DIY Pin Badge

You'll have to pardon the French here...

I've been wanting to make myself a couple of badges for a while. Picked up some brooch backs off ebay and had a bash at making over the last few days. Results are good, I'm getting to grips a bit with the epoxy and polishing techniques, but it can still be a bit hit and miss.

Here's one I made - 3 tools: 2mm pocket, 1mm pocket and then a 0.5mm profile. Would have been nice to experiment with Fusion 360's REST machining feature here, but I'm not confident enough to switch to using it and in fairness, until I've worked out which parameters I can 'ignore' in 360 the Vectric software is a LOT more user friendly...

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From 3D viz through to final badge. Of course, it's massively inefficient to make a load of badges this way, but as a one off the quality is great and it's always excellent to be able to make your own stuff..!

Wal.

Nice finish, but why "Yep!" and not "Yeah!" or "Yes!" or even "Don't Mind If I F**kin' Do"?
:-)

>but why "Yep!" and not "Yeah!"

Hehe - You're absolutely right - 'Yeah' is the official standard - I went for the slightly awkward 'Yep' because it looked better (and I'm a bit awkward like that..)

The finish - took a while to polish that in, damn micro-scratches...

Wal.

Very nice, great quality & finish.
Thanks for showing.
Cheers

You are the master of badges. But what do you do with them? What these badges serve for?

I'll wear this one to interviews, you know - to suggest my enthusiasm to prospective employers...

(All depends - I make the occasional badge for friends, I'll probably wear this one every once in a while and others just end up as ornaments. I guess I just like designing and making 'em, kills a bit of time, but no - they serve no purpose whatsoever, except to satisfy me when they come out looking alright...)

Wal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wal

I guess I just like designing and making 'em, kills a bit of time, but no - they serve no purpose whatsoever, except to satisfy me when they come out looking alright...)
Wal.

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Good on yer Wal great looking badge, best answer I've seen mate keep it up.

Phill

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wal

They serve no purpose whatsoever, except to satisfy me when they come out looking alright...)
Wal.

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Agree with Phill on this one, best reason going. Brilliant work, Wal, that's a whole lot of buffing!

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing.


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Some miniature plaques made for a friend who builds high end hi-fi amps. The small ones will sit next to their respective valves (viewable through the glass top) and the other two will be mounted to the chassis at the rear of the amp. Heh, the badges for this amp cost about what most people spend on their stereos - well, maybe not, mates rates and all that - but still...

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Not quick to make, though...

Just thought I'd post some things I've made which serve a purpose, you know - just to keep Boyan happy..! ;)

Happy Easter.

Wal.

Wal I love these too. Well done again and thanks for Sharing.



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Wal, these are very nice and inspiring. What is it you fill them with and how deep are you milling them?

Hi,

I use cold enamel - like this:

http://brightenamels.co.uk/documents...e%20(2016).pdf

It's good stuff, but can be tricky to mix in small quantities, ie. 0.1gm colour + 1.9gm resin +1gm hardener. Too much/too little of one or the other and it doesn't set properly..!

If I'm using >0.8mm cutters I'll cut to a depth of 0.75mm, anything under that I'll keep to around 0.5mm - in both cases it's probably too deep, but I get paranoid about belt sanding through the epoxy..!

Wal.

Did you check the job request for aluminum badge?

Boyan - yep, I followed up on that but the job went no further (with me).

Okay, last of the badge posts - as no doubt you get the idea. This one was made as a commission - a birthday present, I think... Two nicknames, two badges that can be worn or displayed together in a plinth. Smallest cuts here were with a 0.2mm - I could have got away with a 0.3mm, but the two I had both broke on the job and I had to re-program using the 0.2mm (which also eventually broke). Heh, I can see why people don't do these for a living - once you've taken materials/tools etc. into account, along with what this kind of job is 'worth' to the buyer, well, you're looking at less than minimum wage for this... but I guess as long as you're making on other work it's still enjoyable to do - trouble is you need to give 'em away at the end..!

Has anyone got any tips for micro-diameter end-mills - I tend to cut slow and shallow, but am I better off going slower and cutting deeper, or do the same rules not apply at this scale..? I avoid using air with the small stuff and have found that covering the plate and then the channels being cut with WD40 tends to work better - sure, you'll need to remove the build up of tiny chips every once in a while, but they're so small they tend to float about and get pushed out of the way by the cutter. Here's a vid cutting the intermediate details with a 0.8mm cutter:

https://youtu.be/We8cvlJbQ_0

Anyway, some pics - check out how the thin bit at the bottom of the second 'b' has survived - I didn't think it would make it past the 'clean-up with the old toothbrush' stage, but somehow it did... pretty cool.

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BTW, the best method for getting rid of air bubbles in the epoxy at this scale is, hands down, no bull, a waft of a blow-torch over the surface as was suggested on a previous post here. I didn't realise it would be so effective - they disappear instantly..!

Wal.

Awesome [emoji41].


