Cronite's
wonderful Engraving Machines
UPDATED
August 8, 2014:
You
may never have seen or heard of a Cronite
engraving machine.
There are two models - the Universal model,
and the Zero
model. Some of them have a fine indexing table
movement
attachment (for ruling closely spaced straight or wavy lines).
The Univeral model can produce vertical or italic (sloped) lettering
from vertical masters. The Zero model will not do this, but it can
reduce to infinity: it can take a letter master 2-1/2" tall, and
reduce it to ZERO height. (Both models always
produce work that is smaller than the size of your master, and the
degree of reduction that
will be produced is
decided by the operator, up to the limit of what the machine can
do. But the Zero machine can reduce to a greater
degree than the Universal model.)
You can sometimes find
these wonderful machines in old engraved stationery printing
shops, idle and possibly for sale, if you ask. Start by looking
in the Yellow Pages for the bigger cities near where you live.
These machines are also sometimes available "as is," or
factory reconditioned, from The Cronite Company, Inc.,
of Parsippany NJ, at
prices considerably below the cost of a new machine.
So
far as I know, any parts needed to refurbish either
model are available from The
Cronite Company, such that they can be brought back
to good-as-new operating condition, but it would be wise to
phone Cronite* to
confirm this before deciding to buy a used machine from a
printing shop. Used machines will typically require a
thorough clean up. Mine did, when I got it, and it came
out looking very nice, as you can see in the photos below.
Please contact me if you would like to discuss how to acquire one of
these wonderful old machines.
*(My phone number, and
Cronite's phone number, are also given just below the second
photograph on this page.)
--------------------------------------------
Most
of what appears below is what I wrote here in May of 2006
or earlier:
Cronite
engraving machines are used to do the finest engraving imaginable.
(The US Mint uses them.) The design has evolved over
about the last 100 years or so. They are manually operated,
completely non-electric, and do not use a rotating cutter.
(Click on the photo to see a larger image.)
These
machines allow a duffer to produce results that in some cases even a
master engraver could not do.
Anything
you can do as a line drawing - any type face (lettering style) you
like, a graphic design, a logo, a drawing of an animal or a boat or
whatever - can be turned into a master, and used with one of these
machines to produce a reduced sized engraving.
The machine
scratches your design down through a waxy resist to bare metal.
After you have traced out all the lines on the master, you remove the
workpiece from the machine, and etch the design permanently into the
metal. You can etch into copper, brass, aluminum, steel, stainless
steel, silver, etc.
I
know of no other
machine in existence that could equal a Cronite engraver for
making clock
dials.
They can be used for numbering feedscrew
dials
as well as for doing work on flat surfaces.
They will do finer work than any machine that uses a rotating cutter.
"Trophy shop" engraving is simply not in the same league at
all.
As
I guess you can tell, I'm a big fan of these machines. The photos on
this page show a Cronite "Zero" engraver which I bought
from a engraved stationery printing shop in Vancouver in 1995, and
restored. When I got it, it was so dirty I thought the big
washer at the base of the column was rusty cast iron. It turned out
to be polished bronze!
I
made a hand cut master for
a little rearing horse about
5" tall. From that master I used my Cronite Zero machine
to engrave the same little horse at about 0.070" tall
on
a piece of copper. At that size you can (with a microscope) still see
his eye!
Working
from hand cut masters 1-1/16" tall, I have engraved numbers
0.010" tall (as near as I can measure them), and the results -
even at that extremely small size - are an absolutely flawless
duplicate of the masters. (Again, you need a microscope to see that
this is so, but it is.)
It
takes about 5 minutes for a total duffer to learn to make masters.
For about $10 or so you can buy a hand graver for making masters, or
you can make one yourself (I can tell you how) from a piece of 1/4"
drill rod that is just as good, and far easier on your
forefinger.
A
factory-refurbished Cronite engraver normally sells for about $2500
to $3500. "As-is" machines can be had for less, when
the factory has any in stock.
These desirable
and useful machines will do things you can do almost no other
way.
A
Cronite engraver is about the size of a bench drill press, and
typically these machines are found on a factory stand. If they are on
a stand, the stand is usually about 3' tall, 3' wide, and about 24"
front to back. The machine is easily removed from the factory
stand, and the whole thing could be put in a car or SUV. (I brought
mine home in a Ford Explorer.) Shipping weight will be about
330 pounds.
I
can supply you with a write-up giving various pointers on how to go
about refurbishing one of these machines. A person with average
mechanical aptitude can do it, and obviously a machinist is well
equipped to carry out certain small fixes that might be difficult for
lesser mortals to do.
(Click on the photo to see a larger image.)
If interested, or for more details, you can contact The Cronite Company, Inc., of Parsippany NJ, at 973-887-7900.
NOTE:
If
you purchase one of these machines, I can supply you with
1.
a write-up I did containing some general advice on refurbishing them,
2. a great deal of vital and very detailed
information about using and adjusting these machines. This info is
photocopied (with permission) from an old Cronite book that is
virtually unobtainable today, and
3. factory drawings for
making what Cronite refers to as the "Gun and Knife Engraver's
Universal Attachment." This modification permits engraving on
items thicker than about 1/2" - for
example when engraving numbers on a shop-made feedscrew dial.
The factory charges about $340 to add this modification to these
machines, but
any
basement machinist can readily make this item for himself without
difficulty. The drawings were given to me by Cronite president Bob
Steffens, with permission to photocopy them and the info on using and
adjusting Cronite engraving machines, and to offer them as set forth
here.
4. A three-page write-up and drawings, by
me, showing how to make a graver for making hand cut masters
that is much easier on your forefinger than a narrow
factory-made #52 graver.
If you want this info (the
refurbishing advice, the chapter from the book, the drawings for
the Gun and Knife Engraver's Universal Attachment, and the item about
making your own graver for making masters), send me a note stating
what you want, and US $35. If you are sending for this info from the
USA, a US INTERNATIONAL
Postal Money Order is the best form of payment. The material will be
sent to you as a series of PDF's attached to e-mails. Typically
this will occur the day I get your order, but it may be later, if
my bank advises me to wait for your form of payment to clear.
My
personal address is given here:
http://www.lautard.com/twostories.html.
(PLEASE
ALSO NOTE: Anything other than the items listed on that
page, or on the page you are currently on, can ONLY be ordered
per info on my How
To Order
page. The link to the How To Order page is given on my home
page.)
NOTE
Something
else you will in due course need if you buy one of these machines is
an
engraver's pad.
This is used when making hand cut masters for your machine, and I
would regard it as a MUST
HAVE
item. These pads were expensive 15 years ago, and did not seem
to be offered at all in more recent years.
I had some
of these pads made up, but have now sold them all. Click
here to see further info about this simple but extremely useful
item. (Although I
no longer have these available,
I will leave that info up on my website for whatever help or interest
it may be to those who are interested.)
Added
March 11, 2014:
If
you do some serious Googling, you may be able to find Engravers
Pads
offered now. I did find a source several months ago, but I
don't recall where.
Click
here to go to my home page