Aaron, I think Tom is better suited to answer that question as I don't know if he has certain sizes only he can make them, but a forstner bit is required to make the depression in the wood so I think he makes them the same size as the forstner bit you have or are going to use.
Signing my work
- Thread starter Steve Ash
- Start date
Aaron, I think Tom is better suited to answer that question as I don't know if he has certain sizes only he can make them, but a forstner bit is required to make the depression in the wood so I think he makes them the same size as the forstner bit you have or are going to use.
Tom Hempleman
Member
- Messages
- 9
- Location
- Carroll, Ohio
Aaron,
I can cut and engrave just about any shape and size you want. A guy I make plates for asked me to cut them in the shape of the state of Ohio. I have no idea how he mounts them on his work. I doubt that he hand carves an inlay area to accept the plate - probably just glues or screws the plate on. Most woodworkers I make plates or disks for request a simple circular shape. They just drill a shallow depression with a forstner bit and glue the disk or plate in the hole - a quick and dirty inlay. Usually the disks and plates are 1" to 2" diameter, depending on what size forstner bit you want to use. If you go much smaller than 1", you may lose some of the detail in the logo or writing. However, I have engraved some very tiny details and writing that were perfectly readable.
With a laser, it's possible to cut any shape, engrave any picture and even carve out the inlay area for the shape to fit into. I used to do this kind of stuff by hand with a scroll saw and a Dremel router. The laser makes it much easier and quicker. Besides, these old eyeballs don't focus as well as they used to. I'd probably cut my finger off if I tried to do this stuff by hand now.
I can cut and engrave just about any shape and size you want. A guy I make plates for asked me to cut them in the shape of the state of Ohio. I have no idea how he mounts them on his work. I doubt that he hand carves an inlay area to accept the plate - probably just glues or screws the plate on. Most woodworkers I make plates or disks for request a simple circular shape. They just drill a shallow depression with a forstner bit and glue the disk or plate in the hole - a quick and dirty inlay. Usually the disks and plates are 1" to 2" diameter, depending on what size forstner bit you want to use. If you go much smaller than 1", you may lose some of the detail in the logo or writing. However, I have engraved some very tiny details and writing that were perfectly readable.
With a laser, it's possible to cut any shape, engrave any picture and even carve out the inlay area for the shape to fit into. I used to do this kind of stuff by hand with a scroll saw and a Dremel router. The laser makes it much easier and quicker. Besides, these old eyeballs don't focus as well as they used to. I'd probably cut my finger off if I tried to do this stuff by hand now.
Malcolm Webb
Member
- Messages
- 11
- Location
- Lincoln, UK
Signature medallions
I just thought that you guys might like to know that I am apparently the first person outside the US to place an order for Tom Hempleman's medallions.
I found them through this forum. I sent an e-mail to him on 28th September with my own design and requirements. He e-mailed back on the same day with an initial reply and came back to me on 1st October (after the weekend) with shipping and artwork quotes. I have placed my order today, Tuesday 2nd October.
Now that's what I call service.
Just for comparison, there is a company here in the UK which appears to do a similar thing. I e-mailed them 2 days before I e-mailed Tom. I am still awaiting a response!!
I just thought that you guys might like to know that I am apparently the first person outside the US to place an order for Tom Hempleman's medallions.
I found them through this forum. I sent an e-mail to him on 28th September with my own design and requirements. He e-mailed back on the same day with an initial reply and came back to me on 1st October (after the weekend) with shipping and artwork quotes. I have placed my order today, Tuesday 2nd October.
Now that's what I call service.
Just for comparison, there is a company here in the UK which appears to do a similar thing. I e-mailed them 2 days before I e-mailed Tom. I am still awaiting a response!!
Duncan Cheslett
Member
- Messages
- 161
- Location
- Stockport, England
Looks like you just beat me to it, Malcolm!
I've just emailed Tom asking if he ships to the UK - you've answered the question.
He's not replied yet, but it is about 6 in the morning where he is!