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Evening all,

I made a few more of those brass Hi-Fi badges this weekend and thought I'd hot-glue my loupe onto the lens on my phone, you know, just to see. Slo-mo results below. The quality isn't super, so probably not worth wasting 3 minutes of your life on this, but I thought it at least entry-level interesting...

https://youtu.be/g4YXcD3mwrI

Cut using a 1mm, 2 flute carbide end-mill
DOC = 0.5mm
SPINDLE = 16K
Feed = 2.5mm/sec

Cool to watch. Mixing the arts of photography/video and CNC. I like it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wal

You'll have to pardon the French here...

I've been wanting to make myself a couple of badges for a while. Picked up some brooch backs off ebay and had a bash at making over the last few days. Results are good, I'm getting to grips a bit with the epoxy and polishing techniques, but it can still be a bit hit and miss.

Here's one I made - 3 tools: 2mm pocket, 1mm pocket and then a 0.5mm profile. Would have been nice to experiment with Fusion 360's REST machining feature here, but I'm not confident enough to switch to using it and in fairness, until I've worked out which parameters I can 'ignore' in 360 the Vectric software is a LOT more user friendly...

Attachment 21251 Attachment 21255 Attachment 21254 Attachment 21252 Attachment 21253 Attachment 21250

From 3D viz through to final badge. Of course, it's massively inefficient to make a load of badges this way, but as a one off the quality is great and it's always excellent to be able to make your own stuff..!

Wal.

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Hi Wal

Will you be doing a Derek and Clive commemorative badge any time soon. Here is a link to one of my pre cnc guitars. Dremel Scalpel and piercing saw. I am still trying to get my head around all this cnc stuff, no valves in my control box.
http://www.tschuschenkapelle.at/images/Slideshow/4.jpg
By the way which cam software are you using? and where do you get your cutters.
Cheers from snow free Vienna

Andrew

Hi Wal
If you warm any laquer or epoxy it gets much runnier, the hardening process is also more thorough. But don't heat the epoxy until you've mixed it. I know an archery bow maker here who left her epoxy cans on a heating box she used to cure the resin and didn't notice until her bows started delaminating at a world champinship in South Africa. She had to fly out with replacement bows, expensive mistake!
cheers
Andrw

Hi Wal,
you have inspired me with your badges so i did something similar for a friend. Right now making a batch of 20. This was the test piece and has some minor flaws.

Attachment 23378

Hey Boyan,

That's pretty cool man. How did you get the textured/sand-cast effect in the black areas..?

Andrew,

Nice pic that - and a very good looking guitar - plenty of inlay there to have kept you busy for a while..!

To answer your questions - software wise I use a combination of Adobe Illustrator, Vectric Cut 2D/3D and (to a lesser extent) Cinema 4D for any 3D modelling I might need to do. I've been trying to get my head around Fusion 360 for a while, but my attempts have been false starts thus far - coming from the 'creative industries', for me it's hugely unintuitive to use - having said that, it has some very nice features that I'd love access to. Must try harder..!

Tool wise I've pretty much always bought from APT here in the UK (Glasgow, though I'm pretty sure their tools are China made) but recently I bought a load of micro end-mills direct from China after being given a nudge by Elaine, a representative from Changzhou Haode Cutting Tools Co. I have to say that I am very impressed both with the quality of service and the tools (price and performance). You'll pay a bit more in postage (I paid around £20 on an order of approx £150) but if you buy bulk then it's neither here nor there - you'll almost definitely save on the cost of the tooling itself. I'm very much of the mind that I'll run my current stock of end-mills down and place a bulk order with these guys for a stack of my most commonly used sizes. As you can see from the pics below - I'm a bit of an end-mill magpie. I blame a childhood spent unprepared for most things...

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If you're in the market then certainly give Elaine a shout and ask for a quote - her details: elainesummer -at- outlook -dot- com

(Tell her I sent you and clearly, change the at and the dot to the usual symbols...)

Here's a link to the company catalogue I've uploaded to my dropbox temporarily:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/opwpxqu0gv...logue.pdf?dl=0

Wal.

Hi Wal

Thanks for the info. I was actually asking what cam software you use mach 3 / uccnc etc. I'll check out the chinese connection. How long (roughly ) do the cutters last out in pearl cutting?


Cheers

Andrew

Ah - Linux CNC.

I can't give you a definitive answer re: tool life in pearl - the tools I used on the Chinese Lion job all lasted through wood and pearl so I went on to use them on the brass I cut at the weekend, then on a bit of aluminium... Still going strong after all that lot...

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I find the 2 flute carbide tools work with most of what I cut..!

Thanks for that Wal.

Cheers

Andrew

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wal

Hey Boyan,

That's pretty cool man. How did you get the textured/sand-cast effect in the black areas..?

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Thanks! I sandblasted the aluminum, painted it using 2 component base for epoxy and polyurethane, then coated 2 times with polyurethane. Then sanded various papers till 2000 grit. I think the base coat did that most of all.

I am seriously considering using powder paint next time. I think that will be the most durable coating for the kind of badge i do.