DwightT Report post Posted March 22 About a month ago, @MarshalWill did a post on making your own Basket Weave stamp: https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/113743-make-your-own-basket-weave-stamp/?tab=comments#comment-736819 That got me thinking (dangerous thing), and I had some spare time today, so I went out to the garage to see if I could make my own rather simple Maker stamp. I started off with the largest bolt that I could find in my scrap bin and took it too the grinder to flatten the surface, round off the head, and remove the threads. I marked my pattern (just my initials - I said this was simple) with a marker, then used my rotary tool with a small ball bit to carve it out. It's a little rough and possibly a bit bigger than what I would ultimately want, but for a first pass I think it turned out OK. The whole process only took a couple hours, so I may try to do another one on a smaller head if I can come up with a better way to hold the rotary tool steady. /dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DieselTech Report post Posted March 22 Looks good. I would say you did great for your 1st try. Nice work. Find some finer tooth burr bits for a less chattery rotary tool=less jumpy. Plus you will get a nicer finished surface. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarshalWill Report post Posted March 22 Hey, looks good! You're a stamp maker, now. I see you got a little outline shadowing when you made the impression. Taper it off around the letters and all you'll have left is the logo. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DwightT Report post Posted March 23 15 hours ago, DieselTech said: Looks good. I would say you did great for your 1st try. Nice work. Find some finer tooth burr bits for a less chattery rotary tool=less jumpy. Plus you will get a nicer finished surface. Thanks. With as easy as that turned out to be, I'll probably be trying to figure out what other tools I can make. Good call on the finer-tooth bits. I mostly just went with what I had in my tool drawer, but if I do any more I'll be making a trip to the hardware store first. I should probably also run the rotary tool at a higher speed. I had it set pretty low thinking that it would be easier to control that way, but the "chatters" from that slow speed probably made it worse. 14 hours ago, MarshalWill said: Hey, looks good! You're a stamp maker, now. I see you got a little outline shadowing when you made the impression. Taper it off around the letters and all you'll have left is the logo. Good point. I think it wouldn't hurt to make the letters a little deeper in general, but I can see where adding a bit of a taper would help too. I'll have to play around with that and see how it comes out. Thankfully I still have lots of material on the head to play with. /dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarshalWill Report post Posted March 23 2 hours ago, DwightT said: Good point. I think it wouldn't hurt to make the letters a little deeper in general, but I can see where adding a bit of a taper would help too. I'll have to play around with that and see how it comes out. Thankfully I still have lots of material on the head to play with. /dwight Don't be hesitant to take much off around it. Here's one I had made but notice how much was relieved around it. It makes it easier to align. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DwightT Report post Posted March 23 That's beautiful work. How did you make the stamp itself? I can't imagine that you did that by hand with files or a rotary tool. /dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarshalWill Report post Posted March 24 (edited) 6 hours ago, DwightT said: That's beautiful work. How did you make the stamp itself? I can't imagine that you did that by hand with files or a rotary tool. /dwight Oh no, I'm not that good. Not even close. I had that made by Jeff at Grey Ghost Graphics. He does spectacular work. It's laser cut out of Delron. I just wanted to illustrate the cut back around it to give you thge idea. Edited March 24 by MarshalWill Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarshalWill Report post Posted March 24 Hey, that's an idea. Maybe take a stab at making one out of Delron. It would be a lot easier to cut than steel. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DwightT Report post Posted March 24 10 hours ago, MarshalWill said: Hey, that's an idea. Maybe take a stab at making one out of Delron. It would be a lot easier to cut than steel. I've considered that, and it will probably happen sometime in the future. But while Delrin may be easier to cut than steel, it's also a lot more expensive. A quick look on Amazon shows that a 1/2" thick 6"x6" slab would cost $25. For this one I was able to use materials and tools that I had on hand so it didn't cost me anything to go play. But yes, I can definitely see a Delrin version in my future. And after playing with steel for a while, I should be able to get really good at controlling my rotary tool. /dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarshalWill Report post Posted March 24 1 hour ago, DwightT said: I've considered that, and it will probably happen sometime in the future. But while Delrin may be easier to cut than steel, it's also a lot more expensive. A quick look on Amazon shows that a 1/2" thick 6"x6" slab would cost $25. For this one I was able to use materials and tools that I had on hand so it didn't cost me anything to go play. But yes, I can definitely see a Delrin version in my future. And after playing with steel for a while, I should be able to get really good at controlling my rotary tool. /dwight Yeah, the cost is up there. But as you said, after cutting steel for a while you should be able to easily control the rotary tool. So far, I've only made stamps that can be done with files. For complex ones, I go to the pros. It would be fun to make a stamp with a mill, though. You could really get accurate work with one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DwightT Report post Posted March 27 I had some spare time yesterday (crappy weather meant no yard work) so I went back and incorporated the suggestions. I went out to the hardware store to pick up a burr with a smaller ball and finer teeth, and I ran it at a higher speed. This made it easier to control the rotary tool so that I could get a cleaner line. I also tapered the base away from the letters a bit so that I don't get the shadowing anymore. Next up will be to do it again on a smaller head. /dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarshalWill Report post Posted March 27 You're getting there. This one is cleaner. Glad to hear the burr worked better for you. A head that was just the size of the letters would be good. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