Looks like the Brits are slowly taking over FWW!!!
steve mackay
Member
- Messages
- 146
- Location
- El Paso, TX
Disks . . . think'n out loud . . .
Most of my stuff goes to ARMY units on Fort Bliss. Don't know your millitary background but units have " unit crests ". Small " pins " kind of like family crests. These are a pain to inlay as they are all shapes and sizes. It'd be nice if I had an option that was a standard forstner all around. Can we " replicate " (?) the crest on a standard disk ? Minimum order for each design ? Also . . . are these thin enough that you might just stick them to the surface of a unit award plaque or base ?
Most of my stuff goes to ARMY units on Fort Bliss. Don't know your millitary background but units have " unit crests ". Small " pins " kind of like family crests. These are a pain to inlay as they are all shapes and sizes. It'd be nice if I had an option that was a standard forstner all around. Can we " replicate " (?) the crest on a standard disk ? Minimum order for each design ? Also . . . are these thin enough that you might just stick them to the surface of a unit award plaque or base ?
Lee DeRaud
Member
- Messages
- 435
- Location
- 33.8736N, 117.7627W
Not to speak for Tom, but I suspect those are 3/32"-1/8" solid wood from the look of them. But it's also possible to use 1/64" or 1/32" birch plywood, same stuff wood business cards are usually engraved from. The engraving isn't as deep, but there's usually very good contrast: if you do it right, the laser just burns through the top layer and turns the glue underneath black...a little shellac to seal it and you're good to go.
Nancy Laird
Member
- Messages
- 1,417
- Location
- Rio Rancho, NM
We also make these logos from birch veneer - self-stick. We have several clients who use these on their furniture - just stick the logos inside a drawer, etc. If you've ever used self-stick veneer, you know that it just about takes an act of Congress to get off!! These can be made in just about any shape and applied to the object. One customer does have them round for inlay with a Forstner bit, but most of them are oval and are just applied to the surface of the furniture.
The engraving is pretty deep--enough to feel with your fingertips--and as with the 1/32" birch ply, the engraved part turns dark enough to read--even at 4-point lettering.
Nancy (80 days)
The engraving is pretty deep--enough to feel with your fingertips--and as with the 1/32" birch ply, the engraved part turns dark enough to read--even at 4-point lettering.
Nancy (80 days)
Dave McGeehan
Member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Palmerton, Pa.
Nice work, Tom. What is the diameter of those discs?
Dave
Dave
Dave McGeehan
Member
- Messages
- 4
- Location
- Palmerton, Pa.
Oops, sorry. I didn't see the other posts that already asked my question. Again, great idea and nice work.
Jeff Horton
Member
- Messages
- 4,272
- Location
- The Heart of Dixie
Tom, you need to take a look at your web site in FireFox. It's a mess! I went there to see what you have and I couldn't basically. Had to open it in IE to see it. Think you got a little bit of work to do to it.
Tom Hempleman
Member
- Messages
- 9
- Location
- Carroll, Ohio
Jeff...
Yeah, my site doesn't handle Fire Fox well at all. In fact, my entire site is fouled up, due in no small part to FreeServers.com, the site host. My email on the Wildwood Hill site still doesn't work right. For anyone trying to contact me, either go thru the Family Woodworking messaging system or use the email address TLHEMPLEMAN8459@ATT.NET.
Steve...
Your request should be possible. If you furnish me the crest designs, preferably in .TIF, .BMP, .JPG, etc. files, I should be able to make a round engraved medallion. Or I can make a custom shape in very thin material that could be stuck on the surface of your project. The possibilities of shapes, sizes, materials, etc. is almost endless. Feel free to give me a phone call and we'll see what we can do.
Yeah, my site doesn't handle Fire Fox well at all. In fact, my entire site is fouled up, due in no small part to FreeServers.com, the site host. My email on the Wildwood Hill site still doesn't work right. For anyone trying to contact me, either go thru the Family Woodworking messaging system or use the email address TLHEMPLEMAN8459@ATT.NET.
Steve...
