Keeping lettering even?

[blackleafforge]

Hi, I bought a set of punches with letters on them for writing customers names on items I'm making. I am however having real problems keeping them all straight and my efforts often look very amateurish and spoil the work. Am I missing something? Is there a method or tool that would do a better job?

Also what temperature would you punch at? I didn't want to ruin the crisp edges of the letters so I have been doing it at just under a dull orange, is that correct? 

thanks

 

[John McPherson]

Unless they are specialty stamps ($$$$) made from heat resistant steel such as H13, they are made to be used on cold metal. Even quenching after every strike, they are probably going to lead a shortened life. Short stamps in a plastic box = cold work only. Hot work stamps would be longer, or come with a punch holder to keep from burning your hands. And would come in a fitted wooden or steel case.

How did you learn to write when you were young? On a blank sheet of paper, or one with lines? Make a line on your work with a silver pencil or thin sharpie, scratches with a scribe being harder to fix or hide later. Lay out your work on a solid surface with no flex, such as the center of your anvil, or directly over the leg of a sturdy table. Using an old glove or other leather scrap as a cradle helps keep it from shifting, especially if it is not perfectly flat. Eyeball each punch as you put it in position for alignment with the baseline, and for squareness.

(Did I forget to mention to mark each punch with which way is up? Of course, *I* have never done something silly, like punch a letter upside down or sideways.)

[ausfire]

37 minutes ago, John McPherson said:

 

(Did I forget to mention to mark each punch with which way is up? Of course, *I* have never done something silly, like punch a letter upside down or sideways.)

Ha Ha. been there, done that.

Nice set. I see they even gave you an ampersand. But what about 9? I suppose you turn over a 6.

[gote]

Since they are intended for cold use, the problem is slight. use suitable clamps to fix some kind of straight edge to support them vertically. Make some kind of lines on the straight edge to align them horizontally

[yves]

Horizontal alignment : it cannot be systematic (i.e. one width) as letters do not have the same width ("I" "W"). 

[Al Stephens]

When stamping several names, words, in a given space I also "lay out" from the center letter or space. It has helped me from running out of room, with 2 letters to go!

[Randy Bill]

I have seen the edge of masking tape applied to the work used as a guide.

[stockmaker]

I was so excited when I bought my first number set, I now have three in different sizes.  I used them to stamp a serial number in an expensive gunstock I just completed for a customer.  Most old gunstocks have the gun's serial number stamped in them.  This one had the numbers under the trigger guard tang, fortunately out of sight. My goal was to make a stock that could not be identified as a replacement.  I carefully aligned and stamped the five digits into the wood, the space is narrow so alignment top to bottom was not a problem, as I finished the fifth and final number I pulled the punch back to see the number had been put in upside down.  And there was nothing I could do to fix it.  I now double check, triple check and check again.  This is a good topic as alignment of letters and number punch's has been hard for me.  I am going to do a simple 1/2" and 3/8" stamp today in metal and want it to look good.

[aessinus]

Both of my sets have a ground notch to denote bottom (except 6/9)

[SmoothBore]

On 9/3/2016 at 9:56 AM, aessinus said:

Both of my sets have a ground notch to denote bottom (except 6/9)

As do mine.

And obviously, it's a simple thing to "nick" each die, in the same fashion.

I use a magnet to hold letter stamps straight and square on a work piece.

 

---------------------------------------------------------------

 

In the days when printing was done with hand-set individual "type", the type had a "nick" ( or 2 ) cast into the body of the type.

The nick was located at a slightly different point on the body of each font of type, so that the "Compositor" could easily spot any irregularities in an assembled "line" of type.

For a number of reasons, the individual type characters were assembled in a "Composing Stick".

A GOOGLE search will yield ample images of "Composing Sticks", ... that might give an idea of how you could apply this simple technology to your problem.

 

[John McPherson]

If you intend to do this sort of thing a lot, a brass or lead hammer strikes with authority, without the tendency to bounce and double strike like a steel hammer. It also will not mushroom the head of the struck tool. Great for using on punches, drifts and chisels as well.

[blackleafforge]

thanks, as always a lot of good tips! 

[Alan Evans]

My punches, some second hand sets, have a line or a cross ground on one face which you can feel under your fingers to make sure they are the right way up.

Two things I have done to help get the legend looking good...

Clamp a guide rail of 12mm (¹/₂") square or similar, and rest the bottom or top edge of the punches on it to give you horizontal and rotational alignment. It helps prevent the possible flinch and movement.

Grip the punch in "mole" or "vice" grips or similar snap action pliers...or some tongs with a slip ring, which enables you to see the business end of the punch clearly without it being obscured by your hand.

