| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| 2steps |
Metal shape cutterI want to be able to make little phoenix shaped tags to attatch to my jewellery but need some sort of metal cutter, like a cookie cutter type thing. Would anyone be able to make one for me and what would it cost? I need it to cut fimo and precious metal clay and to be about 1cm big |
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| sean |
Blacksmith's probably yer man for this sort of thing. He doesn't tend to be around much at weekends though. Might be worth a PM to him. | ||||
| Simon |
1cm?
I doubt it. I am sure he will be able to offer advice but I doubt he is into intricate. Hey Dave, be a man, back me up here |
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| 2steps |
Will do that sean 
the design is quite a simple shape, just tiny |
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| Blacksmith |
Bit too fiddly at 10mm for me. 
We have a die making department where I work for stamping out the corrugated cases, minimum would be about 100mm, any help ? |
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| 2steps |
thanks but that's to big. | ||||
| lettucewoman |
have you looked at little card cutters? I have a seahorse one that will cut fimo and pmc... | ||||
| Gervase |
See if you can find someone with a No. 1 flypress who has a mate who can cut the stamps for you. Then you can turn them out by the squillion. | ||||
| Jamanda |
One of the bead shops I use sells little metal hands with the words "hand made" stamped on them. What shape are you after?
(You didn't source a caravan then Gervase?) |
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| 2steps |
that's the sort of thing I'm after but I want them the shape of my logo. I know of an ameriacn company that make stamps to make little tags but there pretty expensive 
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| Gervase |
[quote="Jamanda"(You didn't source a caravan then Gervase?)[/quote]
 No - buy I have managed to source a sprained ankle! If only I'd paid more attention to the Working At Heights memorandum from the HSE, then the ladder I stepped off onto an offcut of timber could have had its own logbook exonerating it from all blame. 
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| sally_in_wales |
Have a look in your nearest big kitchen shop at tiny cake cutters, they do a few that are only 1cm across, just possibly you could rebend it with pliers to give the shape you want. Or, maybe use thin brass stirp (Chronos sell this) and make it from scratch? | ||||
| Jamanda |
Oh dear. Are you laid up? |
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| 2steps |
ohhh I could rebend a normal cookie cutter, maybe excellent, thank you I love downsizer
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| dougal |
To cut metal, you basically need a harder metal. Hard steel, shaping it and (probably heat-) treating to harden the cutting edges (without distorting, or embrittling the thing) isn't cheap. You need something rather more meaty than a cookie cutter... Once you have the die/stamp, you then have to apply sufficient force to cut through the metal. You might whack it with a hammer, but a proper "flypress" brings a small touch of civilisation! I wonder whether there might be scope for using an etching process, perhaps with a stenciled paint 'resist' (rather than a u-v cured photo-resist), perhaps accelerated by, say, a car battery? That would be cheaper on front end costs, but (no problem) doesn't have such potential for cheap mass production as does fly-press stamping... |
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| sally_in_wales |
I didnt think this was to cut metal, just fimo and pmc? | ||||
| Jamanda |
That's what 2steps says in the first post. |
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| 2steps |
if I could make them in metal that'd be ok but I intended them to be fimo so I could have different colours
This kind of thing would be great, and I think is what dougal was meaning but I'd also be quite happy with a tiny cutter to cut them from fimo or pmc I did also think I could engrave them. Somewhere I have an engraving tool, but then ideally I'd need a stencil to keep them all the same.. |
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| sally_in_wales |
What about making a master, then taking a plaster mould from it and pressing the fimo or pmc into it? that way you could have your lettering too perhaps. | ||||
| dougal |
Sorree! Mislead by thread title and not reading the first post carefully enough! I wonder if a reverse-linocut might do for clay? No metal required. Cutting out the shape from an appropriate thickness of lino, sticking to a wood backing, paint the inside of the mould for easy release (and silicone spray?) Would you need pushout pinholes? Or would arranging it so that the lino could be peeled up, aid release? |