Acrylic embossing plates from Russia or Ukraine

[BDAZ]

over the years I have purchased highly detailed embossing plates for my commercial work from a guy overseas. They are laser engraved 5mm acrylic and incredibly detailed. I have produced hundreds and hundreds of wholesale items with these plates but  they are starting to wear out and time to reorder... That's the problem. It's been a number of years and seems like I purchased these on Ebay. I remember he was either in Russia or Ukraine, because the package arrived with cyrillic on it. 

It's not only the craftsmanship of the embossing plates but also the actual graphics he uses that are excellent. 

If anyone has an contact information I would be very grateful.

I can make my own 3D stamps which I have been doing for years, but these are far beyond my capabilities. The increments below are in inches.
 

Thanks,

Bob

[fredk]

All dealings with anyone in Russia are banned. Their websites have been taken down on Western servers. I. too, bought some embossing plates, it may have been the same chap

[BDAZ]

Thanks very much. That's what I figured was a possibility, but wasn't sure if he was a Ruskie or Ukrainian. Pity...

Btw I played a gig in a bluegrass band in a pub located between Bangor and Donaghadee. 

Also spent time in Mayo Bridge in the 70s.

All the Best!

Bob

[fredk]

 

1 hour ago, BDAZ said:

Btw I played a gig in a bluegrass band in a pub located between Bangor and Donaghadee. 

That narrows it down to about 30 possible places in 7 miles 

I think we were using the same chap though ebay. I was in touch with him and he was going to make some plates for me. Shortly after the Russian attack he was taken off ebay, as many more in Russia and then his website and email were taken off the system. I tried a few times to contact him but with no success.

[DieselTech]

I'm not sure where you folks are located. But there is a few other guys that make them embossing plates. I know a couple that make custom made to order embossing plates. 

I believe the couple I know, use derlin lmao I don't think that it's spelled it right. 

[Dwight]

Some years ago I needed a couple of small stamps . . . wanted brass . . . 

Went on Ebay . . . wound up buying from a Hong Kong dealer for one . . . mainland China for the other . . . would rather have used US . . . but could not find anything here.

Their detail is absolutely excellent . . . I sent them a picture . . . one had to have some detail removed by me . . . but I was seriously happy with both that I still have and have used for years.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Double Daddy]

I went the same way Dwight did when it comes to custom stamps...brass being the preferred material because I tried HDPE/delrin and other plastics years ago and they didn't give the crisp results I was looking for, long term.

I've always gotten great service from https://leatherstampmaker.com/ ...great folks who communicate well, ship quickly and offer lots of different options. We've ordered makers' marks of different sizes from them as well as a set of custom coaster embossing & cutting dies for production work. These will will emboss two different borders (camouflage or rope) and/or click out a simple coaster blank...the borders are spaced far enough in to allow for a stitch line to a backer material (cork, milled oil-tan, etc)...room in the center for monogramming.

Peruse their website, give them a call/email...LSM will be glad to help you.

 

Edited April 26, 2024 by Double Daddy

[Cumberland Highpower]

On 4/25/2024 at 3:55 PM, fredk said:

All dealings with anyone in Russia are banned. Their websites have been taken down on Western servers. I. too, bought some embossing plates, it may have been the same chap

I don't think that's exactly true, fertilizer, plywood, etc are still coming in.  Trade is way down and some things are blocked import, but not everything. Uranium imports are likely to be blocked soon As well.

Tariffs are up on most  Rus goods imported (I'm thinking I last heard they were in the 40's%), and few payment options.  No payment options,  few ways to pay for imports, etc. Most Russian websites are still readily available for access from the West, you just can no longer buy anything.

I think those plates are mostly Ukranian.  I'd not  be too surprised if some might come in from Bulgaria. (Also Cyrillic). I'd look on Etsy.

 

Edited May 4, 2024 by Cumberland Highpower

[Northmount]

22 hours ago, Cumberland Highpower said:

but not everything. Uranium imports

You mean Ukrainian?  

[Cumberland Highpower]

On 5/5/2024 at 5:57 PM, Northmount said:

You mean Ukrainian?  

No I meant Uranium.  The US is currently importing Russian uranium, but it looks like it may be stopped in the near future. Even that "ban", assuming Biden signs it, is subject to waivers....

Congress passes Russian uranium import ban, unlocking $2.7B to expand US nuclear fuel production | Utility Dive

While it might be bad for Russian exporters, it's probably a good thing for your Country?  Looks like Canada will be part of the supply solution.

Anyway, back to sewing

Edited May 7, 2024 by Cumberland Highpower

[Northmount]

1 hour ago, Cumberland Highpower said:

While it might be bad for Russian exporters, it's probably a good thing for your Country?  Looks like Canada will be part of the supply solution.

