Vision Engraving & Routing Blog

Congratulations to Chris Alexander from Alexander’s Signs in Las Vegas! His testimonial was chosen, at random, as the winner of our “Love Your Vision” contest. Here is what Chris had to say:

“I do industrial tagging and often make orders of multiples in the 1000’s. The machine has run regularly for 4-6 hours, 5 days a week. Often I have one sheet take over 2 hours and it keeps on going. Over the 10+ years I haven’t had any issues – only standard maintenance and replacements over time. Great machine, without it I wouldn’t be capable of running my business.

My machine is a Pro 1624 Vision Series 2 controller running Vision PRO 5. I’m so happy with it and I hope to one day upgrade to a newer version. Vision has taken care of my company very well”

Thank you to everyone that entered, we are so happy that we have so many satisfied customers.

Chances are, you are looking for a way to make your work more productive. Just like other software programs, Vision PRO has a several Hot Keys (Shortcut Commands) that can make the layout of your engraving project take less time, making you more efficient. While there are many of these Hot Keys in Vision PRO, I have put together a list of 5 very useful commands.

1. Ctrl + Z – This key combination will undo your last operation. You can use this command to go back several steps.
2. F7 – Use this key to quickly zoom to the object or text that is currently selected on your plate in Vision PRO.
3. F8 – Press the F8 key if you want to zoom in our out to show the entire plate on your screen.
4. F3 – Use this Hot Key to select all of your objects and text.
5. Alt +7 – When you have two or more shapes selected, press Alt + 7 to center them to each other, both horizontally and vertically.

As mentioned before, these are only a few of the Hot Keys available in our Vision PRO engraving software package. If you want to see more, they are listed starting on page 105 in your Vision PRO 8 software manual.

What Hot Keys do you find the most helpful in Vision PRO?

Today’s post will define 6 common engraving terms that I use often in this blog. If you are a more advanced user, chances are, you already know all of these terms. This post is for all of our engraving newbies.

1. Burnishing: A surface technique that is usually done on coated metals (lacquered brass). A rotating tool, the Burnisher, removes the coating to expose the bare brass without removing any of the metal material. This allows for wider lines than diamond drag without having to deeply cut into the engraving material.
2. Sacrificial Material: A piece of scrap material placed under your engraving material when you are cutting out an object with one of our machines. This allows you to cut all the way through your engraving material without damaging your table.
3. T-Slot Table: Our most common engraving table type. An aluminum engraving table with slots that allow you to easily attach a variety of work holding fixtures.
4. X, Y, & Z Axis: Directional movements of the engraving spindle. The X-axis is the left to right (horizontal) movement, the Y-axis is the front-to-back movement, and the Z-axis is the up & down (vertical) movement of the spindle.
5. Serialization: A popular feature in our Vision PRO software. This feature allows you to create a series of engravings, usually tags or plates, with an incremental change in the number on each piece. Great for engraving serial numbers on industrial parts.
6. Feed Rate: The speed that the cutter moves from one point to another during the engraving process. Also referred to as the lateral feed.

I hope this post has helped you understand some of these common engraving terms. If you are unsure about the meaning about any other engraving terminology, please feel free to leave a comment or ask us on Facebook.