Question for you CNC folks

Bob Gibson

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Location
Merrimack, New Hampshire
Is it possible to engrave a piece of soapstone or marble with the equipment you have ?????

I assume that you would need a special carbide or diamond tipped bit. Soapstone is fairly soft and I've heard that a regular router bit may work.
I'm looking for a name and date engraved on a piece about 10" x 14"
 
I'm sure a router bit would work on soap stone if applied carefully. I've turned quite a bit of soap stone on my wood lathe using my regular wood turning chisels. It is messy, you get a talc from it that a person may not want in their CNC equipment.
 
If it can be cut with woodworking tools, it definitely can be cut with the CNC - In fact, the CNC can often open up your material possibilities further since the cut is now more controlled and can be finely dialed in both in speed and depth of cut.

I'm sure that a cutter can be found that'll be able to engrave marble and even granite. I've never cut soapstone but if it can be turned on a lathe, i would treat it like a dense hardwood. Shallow cuts, maybe lowish feed rate.
 
My I carver does the fake stone stuff well, man made stone or marble for sure, don't know about soapstone and I think real marble is too hard.

Cheers!
 
Jason is correct (and Stu). I'd offer, but mine is pretty loose yet for harder materials like that, still trying to get the play out of the Y and Z axis. I think both can be laser engraved as well. Holler at Pete Simmons to see if it's possible.
 
Yep, I know a laser can do it. I've seen some of Pete's work on granite and tile. Not sure about marble, but I'd think that would be doable.
 
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