fredk Report post Posted December 8, 2019 So there you are, you have to stamp a name on an item, you dig out your letter stamps You have one set of lower case alphabet. But lots of names have multiples of certain letters. eg, William, Stevie You are supposed to use another letter as a spacer or if you have them, and you don't, use a letter from your second set I have only the one set of lower case letters. What to do? I took some polymer clay, some childrens' type because when it sets its like rubber. I use this type when I need moulds. I pressed the letters I required duplicates of into a blob of the clay then cooked it. When I took it out of the oven I removed the metal letter stamps and I had moulds of the letters I need spacers of. I used polyester resin to cast some copies. I added silver colouring to the resin just so I can see the letters better. Polyester resin is the resin used in glass fibre body work. Its cheap. These casts came out imperfect but I'm only looking at copies for spacing purposes In use, like this and the finished name Another aid I made recently helps to keep the letters aligned. Please note: I do not have access to drill stands, power drills etc, everything has to be done by hand and I buy in certain pre-cut parts I made this jig for doing letters. I got some 3mm clear acrylic cut to my measurements then assembled it. A base of 10mm thick HDPE and the acrylic parts pinned to it. Overall its 20cm x 10cm from the end The first layer of acrylic is pinned but not attached permanently, then a wide piece of acrylic with a piece pinned and glued to it to make a double thickness. This wide piece is also removable. It can slide up the posts. The gap underneath it is thus 3mm, thick enough for most leather I use, but it can be raised for thicker leather. The distance from the inner edge to the outer edge is about 2.5cm. The letter stamps butt up against the double thickness acrylic. With this I can stamp at a constant 2.5 cm from the edge. But I can do other distances from the edge. I got a piece cut and made it up so I can stamp at 2 cm from the edge, and I got two spacers cut, which when put under the main piece I can stamp from 0.5 cm from the edge and if I add one to the top I can go to 3.5cm from the edge. I may get some more acrylic cut to take me up to about 5cm from the edge. In use This lot cost me under £10 to make PS. I use a Tandy Pro Hand Press for doing my letter stamping Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maxdaddy Report post Posted December 10, 2019 Those are good ideas. I only stamp letters on two or three projects per year, but every time I do I wish that I had something like that jig to keep everything in good alignment. I guess I need to spend an evening putting something like that together and then maybe I'll find more excuses to stamp letters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Frodo Report post Posted December 10, 2019 Great Idea fred I have a project for you to experiment with. on a sheet of wax paper, pour out a tablespoon baking soda. add to it, 5 or 8 drops of super glue see if you might like that for making a stamp OPPS..I forgot, open a window,wear safety glasses, steel toe boots, tie the ladder off, have a fire extinguisher handy. call before you dig, ETC ETC Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted December 10, 2019 1 hour ago, Frodo said: I have a project for you to experiment with. on a sheet of wax paper, pour out a tablespoon baking soda. add to it, 5 or 8 drops of super glue see if you might like that for making a stamp I use that mix, and a mix of super glue & talc as a gap filler in my plastic models. But for casting I have numerous types of resin handy to me I'm thinking - stamp a regularly used word into polymer clay, turn that into a mould then cast a copy of the complete word eg. my son's car parts business is called 'willswheels', Too many letters to keep stamping on a number of things, not enough items to get a brass cut, but maybe a resin one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chuck123wapati Report post Posted December 11, 2019 On 12/8/2019 at 4:30 PM, fredk said: So there you are, you have to stamp a name on an item, you dig out your letter stamps You have one set of lower case alphabet. But lots of names have multiples of certain letters. eg, William, Stevie You are supposed to use another letter as a spacer or if you have them, and you don't, use a letter from your second set I have only the one set of lower case letters. What to do? I took some polymer clay, some childrens' type because when it sets its like rubber. I use this type when I need moulds. I pressed the letters I required duplicates of into a blob of the clay then cooked it. When I took it out of the oven I removed the metal letter stamps and I had moulds of the letters I need spacers of. I used polyester resin to cast some copies. I added silver colouring to the resin just so I can see the letters better. Polyester resin is the resin used in glass fibre body work. Its cheap. These casts came out imperfect but I'm only looking at copies for spacing purposes In use, like this and the finished name Another aid I made recently helps to keep the letters aligned. Please note: I do not have access to drill stands, power drills etc, everything has to be done by hand and I buy in certain pre-cut parts I made this jig for doing letters. I got some 3mm clear acrylic cut to my measurements then assembled it. A base of 10mm thick HDPE and the acrylic parts pinned to it. Overall its 20cm x 10cm from the end The first layer of acrylic is pinned but not attached permanently, then a wide piece of acrylic with a piece pinned and glued to it to make a double thickness. This wide piece is also removable. It can slide up the posts. The gap underneath it is thus 3mm, thick enough for most leather I use, but it can be raised for thicker leather. The distance from the inner edge to the outer edge is about 2.5cm. The letter stamps butt up against the double thickness acrylic. With this I can stamp at a constant 2.5 cm from the edge. But I can do other distances from the edge. I got a piece cut and made it up so I can stamp at 2 cm from the edge, and I got two spacers cut, which when put under the main piece I can stamp from 0.5 cm from the edge and if I add one to the top I can go to 3.5cm from the edge. I may get some more acrylic cut to take me up to about 5cm from the edge. In use This lot cost me under £10 to make PS. I use a Tandy Pro Hand Press for doing my letter stamping That's a nice design gotta make!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted December 28, 2019 I also have this jig. Its made of 4 pieces of 3mm thick clear acrylic. Three bolts are not full tightened, the one on top right is a wing nut, or butterfly nut. Loosen that to pull the four pieces of acrylic to the size of the letter stamps - in the picture they are 1/2 inch size. Tighten the wingnut and its all solid. afair this cost me about £3.50 to make. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toxo Report post Posted December 28, 2019 And all by hand! Well done Fred. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dprezgay Report post Posted June 8, 2020 What a great idea. I have been using extra letters that I've picked up over the years from incomplete sets. But most of the time I just estimate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
