Reverse Engineering A Vintage Stamp: Technology Meets Leatherworking

[Studio-N]

I got a new 3d laser scanner for model making and thought it would be good for reverse engineering a vintage stamp.

A 3d scanner differs from a regular scanner/copier which just gives a visual copy in that the 3d scanner gives back height and depth info.

At first I tried scanning the stamp it self but it was worn enough that every imperfection showed up in the model and was going to take a LONG time to

clean up. Not to mention the preparation that goes into preparing the object for scanning (a whole other story).

Then it occurred to me to scan the leather stamping instead. The stains on the piece didn't matter since I'm not scanning for color

rather for depth. It turns out leather scans VERY well with little or no prep.

The first picture is what I started with. The 2nd is the result of the scan and a little smoothing and clean up.

As you can see it is a very good representation of the stamp. The picture would result in a good copy of the stamp after I cut it.

The 3rd pict is the same stamp inverted so the figure would result being UP for more of a 3d look. I can't wait to try a larger piece with some fancy tooling on it.

Cheers!

[raysouth]

Hello Nick,

You certainly have a good collection of toys/machines to work with. Keeps getting better all the time.

They look great and sure you will continue to find many new uses for this machine.

God Bless.

Ray

[Studio-N]

thanks ray. It's just been great to find something that I enjoy doing so much.

I simply haven't had a single bad day since leaving the evil empire.

-Nick