Making Clear (aryclic) Stamps

Community Support
21

Hi all,

I’ve just ordered my Glowforge last week, but have been following the community for quite a time now. One of the reasons I chose to order the Glowforge is this community, as it is one of the aspects I really like of my Ultimaker 2, a community that supports and helps each other.

I think I might be able to add on the original question of this topic.

I’ve been looking at the trodat site, and I think that for the clear stamps you will need Instaplate. http://www.trodat.net/b2b/en-US/Products/Production-materials/Ideal-Instaplate/Pages/general.aspx

So you will engrave your stamp on a material you like, my guess is acrylic suits for this (a material you can engrave nice but deep as well), and you use this as a cast for the Instaplate.

I think the results using this material will be nicer than using the clear polymer, and will greatly reduce engraving times (as you make a cast(which again can be used multiple times), not the stamp)

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22

Hmmmm. Hate to say this, but I don’t think this stuff works the way you think it does. It is a photopolymer, which means that you need a negative and a UV lamp to develop it. I’ve never heard of casting photopolymer into a mold. I suppose you could but I worry about getting the stamp out of the mold in one piece. If you have any references on doing this I’d love to see them. Maybe I’m missing out on a good thing!

I do have some of this material from a different company (ImagePac) but it works the same way as Trodat’s stuff.

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23

Hi,
I guess your right. However, I still can see some use for the Glowforge in this process. If you draw something on a dark paper with a white pencil, you can you the trace function to cut-out the drawing. Then you can use this as a mask for curing the photopolymer.

Does the ImagePac work nice?

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24

I find it interesting how many new things I have learned being a part of this forum. This sure looks like a lot of fun and if a process can be developed for the Glowforge, likely to become a very popular use case.

This video gave me a much better understanding of the process of using clear stamps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F64RQZSdZrQ

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25

Oh, for sure. It might be possible to just go ahead and fully expose the ImagePac then engrave it directly (image reversed) with the GF. I certainly intend to try, having a stack of them here.

The ImagePac doesn’t give as nice of an art stamp as does the resin you pour (from Jackson Marking Products/rubberstampmaterials.com), but it is a bit neater and more convenient.

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26

Thank you for the clarification.

27

Thanks for that link @chevalier_jeanpaul - that really cleared up the concept that is being discussed here!

28

thanks for answering AuntiMame…yes it is a clear stamp that works just like the red rubber but is clear instead.

29

yes Jeremy, I saved that page as well…just hoping this machine will do what I want it to…so that I won’t be out of the money that I should have put to another machine…now I hear the time frame is at the end of June…while I am a patient person I sure would love to know if it will work…

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30

yes that is exactly what i was talking about…thanks

31

what kind of machine did you use to make red rubber stamps dave?

32

i would sure LOVE TO SEE WHAT YOU MADE…it would ease my mind…PRETTY PLEASE…lol

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33

At Playstation, in the FabLab, we had a Universal 25 Watt laser and that’s what I used. It turns out that if you work for a big corporation and write to material providers with your corporate email and ask nicely, they will send you free samples of various laserable materials.

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35

I called and talked to them before ordering - the product is photopolymer that they have fully exposed and processed. I was wondering if it was a different product than the polymer I receive when I order from boxcar but apparently it’s the same thing