Ethanol Free Gas
The task here is to create builder's ID plates for 1/8 scale locomotives. The original builder's plate were generally brass
plaques with raised letters, cast from a sand mold. I have machined flat plates from scrap brass instead of casting them.
These plates measure 1.25" tall, and 1.5" wide, and were limited by the size of the scrap brass on hand.
Some of the locomotives can be seen at ILS.
Toolpath preview generated by the software (VCarve Pro v6). There is already an error here, as I thought Mr. Huizenga lives in Indianapolis. He doesn't, so I have to relocate the factory to Mooresville.
First version of the part
Some cooking oil on a paper towell
The part laying face down on the paper towel. Note that the depth of cut was set a bit too deep, and the tool created some bulging on the back of the brass.
A couple of coats of rattle can spray paint
Wiped the paint off of the face. Probably didn't have enough oil on some portions of the
raised lettering, so the paint wouldn't wipe off. This could probably be cured with some fine sandpaper.
Next attempt I'll use several thicknesses of paper towels, to compensate for some warpage of the brass during carving.
The first version shows that the smaller letters are not viable. That required redoing the layout to reduce the number of words.
The flat bottom option in the software was changed to do the pocketing with a 1/8" end mill. Turns out to be hard to match the
vertical adjustment )Z) between the two cutters. Next time I'll omit the end mill.
Note that this second version is
much more readable even before the background is painted.
Check back in a couple of days. Hopefully I'll be able to post
a short video of this process.