Your request should be possible. If you furnish me the crest designs, preferably in .TIF, .BMP, .JPG, etc. files, I should be able to make a round engraved medallion. Or I can make a custom shape in very thin material that could be stuck on the surface of your project. The possibilities of shapes, sizes, materials, etc. is almost endless. Feel free to give me a phone call and we'll see what we can do.
Last edited:
Tom Hempleman
Member
- Messages
- 9
- Location
- Carroll, Ohio
Lee,
I think we discussed plywood and lasers on another site (un-named, but has something to do with saws and mills). I've never had much luck with cutting plywood with my 30 watt LaserPro. I either get incomplete cuts or way too much edge char, depending on speed, power and PPI settings. The laser just doesn't like the glue layers. So I avoid plywood like the plague and stick with solid wood. Most of my signature medallions are made with 1/8" solid wood or 1/16" Rowmark LaserMax acrylic. If you have any suggestions on vectoring plywood, I'm all ears!
Nancy,
I like the self stick veneer, but I have a problem finding it. Since I don't work with veneer that much, I'm probably not looking in the right places. Any suggestions where I can find it at a reasonable cost?
I think we discussed plywood and lasers on another site (un-named, but has something to do with saws and mills). I've never had much luck with cutting plywood with my 30 watt LaserPro. I either get incomplete cuts or way too much edge char, depending on speed, power and PPI settings. The laser just doesn't like the glue layers. So I avoid plywood like the plague and stick with solid wood. Most of my signature medallions are made with 1/8" solid wood or 1/16" Rowmark LaserMax acrylic. If you have any suggestions on vectoring plywood, I'm all ears!
Nancy,
I like the self stick veneer, but I have a problem finding it. Since I don't work with veneer that much, I'm probably not looking in the right places. Any suggestions where I can find it at a reasonable cost?
Allen Grimes
Member
- Messages
- 146
- Location
- MX
Awesome work Tom. I really like the cards.
To Mr Horton, you can view the site in firefox if you use the IEtab extension add on. You can dl it here and you will never need to open up IE again, unless you want to that is. Whats more is that you can set up certain pages to always open in the IE tab so you don't have to manually do it every time.
To Mr Horton, you can view the site in firefox if you use the IEtab extension add on. You can dl it here and you will never need to open up IE again, unless you want to that is. Whats more is that you can set up certain pages to always open in the IE tab so you don't have to manually do it every time.
Lee DeRaud
Member
- Messages
- 435
- Location
- 33.8736N, 117.7627W
I feel your pain, especially for anything over 1/8". It varies a lot by brand (and presumably glue formulation) and unfortunately what seems to work the best is the insanely expensive stuff they sell at Michael's and hobby stores catering to the R/C crowd.
The one thing I did for the business cards was cut the PPI down to about 150. Since the spot size is on the order of 0.005", that effectively perforates rather than cuts, so the sheet holds together while I hit it with spray-can shellac from front and back. Then when you separate them, there's no soot to deal with.
How well that would work with circular shapes, I have no idea: I'm guessing that popping the pieces out might be a problem since you can't bend the sheet along the cut-line...might need an assist from the ol' exacto knife. But lower PPI definitely helps with the thin ply.
Most of the stuff I do is one-off jobs for my own projects, so cleaning the edges isn't a big deal anyway. If I were doing this as a business, I'd probably have a different view on the subject.
Last edited:
Lee DeRaud
Member
- Messages
- 435
- Location
- 33.8736N, 117.7627W
Depending on what you consider "reasonable", Rockler has it: 24"x24" for $18.50, 24"x96" for $65.
Nancy Laird
Member
- Messages
- 1,417
- Location
- Rio Rancho, NM
Tom, I'm having the hubby answer you, as he has the prices at his fingertips. We buy it in huge sheets and cut it down to 6 x 12" pieces for the work we do. It's easier to handle when it's smaller. We also finish it before we laser it.
Nancy (79 days)
Tom Hempleman
Member
- Messages
- 9
- Location
- Carroll, Ohio
Thanks for the info, folks!