Merry Chrismas, Shopbotters (Free Stocking Stuffer)

[jemelby]

I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas season. I have visions of hundreds of SBs around the world pumping untold thousands of wonderful presents. Surely, Santa's shop has 3-4 SBs going 24/7 this time of year.

I have really appreciated the positive responses I have recieved from the folks in these forums. When I finally retire from the military, finish with my business plan, and get my shop up and running, it will be with increased confidence, knowing that this assembly of fanatics is so close at hand.

I'd like to show my appreciation by giving you all a present...

A short time ago, I got the notion to make photopolymer rubber stamps. Mostly for my children to play with, but also as a potential source of income. The over head was low, and the proccess seemed pretty straight forward. While I have all but discarded the notion as a business, I still enjoy making and selling stamps on a small scale.

I'd like to make a stamp for each of you. They're great for marking small wood products with your logo or name, and when combined with embossing powder, they look great on stationary and business cards.

I'll make them up to 2" x 2", mount them on 1/4" clear plexi, and send them off to you in an envelope (even to S.Africa). send me an email at jemelby@yahoo.com (mailto:jemelby@yahoo.com). Here are the guidlines:

• Resolution should be 600 DPI minimum.• Image can be color, or greyscale but overall black and white. (a little antialiasing is fine.)• Image should have a clean, crisp black and white appearance.• A 2x2, 600 DPI .bmp weighs around 4MB, while a minimally compressed .jpg is only ~300K. I can only get 1MB attachments, so keep this in mind. An over compressed .jpg doesn't work very well.• Fairly fine detail is achievable, but bold is better.• For simple text stamps like adresses, just send the lines you want on the stamp, and what font you'd like. No image required.• Just so no one gets overlooked, or lost in my spam folder, I'll go with a triple check system:• Post a message here stating that you sent an order.• Put "Shopbot" in the subject.• look for a confirmation reply in 24 hours.
There are no stings attached to this at all. Honest.

Please, one stamp each, and I'll have to check your "Join Date" to ensure that it is pre-Pearl Harbor Day.

Merry Christmas!

[stickman]

James,

I sent you an E-mail.

Jay

[jemelby]

I thought more of you would jump on this. So far, only one guy has.

[paco]

Well James, that's very generous! The offer is very cool but I just can find time and a good pic to send you... anyway, you should be busy getting prepared for your new tool!?

Happy holidays to you too!

[srwtlc]

James, you have mail.

[henrik_o]

Sure, I'd like a stamp (and I did register two days before pearl harbour day I believe
) but only if I can reimburse you, at the very least for the intl postage. This under the condition that it's under 50 grams, they charge bastard rates cross-ocean for anything over that, at least from this end.

[jemelby]

Henrik;

I'd be glad to make you a stamp, even though you are a swede :-P

I'll just send the rubber part. I am sure you have plenty of wood scraps to mount it on. There is wood in sweden, right?

just e-mail me the text or graphics or what ever you'de like to have on the stamp.


7320

[bleeth]

James-You have mail
Dave

[jemelby]

I have three stamps ready to mail... just need addresses, please.


7321
7322
7323

[mikejohn]

James
You have mail ( I actually renamed you Jamie,sorry


What I want to know is, if all these children are waking up to my rocking horses on Christmas morning, being told there from Santa, why do I have to lug the 120 lbs around?
James, you have more mail. I forgot my address!!!.
........Mike

[gbatten]

James,

Thanks for your generous offer to make stamps for us Shopbotters. I really don't have a present need for stamps but I would be interested in learning how you make the stamps. Learning how you make the stamps would be a more meaningful gift to me than the stamp. My wife and sisters-in-law would also be appreciative.

Thanks, Gene

[mikejohn]

Gene
Is this (http://www.art-rubberstamps.com) what you are looking for?
.....Mike

[paco]

Is it too late James? I might wish a stamp for my buisness... I'll send you an e-mail anyway... Thanks in advance!!

[burchtree]

I'm with Paco. You have mail James

[jemelby]

Gene;

The link mike sent is fine and all, but they want to sell you a system. There is REALLY no system required.

It all boils down to Photopolymer (mail ordered) and UV light (Home Depot).

• You print out a negative trancparency
• Lay it on a piece of glass
• Make a "dam" around it with weather stripping
• Pour the photopolymer into the "dam"
• put another piece of glass over it to finish the sandwich
• Expose the back (what will be the back of the finished stamp) to UV light for 50-60 seconds.
• Flip and expose thru the negative for 100-120 seconds.
• Pull apart the glass and wash the now-hardened rubber.
• Throw in water and expose for another 5 minutes or so to finish it off.

That's pretty much it. No fancy gear or system required.

The only thing I bought, aside from the expendables, was a video from a fellow who has a print shop in East Grand Forks, MN. It gives you the basics. www.granthams.com (http://www.granthams.com)

I've viewed it, and would be happy to send it along to you. Just send it to someone else when you've viewed it.

As for the expendable, they come from M & R Marking. They have all the photopolymers, self inkers (if you want them) and everything else. www.mrmarking.com (http://www.mrmarking.com)

Paco and Dan: Working on your stamps.

Andrew and Paul: Stamps in the mail tommarow!

[paco]

Cool!!!

[mikejohn]

James
It always gives me pleasure when someone like you shows how to do things for yourself rather than buying expensive kit.
A little like my $200 copy carver. A fraction of the price of a commercial model, but it works a treat.
.....Mike

[jemelby]

Hehe...

Now if I could just shake the grip that these CNC router companies have over us and build my own.

I've read a couple threads in other forums that deal with that sort of thing. While some have claimed to have pulled it off, the VAST majority will never realize success.

It's sort of like the home built airplane industry... My father-in-law has completed, and flies a home built, but he is pretty much a minority. There are alot of partially complete home built for sale cheap.

I think the Shopbot will remain a great value for some time to come.

[mikejohn]

James
80% of home built aircraft kits never get completed (according to Flight International Magazine)
Just think how long it would take to build a CNC router.
In the time you were tinkering, a ShopBot may well have paid for itself many times over.
My copy carver has the technology of a brick(apart from the attached Bosch 500 router)

.....Mike

[stickman]

James,

I got my stamp in the mail this weekend. I love it. Thank you very much. If you ever need any help with the ShopBot, don't be afraid to ask.

Jay

[burchtree]

James you wrote Now if I could just shake the grip that these CNC router companies have over us and build my own. If you buy a ShopBot you are shaking the grip of CNC router companys. The ShopBot got it's start as a home built. ShopBots can do the work of machines priced 5 to 10 times higher than the Bot.

[jemelby]

I was, of course, being a bit facetious about "breaking the grip of CNC router companies..." Or was it irony... who knows.

The point being, I can figure out how to do my own rubber stamps, I could probobly build my own airplane if properly motivated, and I can make woodworking jigs and templates till the cows come home. But a Shopbot represents way too much value. Building my own would never pass the PitA (Pain in the A--) test. Not when there is a fine, reasonably priced product like the SB available.

I'm guessing were all in agreement on that :-)