Yes, the mines in northern Saskatchewan should be coming back to life and ramping up production with the world wide demand increasing.  During the latter part of WWII, yellow cake was shipped by barge from Uranium City across Lake Athabasca and upstream on the Athabasca river to Fort McMurray AB where it was transferred to rail box cars.  The yellow cake was in burlap bags that were handled manually so dust was dropped at all the transfer points, inhaled by the Cree and Metis workers.  Many of them died of lung cancer.  Once loaded into the box cars, it found its way through cracks in the floor and was distributed along the rail line.  In the early to mid 70s, they had to clean up the contamination at these transfer points and along the rail bed.  We can only hope that there are safer procedures in place today than back then.  (Fort McMurray was home for us from 71 through 79.)

[BDAZ]

On 4/25/2024 at 2:48 PM, fredk said:

 

That narrows it down to about 30 possible places in 7 miles 

I think we were using the same chap though ebay. I was in touch with him and he was going to make some plates for me. Shortly after the Russian attack he was taken off ebay, as many more in Russia and then his website and email were taken off the system. I tried a few times to contact him but with no success.

That's why I love Ireland! Spoiled for choice, both North and South!

 

On 4/25/2024 at 2:48 PM, fredk said:

 

 

 

[BDAZ]

Thanks everyone for the response. I have no problem creating quite detailed embossing plates on my 3D printers but I can't get the super fine detail of these Russian ones. Also I am not sure I can recreated the line art from the plates I have, one unused. I may try, I have laboriously copied fine engravings in the past on Photoshop. My Avatar, which is a pearl engraving from a 1909 banjo peg head, took weeks of meticulous work to produce a T-shirt sized graphic. Anything is possible. If I can then I'll purchase a CO2 laser for engraving lucite.

Thanks again,

Bob

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, BDAZ said:

Thanks everyone for the response. I have no problem creating quite detailed embossing plates on my 3D printers but I can't get the super fine detail of these Russian ones. Also I am not sure I can recreated the line art from the plates I have, one unused. I may try, I have laboriously copied fine engravings in the past on Photoshop. My Avatar, which is a pearl engraving from a 1909 banjo peg head, took weeks of meticulous work to produce a T-shirt sized graphic. Anything is possible. If I can then I'll purchase a CO2 laser for engraving lucite.

Thanks again,

Bob

For what its worth Bob you can get pretty good results with a diode laser. The one i used in this picture is a 2.5 watt done onto 10mm black acrylic about 2mm deep. Black and white artwork needed.

[BDAZ]

Actually Rocky, it's probably 

1 hour ago, RockyAussie said:

For what its worth Bob you can get pretty good results with a diode laser. The one i used in this picture is a 2.5 watt done onto 10mm black acrylic about 2mm deep. Black and white artwork needed.

Brilliant!

Actually Rocky, it's worth the price of a CO2 Laser! I was planning on testing black acrylic. I had a small piece of 2mm black and my laser punched right through it. I have a 24 watt extended bed that I have been transitioning to for all my cutting. I am reducing production times by 75%. I can go as large as 850 x 650.  

Those acrylic cuts look fantastic! The plates from Russia were made by a CO2 laser but I'll bet I can do as well with my diode, I'm going to order some black acrylic tonight!

Thanks! 

Bob

[KYCat]

12 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

For what its worth Bob you can get pretty good results with a diode laser. The one i used in this picture is a 2.5 watt done onto 10mm black acrylic about 2mm deep. Black and white artwork needed.

I've got a 10w diode and have been wanting to attempt this (without buying a 3D printer). Were you able to cut it out with the laser or did you bandsaw it?

Love this, BTW--- very nicely done!

 

[BDAZ]

50 minutes ago, KYCat said:

I've got a 10w diode and have been wanting to attempt this (without buying a 3D printer). Were you able to cut it out with the laser or did you bandsaw it?

Love this, BTW--- very nicely done!

 

You can do very well with a 3D printer with the right resin but for fine detail, the resin doesn't hold up. I use a 6 ton press and have no issues with the Russian lucite plates, but the same design in resin would pulverise. Rocky's design would be marginal but the signature would not hold up unless twice the size.

 

Where inKY? I used to work in Nicholasville.
Bob

[RockyAussie]

On 5/10/2024 at 1:21 AM, KYCat said:

I've got a 10w diode and have been wanting to attempt this (without buying a 3D printer). Were you able to cut it out with the laser or did you bandsaw it?

Love this, BTW--- very nicely done!

I cut the outer part with a bandsaw as my diode is only a 2.5watt. You may have a better chance with a 10 watt though.

