My Hot Stamping Journey (7 Viewers)

[Mr_Y3RAC]

This is bad, like really bad... now I want hotstamps and I'd love to try making my own ....

WHY DID I HAVE TO CHOOSE THIS HOBBY???? COULD'NT IT HAVE BEEN SOMETHING CHEAP AND LESS ADDICTING?????

Great job AK, you absolutely nailed it! Will definitely follow this thread

 

[AK Chip]

https://youtube.com/shorts/zt_04S6B4ds?feature=share

 

[AK Chip]

 

[gopherblue]

https://youtube.com/shorts/zt_04S6B4ds?feature=share

And I can’t thank you enough. You’re a .

Labor of love for a fellow chipper (me), right there.

Thank you!

 

[Sprouty]

Yeah, that's definitely a labor of love. I knew there was a lot of work involved but the scraping of a chip adds a whole new level.

 

[warma]

Thank you so much for that, I was always curious and that’s not at all how I imagined it. (Automation is good!)

Can you only get one column of stamps per sheet of foil? Or could you squeeze two or more columns in? Or is it so cheap it doesn’t matter? (Not sure about set up and crinkles in the foil from earlier presses).

PS. You need to up your labor rate.

 

[Sparkynutz]

I just started looking into doing this to my chips. This thread was very informative and helpful. All my older chips are rubber stamped with ink and I need to label additional chips. I can no longer use the same stamps since they were from an employer I worked at many years ago that closed its doors.
I have a small arbor press and was trying to find a place to get custom dies made.
I may just make my own or get help from friends since it shouldn't be too hard with a block of copper and a cnc machine.
I saw a pretty cool chip design with a squirrel and had NUTS on it. My gamer/forum tag has always been Sparkynutz or Nutz for short so that would be cool to put something similar on but maybe with lightning bolts.
OP- any updates to post or advice?

 

[AK Chip]

I just started looking into doing this to my chips. This thread was very informative and helpful. All my older chips are rubber stamped with ink and I need to label additional chips. I can no longer use the same stamps since they were from an employer I worked at many years ago that closed its doors.
I have a small arbor press and was trying to find a place to get custom dies made.
I may just make my own or get help from friends since it shouldn't be too hard with a block of copper and a cnc machine.
I saw a pretty cool chip design with a squirrel and had NUTS on it. My gamer/forum tag has always been Sparkynutz or Nutz for short so that would be cool to put something similar on but maybe with lightning bolts.
OP- any updates to post or advice?

I just saw this post, I use Owosso to make my dies.

 

[AK Chip]

 

[Grandmasturkey]

And I can’t thank you enough. You’re a .

Labor of love for a fellow chipper (me), right there.

Thank you!

So this video is showing the scraping off of the flashing so the chips will lie flat?

I feel like when I stamp chips I never have this much flashing...am I supposed to?

Thanks as always for your information

 

[warma]

View attachment 778486

Do you really need the AK? All Alaskans and true pioneers (the important people) would know.

 

[AK Chip]

Yes the scraping is to make sure they lay flat and don’t spin.
In order to get the center stamped on the crown molds it requires a deep stamp. They’re con-caved in the center and will only stamp the outer edges.

 

[AK Chip]

Do you really need the AK? All Alaskans and true pioneers (the important people) would know.

He was also in Skagway Colorado, but you are right it’s probably not needed.

 

[Grandmasturkey]

Yes the scraping is to make sure they lay flat and don’t spin.
In order to get the center stamped on the crown molds it requires a deep stamp. They’re con-caved in the center and will only stamp the outer edges.

Okay interesting. So if you have something uneven instead of trying to flatten it (which I have been doing with a hydraulic heated press) you can just do a deeper stamp and scrape?

 

[gopherblue]

So this video is showing the scraping off of the flashing so the chips will lie flat?

I feel like when I stamp chips I never have this much flashing...am I supposed to?

Thanks as always for your information

You’d have to ask @AK Chip, but these likey had more flashing since he had to stamp extra deep to account for the concavity of the faces.

 

[AK Chip]

Okay interesting. So if you have something uneven instead of trying to flatten it (which I have been doing with a hydraulic heated press) you can just do a deeper stamp and scrape?

Flattening the scrowns is an interesting idea. I think @ekricket was going to try it but haven’t heard how it went. To stamp either crown molds I have stamped extra deep and double stamped them when needed.

 

[GianThaMan]

Yes the scraping is to make sure they lay flat and don’t spin.
In order to get the center stamped on the crown molds it requires a deep stamp. They’re con-caved in the center and will only stamp the outer edges.

Is it possible to order a slightly convex die to account for that and allow for an easier stamp?

 

[AK Chip]

Is it possible to order a slightly convex die to account for that and allow for an easier stamp?

No it varies to much in the chips to get it in the correct spot every time.

 

[ekricket]

 

[Grandmasturkey]

View attachment 778574

I'd be happy to try and flatten some and see what you guys think...I do notice when I flatten THCs I lose that beautiful texture that they have sadly

 

[AK Chip]

It might be worth a try.

 

[ekricket]

I don’t think flattening did much for me. I tried a barrel and it was about the same. I think one thing that does make a difference in the amount of flashing is heating the chips up slightly before stamping.
The material is just missing in those spots, so you’d have to basically redistribute the material instead of just flattening. I really think they skimped on additives for some reason, maybe it makes the plastic mold better but sacrifices uniformity.

 

[Grandmasturkey]

It might be worth a try.

Not to get hijack your thread, but I've been trying to take THC hot stamps and essentially make them THC blanks, the process has involved flatten out the hot stamped surface and then using TSP to scrub off the foil. I'm more than happy to try flattening the scrowns for you guys! I'll be home by Wednesday next week, currently traveling for work.

 

[ekricket]

Not to get hijack your thread, but I've been trying to take THC hot stamps and essentially make them THC blanks, the process has involved flatten out the hot stamped surface and then using TSP to scrub off the foil. I'm more than happy to try flattening the scrowns for you guys! I'll be home by Wednesday next week, currently traveling for work.

I’ll pass thks.

 

[RainmanTrail]

Flattening the scrowns would likely result in creating spinners. That's why they are concave to begin with, to avoid spinners.

 

[Sparkynutz]

Looks like pretty poor quality control. My dice chips are flatter than that.

 

[gopherblue]

The more interesting question is "how did TRK stamp chips on an industrial scale, given the concavity of the faces?" We're talking 1/1000ths of an inch, so perhaps they had a hotstamp die maker who could create slightly convex dies. But I also note that many TRK-made hotstamps bear evidence of substantial scraping.

 

[Grandmasturkey]

The more interesting question is "how did TRK stamp chips on an industrial scale, given the concavity of the faces?" We're talking 1/1000ths of an inch, so perhaps they had a hotstamp die maker who could create slightly convex dies. But I also note that many TRK-made hotstamps bear evidence of substantial scraping.

Isn't it more likely that the chips are slightly warped? I don't know I'm just actually asking

 

[gopherblue]

Isn't it more likely that the chips are slightly warped? I don't know I'm just actually asking

Nope.

 

[AK Chip]

Starting to feel like this is the end of my stamping journey. Just not enough time.