Electropenciled

I think it's because when a Mosin got refurbished, the parts (like the bolt) get the barrel number electropenciled on them (sort of written with a dremel and a pointy, sharp bit). Cheaper method than stamping for sure...

Lou
 
Yes, but an electro pencil does a sloppy job. It looks like someone with the constant shakes wrote it.....the tool vibrates, thus making the whole job quite sloppy looking....
 
An electropencil is a vibrating marking tool. It doesn't rotate like a 'Dremel'. They're cheaper and easier to use than stamps.
 
Electropencils

There are two kinds of electropencils: the vibrating ones which mark the surface by percussion and the electric discharge ones that etch the metal by means of repeating electrical sparks between a tungsten electrode and the part to be marked.
PP.
 
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I agree with what PP says, and want to add that most of the firearms I have seen marked were with the electro-pencil, and not the vibrating electric pencil. The easiest way to tell the difference is that the electrode type will discolour the metal that it engraves onto, where the vibrating pencil only puts a zillion tiny dots onto the surface. When I look at old bren and sten parts like sears, bolts, etc, they were always engraved with the electrode type pencil.

As a young craftsman a few (or more) decades ago, we had the electrode pencil which would hook up to a car battery and mark tools etc. In a pinch, a length of coat hanger with leads could be used, but could also get very hot if you worked barehanded and near the end.
 
stencollector said:
I agree with what PP says, and want to add that most of the firearms I have seen marked were with the electro-pencil, and not the vibrating electric pencil. The easiest way to tell the difference is that the electrode type will discolour the metal that it engraves onto, where the vibrating pencil only puts a zillion tiny dots onto the surface. When I look at old bren and sten parts like sears, bolts, etc, they were always engraved with the electrode type pencil.

As a young craftsman a few (or more) decades ago, we had the electrode pencil which would hook up to a car battery and mark tools etc. In a pinch, a length of coat hanger with leads could be used, but could also get very hot if you worked barehanded and near the end.
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Couldn't that screw up the tempering and heat treatment?
 
cantom said:
Couldn't that screw up the tempering and heat treatment?
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No, the heat is very localized. There is a very local change to the hardness of the metal mind you. On an area which has been electro etched, even after scrubbing the marking off, the area will still show the marking upon rebluing. The bluing will not take to the etched area the same as the non-etched metal.

However, when compared to the overall thickness of the items being etched, the slight heat will not affect the integrity of the part.

A good example of electroetching is on a drill purpose BrenGun, where virtually every part will have the DP electro etched into it.
 
Electro-Stencil = computer dot stamping (similar to a dotmatrix printer)
Electro-Etching = a writing implement held by a person (like a pen) that etches into the material written upon.
 
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One of the spark marking devices was the Arc-o-Graph. Sometimes the marking device was used with stencils, or with a pantograph type machine. The markings produced when the tool is guided are quite different in appearance than the freehanded ones.
 
I could imagine that having to sit in front of an endless rack of rifles and mark numbers on several parts of each one would have lost it's charm after the first day.

I don't blame them for using the quickest method they had at the time. :D

I often wonder about the guys that marked my milsurp rifles and what their life stories might have been.
 
Calum said:
I could imagine that having to sit in front of an endless rack of rifles and mark numbers on several parts of each one would have lost it's charm after the first day.

I don't blame them for using the quickest method they had at the time. :D

I often wonder about the guys that marked my milsurp rifles and what their life stories might have been.
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That is why most weapons techs are a bit quirky....right gunasaurus?? :) If anyone things electropencilling is slow, try handstamping parts with number and letter punches.
 
Calum said:
I could imagine that having to sit in front of an endless rack of rifles and mark numbers on several parts of each one would have lost it's charm after the first day.

I don't blame them for using the quickest method they had at the time. :D

I often wonder about the guys that marked my milsurp rifles and what their life stories might have been.
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Might not have been guys. Could have been gals.

Ever work in a factory, doing repetitive operations, hour after hour, day after day? With a productivity bonus? Interesting in a union shop. You want to produce, to get the bonus, if you produce too much, a chap with a clipboard and stopwatch will be observing, and the standard will be changed. Then the union isn't pleased.

Closest I came to marking firearm parts was using a rolling press to apply the data to 2.75" rocket warheads. I know for a fact that a few went to Vietnam double struck.
 
stencollector said:
No, the heat is very localized. There is a very local change to the hardness of the metal mind you. On an area which has been electro etched, even after scrubbing the marking off, the area will still show the marking upon rebluing. The bluing will not take to the etched area the same as the non-etched metal.

However, when compared to the overall thickness of the items being etched, the slight heat will not affect the integrity of the part.

A good example of electroetching is on a drill purpose BrenGun, where virtually every part will have the DP electro etched into it.
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I know for a fact that the Danish M1 bolts with electro-pencilled markings were done using electrode. Even if you surface grind the markings off and repark the bolts, the number will show through the parkerizing (faintly, but it's there).

The Car battery / coat hanger setup sounds interesting. Can you better describe how it is done? Might come in handy one day for refreshing markings on parts that have been re-suncorited during restoration efforts.
 
tiriaq said:
One of the spark marking devices was the Arc-o-Graph. Sometimes the marking device was used with stencils, or with a pantograph type machine. The markings produced when the tool is guided are quite different in appearance than the freehanded ones.
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ROF azakerly used an Arco-O-Graph and stencils to serialize Sten MkII production according to Laidler. It seems most other producers used stamps.

I assume Faz also used stencils for No.4 production.

Inglis used stencils on Hi-Powers, but I don't know if the marking was from an electrode, or through mechanical means.

The stencils produce interestign results. The markings come out looking like hand-written Engineering Block.
 
tiriaq said:
Ever work in a factory, doing repetitive operations, hour after hour, day after day?
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Yup, one summer in my teens I built particle accelerators for medical applications. Amazingly brain dead work considering what one was building.
My fellow workers were pot head Bill and Ted types. :D

I would have been happier building rifles. :D
 
Years ago, I experimented with a Lionel electric train transformer, and wire leads. Results looked not unlike Arc-o-Graph marks.
I wonder if AC would work better than DC?
 
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