New Sponsor: Eastern Grafix, with a discount for NJFBOA members
 

As if I'm not busy enough trying to run a dragstrip, I've decided to take on a new venture and start my own business called Eastern Grafix, which specializes in laser photo engraving. That means that you can take any picture you want, and engrave it into just about any surface you want at near-photo quality detail. So far, our samples have been mistaken for photos by about 85% of the people who've seen them, except they're on marble and granite.

The engraver itself can lase into any surface with the exception of un-coated metals. That means your not limited to just the traditional marble, wood, granite, etc, but it can do plastics, coated metals (anodized, chrome, stainless, etc.) In training, we even engraved an M&M, some leather belts, and our instructor had done his jeans.

My whole idea is to bring this type of artwork to the automotive world, specifically drag racers and car show gurus, because my background and degree are in graphic design and photography, but I have spent my life around cars and drag racing. One of my biggest ideas is to offer an information "poster" made out of granite or marble for your car when you go to shows. Everybody makes them out of cardstock, the higher end types have them professionally printed, but how much would your car stand out if it had a picture with all the information next to it engraved in black marble?

We'll be ready to ship orders on or before 2/25, and until then we will be offering a 25% discount to NJFBOA members just because you'll have a little bit longer turnaround than usual while we get our shop 100% set up. Afterwards, all NJFBOA members will get a 10% discount.

We will be working closely with AlexQ Photo so you can use his photos to engrave.

Feel free to email me through here or my site, or send a PM to either me or SteveR for more info :D

here's a taste of the samples that we have made.. for any more, go to www.easterngrafix.com

http://www.easterngrafix.com/images/...y/thompson.jpg http://www.easterngrafix.com/images/gallery/rick.jpg

question...i assume the surface for engraving has to be flat, correct?

:w00t:

- Justin

Prolly not....they engraved an M&M

- Justin

flat-ish.. it can have SOME curvature, but not much. We're hopign to be able to get the rotory attachment by the summer time so we can do wine bottles, glasses, mugs, etc..

we can get the exact degree of curvature thats allowed for the machine if you need something engraved that isnt flat.

well i was thinkign something like engraving a helmet

how big of an image are you thinking? and how much detail?

nohting too detailed...say like the mustang running horse logo....a few inches wide/high

if its only a few inches, we can probably do it. Let me know what size you need it and I'll find out for you.

Can you do glass or lexan?

yes and yes. we can do both :D

how big of a surface is your maximum size? and would something on glass be black?

It would engrave the engraved area to a slight whitish clear color, but we can airbrush whatever you need to any color. As for the size, right now we can do 24x36.

would you be able to do the black firebird logo on the T/A hatch or is 24x36 the largest object you could fit

We wouldn't be able to center the logo on a firebird hatch. There's a way that we can do larger than 24x36, but it would require having one end hanging out of the engraver, thus not being centered.

congrats Melissa for getting it underway!

What is the durability of something like this. Say if I had a photo of my car put on a leather headrest with your process. Do I have to clean it any special way or take any special care.

I'm 90% sure you would just treat it like regular leather. But I'll call the company that makes the laser on Monday to be sure and get back to you.