[RockyAussie]

On 5/9/2024 at 2:20 PM, BDAZ said:

Actually Rocky, it's worth the price of a CO2 Laser! I was planning on testing black acrylic. I had a small piece of 2mm black and my laser punched right through it. I have a 24 watt extended bed that I have been transitioning to for all my cutting. I am reducing production times by 75%. I can go as large as 850 x 650.

That size sounds about the same I extended mine to as well. First test on cutting 3mm acrylic I had the same problem cutting right through as well. I will have to try running a higher wattage diode soon as that would shave a lot of time on most jobs I think unless the beam gets too much broader.

[BDAZ]

3 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

That size sounds about the same I extended mine to as well. First test on cutting 3mm acrylic I had the same problem cutting right through as well. I will have to try running a higher wattage diode soon as that would shave a lot of time on most jobs I think unless the beam gets too much broader.

The beam doesn't significantly increase with power. Wouldn't be noticeable for cutting. I also engrave all my stitch lines and no longer use a groover. I engrave glue pads for belt loops using a crosshatch fill and holes for my snaps and other decorations all at the same time. Magic! The only leather I would like to have more power with, is heavy bison. It takes multiple passes. I also apply water directly to the edge after cutting and run the cocobolo burnisher, which seems to solidify the carbon and produces a hard, glaze.

I did a test with the remains of my 2mm chip and made a tiny Celtic knot and it worked a champ on the black Perspex. I have a few sheets arriving tomorrow.

Bob

[RockyAussie]

4 hours ago, BDAZ said:

The beam doesn't significantly increase with power. Wouldn't be noticeable for cutting. I also engrave all my stitch lines and no longer use a groover. I engrave glue pads for belt loops using a crosshatch fill and holes for my snaps and other decorations all at the same time. Magic! The only leather I would like to have more power with, is heavy bison. It takes multiple passes. I also apply water directly to the edge after cutting and run the cocobolo burnisher, which seems to solidify the carbon and produces a hard, glaze.

I did a test with the remains of my 2mm chip and made a tiny Celtic knot and it worked a champ on the black Perspex. I have a few sheets arriving tomorrow.

Bob

Hey bob, I am interested to know what sort of module and set up you have running at the moment if you would care to share. These pics below in case you have not seen them before show how I modified the unit I have at the moment. To get better cooling I used a 50mm fan on top of a shroud to allow cooling all around and over the module as well as giving me an easy way to get Z adjustments.

[BDAZ]

6 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Hey bob, I am interested to know what sort of module and set up you have running at the moment if you would care to share. These pics below in case you have not seen them before show how I modified the unit I have at the moment. To get better cooling I used a 50mm fan on top of a shroud to allow cooling all around and over the module as well as giving me an easy way to get Z adjustments.

 

I'm on my 5th laser in 2 years so I don't waste time on building cabinmates, etc. The critical thing I have done on all my lasers is to design and print a low profile, high output air assist nozzle. I use heavy magnets on my honeycomb bed to hold my work and the stock nozzles don't have enough clearance. This is my previous 10W. I am currently using an Azter 24 watt as shown in stock pic and I had to design a new nozzle which vastly improved performance.

I have never found cooling to be an issue. My laser is situated next to a window with a bank of exhaust fans installed and I have another blowing air under the bed which is raised 8mm and another blowing across the top. I can swap lasers in 2 minutes for another I use for roller work.

Bob

6 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

 

 

[RockyAussie]

13 hours ago, BDAZ said:

I use heavy magnets on my honeycomb bed to hold my work and the stock nozzles don't have enough clearance.

Thanks for the info Bob. I found that getting the magnets on and off a pita so I 3d printed up something that makes them way quicker and easier to deal with. The top is wider which allows me to just lift at the side and attach them all together for storage. Also to expedite the lay down process I run a light cut into some cardboard to give me a pattern for magnet placements as shown below.

[BDAZ]

My magnets are 7mm thick and very powerful. I often just have room for maybe 1.5mm of the magnet overhanging the edge which is enough to keep my leather from shifting. If I have a really warped piece of ply, I can double them up. I looked at 3D printing some cutsie magnet holders but I simply use one magnet to pick up another..easy peasey. Just designing a belt for a very old and expensive Navaho belt which i could never have done freehand. When I am cutting tops an bottoms of items that then have to be wet formed, the registration is perfect and I no longer have to do any trimming of the edges ..just turn on the burnisher! I just noticed the kentok pic shows the original bed. Shortly after making the extension, I purchased a full sized bed. The other thing i find critical is the registration of the bed with the laser. I am <mm So I can repeat cuts or add to already cut items with perfect registration.

Better hit the rack. I have an irish gig tomorrow from 2-4 and an Appalachian gig from 6-8, both on restaurant patios. Weather is perfect! 

Cheers!

Bob