their name. Keith Outten had a laser from them that has bugs in the driver. They promised to fix it, never did, then left that platform and moved forward with another version. So in his years of owning it, it always had the issues, issues from day 1 that they never addressed, and then just abandoned support for it.

If you're going to do all flat stuff then I think the Vision is excellent. If you want to do more then the Newing Hall might be a better machine.

Thanks for the input guys. There's some good deals on used equipment out there, but since I'm new to engraving, I'm a little hesitant about buying used.

John

One thing about Newing Hall is that every machine they've ever built can be upgraded to today's standards. I bought my machine for $1000 and spent nearly $10,000 getting it upgraded and refurbed. I also got a two year warranty and unlimited telephone tech support with that. A new machine like mine with all the goodies I have runs over $20000.