Tutorial on making your own stencils?

Bruce Bump

Bruce Bump

Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Messages
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Somebody told me there was a method that even I could use to make my own stencil. There is a light box method similar to photo processing that would make a professional image? Could somebody shed some light on the subject?
 
Yea I think thats what I want. What model works best? $200 seems like not a big investment considering what you can do. Marking Methods costs about $60 for each new one including the artwork and stencil. I wasnt very happy with the last ones either.
 
Bruce there is a tutorial on Bob Warner's website about making a light box. There is nothing complicated about it and you can make one for just a few bucks. A single 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of stencil film is $12.50 from IMG in Utica N.Y. They also have the developer avail. by the quart. Their website is:
http://www.img-electromark.com/
 
Bruce,

I've looked into this a bit and Bob Warner's plans for a box are pretty good IMHO with one exception. Bob uses a regular full-spectrum flourescent bulb in his plans, and the "proper" wavelength required to develop the stencil material is 365nm. Sure, you get some 365nm light out of a full spectrum bulb, but I'd be concerned that the extra light might degrade the stencil while it was in the developer. If a flourescent is good enough, why do they use the 365nm bulbs in the kit?

That said, small 365nm ultraviolet lamps can be found for sale for not a whole lot of $$. The only part I don't know is the wattage of the ones they sell in the proper kit so that I could guesstimate exposure times with the smaller 4 watt variety that are the inexpensive ones. It would take a little tweaking to get right, but then again so does Bob's design.

I wish I could give you some first-hand knowledge of a working setup, but it's still on my "to do list" and I haven't bought the stuff yet.

-d
 
My light box has a daylight type flouresent bulb in it and it works great. I guess you could put another type in it but if it ain't broke ------.
 
Bill did you make yours? I know it works good. Im just wondering if I should spend the $200. Its only money I guess. I like that Martronics setup that Mike linked me to.
 
are these the same as using a vinyl stencil for etching your logo? if so how long does it last? like how many etches can you make with one stencil?
 
PimpinSquee said:
are these the same as using a vinyl stencil for etching your logo? if so how long does it last? like how many etches can you make with one stencil?
Click to expand...

Yes they are the same. I usually get 8-10 knives with one stencil before the mark begins to get fuzzy around the edges.
 
Bruce,
I have been using a light box and etcher made from Bob’s site for about a year now. The stencil material and developer came from IMG and works great. It took a little experimenting to get the developing right. With a good computer drawing program you can make any kind of stencil that you may need.
Here is my web sight with one knife that I etched a Farmall tractor image on a blade. http://home.earthlink.net/~candijoe/ It is on the knife gallery page.
 
Bruce make your own! It won't take that long and you will still have by far the largest part of that $200 in you pocket. Lets see, you will need a light bulb, socket to scres the bulb into, on-off switch (toggle, standard light switch, or whatever), some alum. foil, some wood, a piece of glass, a piece of black cloth. Thats about it really.
 
Hi Bruce
The light box and etcher on Warners site works fine.
I built his light box. I had been using the personalizer for years but felt it could use a little more power so I substituted the transformer that Warner used in his etcher and now I can sizzle stencils with the best.
Depends what a person wants to do . Make Knives or Make equipment??
If I can Help holler.
Take Care
TJ
 
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