As above, I often use a copper mallet. One good clout is better than two light ones. 

I would try a "dead blow" shot filled hammer if I had one.

Alan

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

There are stamp sets and holders that hold all of the punches at once for marking parts. 

[beaudry]

This thread is very timely and there have been numerous good suggestions so far.

Does anyone know of any software that would layout a text with a font size the same as the hand stamp being used on an exact scale to fit on the size of  plate required.

I'm in the process of negotiating a commission to stamp a short text on either 3 1/4'' or 4'' diameter bronze discs.

The stamp size will be either 1/8'' or 3/16''.

There are at least 50 pieces to be done, all with a different text required.

I'd like to find an easier and faster way to lay these out in a more professional manner than trial and error.

I'm hoping that I could compose this to the correct size on the computer and then print it out. I then could glue the cut out paper disc with the laid out text on the bronze plate and then stamp through the paper. 

The paper would be removed either by soaking it off with water or a solvent or burned off with a torch.

I have both a Mac and a PC

 

 

[Alan Evans]

I have used either PhotoShop or Vectorworks on a Mac for similar-ish setting out when I am forming or cutting out the letters.

I have also specified the font and size to a signmaker so he could print out some self-adhesive rubber stencils which I could stick on the project and use the shot blast to texture the plate surface.

But I would have thought that any text processor would do for your purposes if you just play with the printing percentage to match your punch size. 

It is interesting how in a few years our standard of mechanical lettering has improved. With the advent of the computer and their ability to kern text effortlessly...both the standard metal punches and the typewriter are effectively monospaced systems which was the norm. Courier being the monospaced font most Mac systems retain. Any kerning with the punches was done by eye, but then if you wanted really elegant lettering you used burrels or hammer gravers and engraved it...or acid resist and a stylus and etched it.

Did you mention the the disc because you are looking to set out your text on an arc to suit? If so, then my old copy of Photoshop would probably struggle, the Vectorworks text handling would be best. But I would have thought any publishing or illustration programme would have that capacity.

I think a guide bar system of smaller diameter discs would be essential for regularity if the text is on an arc...uneven kerning would be much less noticeable.

Alan

[beaudry]

 Thanks Alan , I'll look into that.

I am proposing that the text be laid out straight across the disc in parallel lines [ just like on a page ] , rather than in a circular layout.

It's too hard for someone to read a text that goes around and round.

[Kozzy]

To do it on the computer is a little bit wonky because virtually all fonts are "Kerned".  Kerning is the adjustment in overlap to compensate for narrower letters and the large white spaces when something like an L and O are next to each other "LO".  Actual font size is not that big a deal because you can adjust either digitally or via printing percentage.

Most word processors have the ability to modify kerning--some might list it as letter spacing.  In many cases this will still not adequately match stamps.  There is a work around though:  Monaco is an unkerned font in the first place.  If you use Monaco as your font (there are a couple of other unkerned fonts also).  it should space the letters evenly regardless of the visual width of the character.  You'll still need to adjust letter spacing but since the characters are all the same width, it's pretty easy to match stamps.

Monaco is great for writing CNC programs too--MUCH easier to find typos, especially I and 1.  Also the Monaco zero has the slash through it and the letter O doesn't (can't tell you how many hours I've wasted in my life chasing that problem)

[Frosty]

wow, I cheat I lay a piece of angle iron over the edge of a table and lay the punches on it in order and even, clamp them down with a second piece of angle iron and I have it ready to lay out on the work piece. The angle iron "holder" marks both upper and lower margins of the stamps and supports them vertically. If necessary I can clam the "holder" to the work or hold it with tongs, channel locks, etc. and hit it with the appropriate size hammer, the more punches at a time the larger the hammer and a dead blow or soft hammer works best.

Practice makes all the difference, Dad could eyeball punches and I swear he could've written a novel like it was typed.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Black Frog]

Practice helps a lot.  You can't simply use the stamp stock size for spacing because there's a lot more empty space on each side of an "I" character than there is on something like a "H" character.  Those holders where you can put a bunch of stamps together don't look right to me.  I don't mind a bit of variation and non-perfectness.  The things we forge are hand made items, and I like the stamping to reflect that too, it was hand stamped.

A proper stamp holder can make a world of difference in ease and accuracy of stamping.   Once you use a real holder, you'll never use a pliers or vise grips again!  

Here's a fancy brass-handled one I made:

[aessinus]

BF, you always do such nice work, makes me want to try harder.  

Regarding stamping, get some 1/4"aluminum MIC6 scrap & practice.  When your satisfied with the results, well.......