Why oh why did reel manufacturers use glue that lets the emblem fall off?

[akroper]

I wonder if acceptable emblems could be 3-D printed.  My son-in-law is pretty adept with the 3-D stuff.  If he thinks it is possible, I think I'll give him a couple of samples to try and replicate.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I wonder if acceptable emblems could be 3-D printed.  My son-in-law is pretty adept with the 3-D stuff.  If he thinks it is possible, I think I'll give him a couple of samples to try and replicate.

there's some metallic filaments out there. You may be on to something.

[oc1]

Traditionally, the hard part of stamping out a medallion would be making the hard metal die.  A male die can stamp an image into thin brass stock using a cushioned pad below.  It's tedious but possible to use a female die and dapping tools.  Having a two-piece male and female die is much quicker and gives much better resolution.

I think a 3D printed die would be dense enough to stamp thin brass stock when only small numbers are required.  The rigidity of the medallion comes from the rolled edges, not the thickness of the brass stock.  You can get brass shim stock that is paper thin.

[JasonGotaProblem]

I didn't even think about printing a die, I was thinking print the medallion. You could theoretically print the male and female sides.

We're getting into the technical side of 3d printing again and rapidly leaving my arena of expertise. Dave, you're up.

[jgp12000]

I know zippo about 3D printing, but was curious if you could crop an object from a larger object i.e. without removing the emblem from a reel.Maybe easier just to remove it from a junker?

Google AI stated:

Yes, you can crop, cut, or split an object from a larger 3D model to fit your printer's build volume or to print specific parts. This is commonly done using 3D modeling software like Meshmixer, Fusion 360, or directly within slicers like PrusaSlicer or Bambu Studi

[jurelometer]

I didn't even think about printing a die, I was thinking print the medallion. You could theoretically print the male and female sides.

We're getting into the technical side of 3d printing again and rapidly leaving my arena of expertise. Dave, you're up.

OK.  I'll bite.

It cracks me up that people think that if you have a 3D printer, they can visualize something in their brain and ask a printer to make it. Sort of like that replicator that makes lunch on the old Star Trek.

Most folk that claim to be good at 3D printing  are good at tuning their printer and print file instructions  to get a good looking print from a 3D image file that they found on the internet.  Definitely a useful skill, but only part of the equation.

First- you need a 3D image of your emblem.  You can draw one up from scratch with 3D modeling software (different than parametric 3D design software for functional parts), OR - you can use a scanner to copy an existing one.  But you will need a pretty good 3D scanner  to be effective for a part that small, and afterwards, you will still need to tweak it with the modeling software to fix the inevitable scanning defects.

OK - now you have a 3D image.  At this point it is easy to to print an emblem with a decent hobby printer.  There are some plastic/metal powder blends (stainless, brass, etc) that look very much like metal, but I am not certain that they will print details cleanly on a small detailed part like this.  Printing pure "metallic" colored plastic would be easy- but don't  use the ubiquitous PLA plastic- which won't last  in the sun or heat.  Still possible with a better plastic choice, but a bit more difficult.

Since you now have an image file, you could also order prints from a professional service with fancy industrial printers that will give you a plastic or pure metal part. How about a lightweight titanium Spinfisher badge to improve performance (Ha!).

Some printing services will even host your part.  When a customer orders your part from them, they handle sales, print it, ship it and send you a cut.

In terms of printing a die pair:  it is very easy to make negatives of your part and size the negatives/positives up/down appropriately to adjust for the thickness of the metal blank.  I do this type of stuff all the time for making masters for silicone molds.  If the metal sheet was thin and soft enough, you could press out some parts, but the metal might need to be awful thin and soft for a very detailed part. It depends on the shape and how thin and tall the reliefs are.  The dies will be pretty weak in spots that are tall and thin.  You would probably have to backfill with resin to keep them from denting.  And you will have to trim perimeter of the punched out parts- not too hard with another fixture that you can print, but still more work.  I am not too confident that this will result in a nice part with clean and sharp relief, but you never know.

Or you could simply make a silicone mold of an existing OEM emblem - the right silicone can handle melted tin/pewter metal alloys, or you could pour a plastic resin/metal powder blend.  Pure brass/ bronze has too high a melting point.  There are lots of folks that do antique looking fake "metal" jewelry and game pieces this way, but I am more of a mechanical parts kinda guy, so I can't help you much here.

You can also 3D print using a special wax, or use the  silicone mold for making wax masters for  lost wax casting from all sorts of metals- but hard to see this as cost effective. At this point you are better off making jewelry.

That is all that I can think of off the top of my head.

-J

[oc1]

Somewhere here in the bowels of AT.com is an attempt I made to create a silicone mold of a Spinfisher medallion.  Neither the silicone mold nor the epoxy resin casting that came from it had much detail and the color was off.

I was so enthusiastic to try it that I had popped a perfectly good medallion off a reel, then subsequently misplaced the original, the reproduction and even the thread and pictures where it was described.  Maybe someone will stumble across it.

[jurelometer]

Silicone molds can come out pretty well detailed if you use the right mold making silicone. I have had accidental fingerprints on the release agent end up on the surface of the part.  There are also special casting resins- urethane would be my first choice.  But I haven't tried anything this small, so I can't make specific recommendations.

-J