Machine restorers

John Saunders posted a video showing one technique to make a filled brass plate:


If making steel plates, you can use printed circuit board techniques. Reverse laser print on a transparent material and iron it onto the plate. Put some resist coating on the back side and dip in some ferric chloride solution till you get to the desired depth of etch. You can get ferric chloride from most electronic component stores.

For a printed plate, I have thought of printing on a t-shirt transfer sheet and applying that to the plate. I have yet to try it so I can't confirm whether this will work or not. You would need to apply a clear protective coat afterwards.

You can also get laser and inkjet printable decal sheets. Same as above, have the material but haven't tested it.

Of course all of these depend on having a cleaned up graphic of the original plate.

bob
 
I've used decal printer paper for machine logos. It seems that you could use it for metal data plates as well.
 
All of these printer methods are okay with the oils and solvents? We have a laser printer... I wouldn't know what paper to use tho...

All of the companies I called cannot do what I'm asking.
 
I am also interested in the laser printer paper one, As I have an Asian lathe that needs tome new labels Single color will work. But right now I have nothing.
 
I have used the laser printer decal paper for some labels. I brought the clear background (you can also get a white background decal paper) to allow the machine colour to be the background.
The results were varying. The laser printed colour is not so vivid so can appear a bit washed out and hard to see on a dark background, but works quite well on a light background.
 
I'm in the middle of restoring a Logan Lathe 1875 - So this is of interest to me as well...
I love Keith Ruckers Videos and will check it out, Im calling Logan to see If I can nab one from them.. Fingers crossed.

My Plate is in great shape, I just have to learn how to reprint it.. the video above shows a very except-able a way to do it but I dont have a CNC Mill, Laser table or powder equipment to do it.
 
The guys on this site that restore machines, where do you guys go to get the name plates and tables reprinted on metal plates? ...

If I cared enough, I'd do it with electrochemical machining. There are iron-on mask materials, look on ebay
for 'photoresist dry film'. Start by making a 'negative' with your laser printer onto clear film.
The copper etch solutions are (of course) messy; I'd consider a mild acid
bath and reverse-electroplating techniques (I used to make shim washers this way, with fine details).
Nitric acid (beware fumes, it creates rust) cuts into stainless just dandy.

Probably the original plates were pressed against a die plate (made by etching?), then painted and polished.

There's shops that do etching very well (their business cards are stainless steel or brass samplers).

There are also vinyl sign cutters that half-cut a sheet at a time; adhere the sheet to
your metal, carefully lift off the 'waste', and it's ready for media blasting!
 
I'm interested in the electroplating. I've watched AvE do it a few times with poor results... so I don't know. I have a bunch various plate stock I can use in various metals, aluminum, copper, brass. Just have to pick a method.

I did buy some plain sticker paper with the intentions of just making a sticker and lacquering it, but I could only get white background. Not very desirable.
 
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