# Making raised letters by cold casting



## ghart3 (Nov 27, 2008)

Tried making some raised letters to get that cast look and it seems to work OK.
Having a little homemade cnc mill was able to mill out some mirrored image letters about .040" deep in some 1/16" thick Teflon sheet that was handy.  Believe there is a way to have made the same letters using a UV cured rubber and your art work or using a wax instead of the Teflon.

With a scalpel cut a chamfer around the letters, this gave somewhat of a fillet to bottom of the letters when cast.  Mixed up some steel filed epoxy and smeared into the letters with some excess.






Was able to wrapped the Teflon sheet around a 1/2" steel shaft by starting at one end and wrap tightly working to far end.





Let set about 12 hours before removing Teflon sheet.  With a sharp scalpel went around the letter edges and put a little chamfer on them. The J-B weld epoxy was easy to carve as it had not completely set up.  Sanded lightly to make the top surface more uniform in height.





Finished heat exchanger on model of Rudy Kouhoupt's steam tractor. 






Question, are the attached pictures too large, should they be a smaller size?


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## ChooChooMike (Nov 27, 2008)

WOW !! That's pretty darn cool !! Looks great  :bow:


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## dsquire (Nov 27, 2008)

ghart3 :bow:

That is a very impressive way of doing that and you have done a very good job of it. As far as I'm concerned the pictures are a good size and show lots of detail which is what everyone likes to see.

Keep up the good work.

cheers

Don


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## Maryak (Nov 27, 2008)

ghart3,

Very and I mean Very, clever :bow: :bow:



			
				ghart3  said:
			
		

> Believe there is a way to have made the same letters using a UV cured rubber and your art work or using a wax instead of the Teflon.



Can you expand a bit more on this as my artistic skills are, (believe it or not), even worse than my camera skills.

I think your photos are spot on.

Best Regards
Bob


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## DickDastardly40 (Nov 27, 2008)

About halfway down the page in the link is how an enterprising frenchman did it; the rest of his site is well worth a read to see how he does what he does. It is in french though the pictures tell the story, online translators don't always understand the gist.

http://romubricoltout.canalblog.com/archives/15_la_porte_de_boite_a_fumee_/index.html

Al


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## Bernd (Nov 27, 2008)

Al,

That's one heck of a talented builder. Very ingenious in hie use of the equipment he has. Thanks for that link.

Bernd


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## ghart3 (Nov 27, 2008)

Bob, tried finding a place had seen on the net but having no luck.  Think the guys name was something like Graham and believe he lived in East Grand Forks, Minnesota.
Anyway he used a liquid type rubber and a uv light to cure it.

Couple years ago did some artwork on computer and sent it to a rubber stamp making place, Tacoma Rubber. 
http://www.tacomarubberstamp.com/
They made a rubber mold from file emailed them.  The rubber mold was then used to make a sand mold from which bronze plaque was made.

Another method of "making" raised letters that have used is to use one of those hand embossing label makers.  Had the small set of castings for the Rider Ericsson hot air engine which dosen't come with the raised lettering.  Embossed the letters on the Dymo label maker and cut out each letter to get spacing and to be able to put in arc.






Milled slot in casting and using a two part epoxy fixed them in place.






Sorry don't have close up of letters, but they turned out ok.





Al, thanks for the link.  Neat idea on the spring clamps and lots other good ideas.
Wonder if he cut out each letter with a jewelers saw?


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## Maryak (Nov 27, 2008)

ghart3,

Thanks for the explanations and options, I have one of those labellers, as for the skills and everything else required....... ???

Your models are excellent. :bow: :bow:

Best Regards
Bob


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## DickDastardly40 (Nov 28, 2008)

ghart3  said:
			
		

> Wonder if he cut out each letter with a jewelers saw?



If I read it correctly the letters were laser cut but guess you could cnc them if you have the facility.

I didn't mention in my previous post that GHart3's cold cast method looks really effective and the later dymo tape idea proves there are plenty of methods to remove the coat off of the feline. I have an embossed dymo tape printer in my desk draw but no tape, mostly use an electronic printer these days!

Al


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## tmuir (Nov 28, 2008)

What a clever idea.
I've heard a lot of my US friends swear by JB Weld but I've never seen it in OZ.
Does anyone know if it's available in OZ?


