It is 1123 pm and I just came back from my nightly jog. Feels really good to return with a singlet full of perspiration and to stretch my legs after being “desk bound” for an entire day. Saw a couple of fellow joggers too. Some of them was even wearing facial masks; that is so crazy!

As you know I am picking up engraving on my own. Spent a bit of money to get some really basic equipment and I comb through the Internet for any free information to guide me.

Doing hand engraving is not a cheap hobby even at the most basic level since most of the stuff I need, can only be bought online from overseas and the shipping fee can be quite exorbitant. Now if the common hobbyist like myself, want any “power assistance”, I cannot imagine the amount of money I need to fork out at the get-go.

So for now, instead of hand engraving powered by pneumatic assistance, I will stick to my manual hand-pushed engraving. Instead of grinding my gravers down quick and easy with a powered grinder, I will use my stones and slowly grind those high speed steel down to the required geometry. No such luxuries for me yet.

However, I saw a video on Youtube on how to make a homemade engraving machine last night and after doing a lot of research, I decided it is well worth the effort to make one for myself. I can get somewhat of the same result of a $4000 set up with $200, even the creator of the video mentioned that now there is no reason for anybody to not start engraving and that convinced me.

I spent a good part of today looking for all the parts that I need and I am pleased to say that I have gotten most of the main components online.

I was having a bit of a difficulty trying to get the item required for the engraving hand piece, but after pondering the entire day, an idea struck me. I do happen to have a 3D Printer at home after all!

On my CAD program of choice, I quickly designed a two part hand piece based on the same concept I have gotten from the video. Currently, the parts are being printed in the printer now. Another 4 hours to go. Hopefully, everything will turn out alright!