What kind of machine will do stainless steel or brass engraving

[JayPunchbuggy]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie here and hope you can help.

I would like to engrave lettering into small plaques (about 80 x 45 mm) of stainless steel or brass. I currently have them made by an outside company but this gives me no flexability in doing cusomised lettering. The engraving is deep enough to be infilled with paint so that the print really stands out.



Can this kind of work be done with a CNC router? With proper tooling are there any machines that might fit the bill for under £2000? Are the CNC routers I've seen on Ebay from china up to the task of engraving in stainless steel?

For future work, I would also like the ability to work with larger materials like mdf or hardwoods. A bed size of 600 x 400 seems about right. Although I would love to have the time to make my own machine, I think that it will take too long. I'd rather get something that can be upgraded as required...


Really appreciate any guidence you can give.

Cheers,
-Jay

edit: should say that I could get the plaque blanks pre-cut.