VAE Capabilities Statement

You may know us for awards, name tags or gifts we've helped you with over the years - but did you know how much VAE has to offer developers, contractors and architects? There are a multitude of things we can do but haven't done yet or didn't manage to snap pictures of before they left the building, which makes them hard to advertise. We can engrave into a wide range of materials and with our many years of experience and our talented design staff we can help you navigate away from options that we know won't hold up to an environment or use, all while keeping aesthetics and the desired "feel" of the completed space in mind. 

We've engraved or designed and sourced our fair share of:

• Pavers
• Bricks
• Exterior and interior plastic signs
• Subtractive (more eco friendly) ADA compliant braille signs
• Signs made from interesting materials clients bring in, like wood from the build site, stones unearthed on the property, etc.
• Glass and stand-off signs
• Signs with wording and photos or graphics engraved directly into the wood
• Tools of all sorts
• Ceremonial shovels
• Groundbreaking keepsake gifts
• Door knockers
• Key tags and room numbers
• Signage for offices like staff directories, "in use/vacant" signage, door signs, etc.
• Signs that detail rates or hours
• Signage or ID tags for machinery, breakers, or anything else that needs specific, easy to read (but difficult to vandalize) permanent instructions
• Larger decorative plaques with company mission statements for lobbies or conference rooms
• Project completion plaques or awards
• Glass light fixture covers
• Cast metal plaques and signs
• Ad specialty bulk items
• Banners and stickers

And some examples of things we would love to try or want the opportunity to help design and engrave more of:

• Wooden stair faces or tops prior to staining, sealing and installation
• Glass sheets for displays, decorative windows, etc.
• Glass door inserts
• Mirrors
• Mantle pieces
• Archway keystones
• Car parts
• Really, if you have the time, budget and are looking for input, then if it'll fit in the machine (or we can rig a way to make the parts that need engraving to fit) then our combined imaginations are the limit!

To give a brief summary of current capabilities:

Diamond drag engraving on metal:

• Most commonly into brass, pewter, silver, copper, aluminum and steel
• Cylindrical maximum diameter: 10"
• Maximum length in our largest vise: 36"
• Standard flat metal capacity: 15" x 18"
• Specialty pass thru long plate: 20" by any length

Sand carving stone, concrete, glass and crystal:

• Approximately 18" x 30" standard capacity inside cabinet, one outfitted with extended or pass thru option for larger items.
• We recently acquired a portable blasting pot and grit that's safe to "release back into the wild" so during warm months we will have the capability to do extra large items outside like door inserts, boulders, slabs, large mirror balls, etc. 
• Note: concrete, even smooth top, and most "found" stones we've had brought in do have hard spots that do not blast at the same rate as the surrounding material, or that may chip out during engraving. We will assess the risks and offer recommendations during the design process to minimize the likelihood of those being noticeable and typically suggest paint fill for optimal contrast and to visually smooth out bumpiness in gritty materials. If you are looking for clean fine detail or small lettering we would strongly recommend using marble or smoothly finished slate. 
• While masks for blasting are designed with software, the actual blasting process is done by hand, so scheduling for larger sand carving jobs may extend beyond our typical turnaround times.

Laser engraving wood, plastics, acrylic, anodized aluminum by request, leather and more:

• 120w Laser's bed capacity is 40" x 24", but is able to be set up for pass thru on larger items (which we are currently looking into adding to expand that machine's capabilities) with 8" cylindrical capacity
• 80w Laser's bed is 20" x 32" with 8" diameter cylindrical capacity

For more technical info please contact us at info@vermontawards.com for more in depth technical information on our machinery and capabilities!