Day 44, My 3D Printed Brand
My tinkering with woodworking reached the grandiose levels where I thought that signing or branding my work would be a good thing to do. "Real" woodworkers can impose their mark on their work by heating up a branding iron, so why shouldn't I?
Well, I didn't have one. You can of course have someone design and make one for you, and that's probably a good idea, but in my infinite googling, I ran across the idea of using a service to 3D print one in metal. Some suggested that it would be cheaper. I followed the directions (or at least the idea) on this webpage which claimed you could do it for $6 by having it 3D printed by Shapeways. Perhaps I did it wrong, because it cost me about $40 including shipping.
I originally designed the logo/model using OpenSCAD, but later I decided to reproduce it using OnShape so I could make some modifications to it at some later date if I tried to redo it.
It's just a round patch with MVW (Mark VandeWettering) in a circle. I like the simplicity of it.
I basically just grab this with a set of pliers, heat it in a gas torch and then stamp it down on my piece.
To be fair, getting the temperature just right and keeping the pressure just right is challenging. It works, but sometimes I don't get the clearest imprint (sometimes too dark, sometimes too dark, often not evenly stamped.) If I were to do this again, I would probably design it with a better way to hold it, and maybe inside a square instead, which would make it easier to line up in a particular orientation. But it's fun, and more rustic than using something like a lazer engraver.
Hope you all have a great June!