Letter Stamp Jig

[JoeSnuffie]

I cut a strip from a cutting board, sanded the surfaces smooth, cut it in half and glued the two pieces together with contact cement. I then scribed a center line and, using a wing divider, marked the center of the holes. After marking the holes it was time to drill. Make sure the material is thick enough so that the shaft of the stamp is completely enclosed in the jig, with none sticking out. You want the jig putting even pressure on the stamp and if any of them are sticking out the back, the mallet will hit the stamp and not the jig.

I used a 6mm bit and the holes go all the way through, which makes it easy to pop out the letters with a dowel from the other side. !!!IMPORTANT!!! When drill each hole, after the first, of course, you must place one of the letter stamps in the previous hole. If you fail to do this, the plastic will bend and the hole will not be large enough.After drilling the holes, I countersunk some screws with nuts on either side to keep it all together. You can see that I marked mine to show the orientation and placement of the letters. I did it this way because I hols the jig with my left hand while my right hand holds the mallet.

To use, I place the letters in as far as my fingers can press, making them as straight as I can. Then I smack them in with a mallet and use pliers to carefully straighten them. Because the shaft of the letters is tapered, they will be pretty tight once you set them in. I stamp the first word and then pop out the letters by pressing them out from the back with a dowel. They pop out pretty easily.

I did this for 1/4" stamps but this could be modified for other sizes.

Edited February 16, 2014 by JoeSnuffie

[camano ridge]

That looks pretty good I just might have to try that.

[Bev478]

Thanks for the tip. Something else to try out when I find some time

[Ed in Tx]

You need to apply for a patent for that before Tandy does, they will be trying to sell them for $200 each. Seriously though.. that is a really smart idea. Trying to keep the letters aligned is a real hassle

and you came up with simple solution to the problem.

[WyomingSlick]

I am not impressed at all. A jig like you have here does not take into account that letters need to be spaced from each other at varying distances to look "right" ! For instance, two round letters such as an an " O " and a " Q " need to actually be closer together than blockier letts such as a " M " and a " H ". To look right the trick is to balance the open space between letters so that they are nearly equal in area

In the attached picture, you can see the differance between normal balanced letter spacing on the top and the unbalanced spacing you get with a jig using equally spaced holes.

Such a jig may be timesaving if you are going to stamp the same word/name on a lot of pieces, but rather than spacing them equally. the holes for the letters should be spaced to give a balanced result. For instance you would want a smaller space between letters by an " I " or an " O ".

LOL You know there is a reason why Tandy doesn't have a jig for these and that is because the best method is to judge your spacing by eye just like you do when you write something.

Edited February 18, 2014 by WyomingSlick

[BDAZ]

This can't be used with 3/4 inch letters without major modification.

Cya!

Bob

[Wishful]

Great jig!

[JoeSnuffie]

I guess I should have mentioned in this post that this was created for an order of about 50 bracelets by my church to give to students. They wanted me to make this as cheap as possible. I'm not fast on the letters as I should be and it takes me close to 10 seconds per letter. That's 2 minutes per bracelet. With the jig, I'm at about 20 seconds to stamp it all.

Since they're the paying customer and are thrilled with the results and the cost savings, I'm happy with the jig. If it were any other customer I'd charge them for a proper stamp to be made for all of it. $100 would get me a delrin stamp in any font and pretty designs, after all. But this customer wants cheap and fast.

[Feraud]

Nice job on the jig. It seemed produce the fast and cost effective result the customer wanted.

[BDAZ]

I have taken your idea and adapted it for 3D stamps and 3/4" Alphabet stamps for belts, straps and the cases I make. Instead of plastic, I took a piece of 7-8oz cased leather exactly the width of my item (2 1/4"), lined up the letters vertically on a center line, laid a straight edge over the name and put it in the press, leaving a number of 1/2" circle impressions down the center. Then I used a 1/2" punch and when dry, the leather acts like a template. It holds the stamps aligned and in place. Then I simply line up the template and stamps on the cased item, and use a piece of steel over the protruding stamps and use the press to give an impression in the cased leather. While not enough to pressure to give a deep impression, it is deep enough to allow me to fit each stamp and press individually to the desired depth. I have also made a horizontal template with the correct spacing for an I which should be a big help and time saver in getting that little sucker aligned properly.

Thanks for the idea!!

Bob

Edited February 18, 2014 by BDAZ

[JoeSnuffie]

BDAZ, that's a great idea, glad I could at least inspire you a little. When more eyes start looking at this stuff better ideas come out of it.

[Tree Reaper]

Joe;

It's an idea that worked for you and you were good enough to share it with everyone so if people want to modify it in any way to make it work for them then all the power to them.

You deserve a lot of credit for not only the time spent on designing and testing this idea but more importantly sharing it and allowing people to decide for themselves what they want to do with it.

Good work!

[wlg190861]

Joe You have a brilliant mind. Rome was not built in a day or by one man