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## ghart3 (Nov 28, 2008)

Guess Im a nut about raised letters.  Just realized another method have used.  Made a radiator for Centaur model engine and thought raised letters like stamped into sheet metal would look nice.  So tried some repousse.   First printed out on paper the letters wanted in mirror image.  Choosing letters that had only used straight lines and circles or parts of circles. Using wood glue attached to back of brass shim stock and laid on some soft lead. Using home made chiscels hammered away at the printed lines.  Sample try pics below.









The chisels with curves in them were made in the lathe and part unneeded was cut away











Working on the lead wasn't be best because sometimes the work would want to move around and sometimes lead would get stuck to the brass.  Bought some pitch from Northwest Pitch Works and made a pitch bowl. That worked much better.
http://www.northwestpitchworks.com/home_main.html






After working on the back the work can be put face up and set in the pitch and worked from the front defining the lines better. It is called chasing when working from the front.





---------------
Centaur engine


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## BrianS (Dec 18, 2008)

Yay! I think i can finally be of some help to someone. I believe that earlier in this thread Maryak was trying to think of this site but couldn't find the link. So I think this is the one he meant. 

http://www.granthams.com/ 

He sells a DVD and the supplies to do it. Hope this helps.


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## tel (Dec 19, 2008)

tmuir  said:
			
		

> What a clever idea.
> I've heard a lot of my US friends swear by JB Weld but I've never seen it in OZ.
> Does anyone know if it's available in OZ?



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Liquid-Weld-in-a-Tube-J.B-WELD-bonds-cast-Iron-,-Steel-_W0QQitemZ110315778770QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081122?IMSfp=TL081122121001r8122


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## tmuir (Dec 19, 2008)

Thanks, nice to know its available when I need it.


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## ghart3 (Dec 19, 2008)

Wow, AU $30.00 sounds a little much.  Don't know what mailing or exchange rate is but a eBay search of completed items in U.S. shows lots less.

http://search.ebay.com/jb-j-b-weld_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQfromZR40QQsatitleZQ28jbQ2cQ20jQ20bQ29Q20weld


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## Orrin (Dec 19, 2008)

Pattern letters are available from The Kindt-Collins Company, along with
every other kind of pattern supply you can think of. Take a look at

http://www.kindt-collins.com/

http://www.kindt-collins.com/pattern/pattern.html

Unfortunately, there is a $50.00 minimum order. Even so, if I ever get around to a project I have in mind, I might still go ahead, order the letters, and use them to make a silicone rubber mold for casting JB-Weld lettering directly onto a model. 

I've had excellent luck making letters using silicone rubber and JB-Weld while repairing broken cast-iron toys; but, I've always copied existing lettering. Using pattern letters will be something new for me.

I get the silicone from Micro Mark.  

Regards, 

Orrin


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## Paula (Dec 19, 2008)

Very interesting topic! 

Ghart3, all I can say is... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 and some well-earned karma for you!

I've seen pictures of your Centaur engine on other sites -- it's is unquestionably the finest example around. Love the design, with the curved flywheel spokes, side shaft, and all. I think Reeves still sells the castings.

Paula


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## ghart3 (Dec 19, 2008)

Thanks Paula for the kind remarks.  E.T. Westbury did a nice design on this engine. If someone is buying castings for this engine they should check and make sure *all* the castings are available.  I bought my castings from a friend who was unable to get the castings for the carb and governor.  Fabbed the governor and carb.  Also made a pattern for the carb but never had it poured.  If someone is looking for a carb casting they can borrow or have my split pattern.
Gary


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## tmuir (Dec 20, 2008)

ghart3  said:
			
		

> Wow, AU $30.00 sounds a little much. Don't know what mailing or exchange rate is but a eBay search of completed items in U.S. shows lots less.
> 
> http://search.ebay.com/jb-j-b-weld_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQfromZR40QQsatitleZQ28jbQ2cQ20jQ20bQ29Q20weld



I thought $30 sounded expensive. Postage couldn't be more than a few dollars.
I seem to be buying more and more outside of Australia now as we really do get 'screwed' on the prices for a lot of things.


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