BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND METAL SHEETS WITH ENGRAVINGS.
I'm selling my 5" x 8" platen size rubber stamp machine, $400 OR BEST OFFER... Together with the machine, are the metal engravings I used to make Art Deco and Victorian Monograms, and sheets of MORE THAN 200 POPULAR FIRST NAMES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS (and adults), which alone cost me A TOTAL OF more than $700 to get engraved.
HOW TO MAKE RUBBER STAMPS FOR RESALE
You need a rubber stamp machine... what it is is a vulcanizing machine with a up and down pair of thick heating plates that heat up to the right temperature, which is regulated by a dial and a thermostat...
Steps to make a rubber stamp
Part 1 Make a handle, you can be creative and cut your own using woodworking machines, or buy stuff like cabinet door knobs.
Part 2 Make the rubber impression...
You need a rubber stamp vulcanizing machine, matrix board and uncured rubber sheets... Secondary accessories you also need are Aluminum foil, talcum powder and a pair of gloves that can insulate you from heat.
The machine would have what is called a "platen"... it is the square area that is available to make the rubber impression... Your design should not be greater than the area of the platen. The "hobby size" is usually 4" x 6", but for a more serious business, 5" x 8" or more is much more durable and not a time-waster.
If you want to get technical, you need to learn 2 terms - Thermoplastic and Vulcanization.
The matrix board looks like thick illustration board. It is made up of layers of uncured plastic powder and some type of paper. It is the same material that the hard plastic handles of pots and pans are made of. The thing is "thermoplastic", meaning it will cure and take the shape of the mold upon simultaneous introduction of HIGH heat and pressure.
Rubber to cure and retain a permanent shape needs to be vulcanized. Vulcanization is the process of curing rubber with the introduction of high heat and pressure, so in a way, rubber is also thermoplastic, but this time the rubber is not as hard as the matrix board. Rubber sheets have the red dye, sometimes black, or something else, but the most important ingredient in a rubber sheet is the rubber, and sulphur, which causes the rubber to cure. That's why rubber smells like sulphur.
So to make a rubber stamp impression that is readable or positive, you make a drawing or computer printout, which is a positive, then make a metal engraving from it, which is a negative, then make a matrix board impression from the metal engraving, and then you make a rubber sheet (the rubber stamp) which is a negative, so that the end users can make a positive rubber stamp printout.
- Make a final sketch - black on white paper.... pen on paper or a computer-designed printout
- Bring the paper to a metal engraver - use the business yellow pages and find one in your area... Have the metal engraver cut up the metal sheet to less than your platen area.
- Place the matrix board on top of the metal engraving, wrap the pair with aluminum foil and place the pair on the platen.
- Heat up the machine to the recommended temperature and wait 10-15 minutes (whatever is recommended by the matrix board supplier, usually 375 degrees Fahrenheit to 475 degrees, and the "temperament" of your machine.) FROM THIS TIME ON USE YOUR GLOVES SO YOU DON'T GET BURNED.
ALWAYS WRAP USING ALUMINUM FOIL, OR ELSE, your matrix board or your rubber sheet will stick to the machine and you'll have a hard time taking it off. It's worse than gum stuck on hair.
- bring up the bottom platen to the ceiling platen, and the matrix board will sink into the metal engraving. Let the matrix cure.
- Bring down the bottom platen and let the matrix and metal engraving cool.
- Once cool, take off the aluminum foil, bend the matrix board a little and the metal engraving will snap off.
- Brush some talcum powder on the matrix board and place a sheet of uncured rubber on it. Wrap this with aluminum foil.
- Bring the pairing on the heated platen and bring the floor platen to the ceiling platen, and let the rubber "cook" or cure at the recommended temperature and time.
- Bring down the bottom platen and take out the pair. Let the thing cool... Take off the aluminum foil.
- your Rubber sheet is cured and can be trimmed and mounted on the handle using a really strong contact cemet.
---------------------------- Advertisement ----- ONCE AGAIN I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND THE METAL ENGRAVINGS for $400 OR BEST OFFER, and you pay for the shipping. I will need more than that for shipping costs, and then I'll send you a moneyorder for the difference in shipping costs.
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THE CHEAPEST and QUICKEST WAY TO MAKE A HANDLE
--- is to make wood blocks that will finally look like stackable bricks
--- is to not bother finishing the wood blocks with a wood stain and varnish
--- is to not bother mounting the handle (the part that looks like a cabinet knob)
Buy a 12" or higher table saw and a table saw guide so you can make perpendicular cuts to make different sized squares and rectangles. If you think you're saving money on the smaller hobbyists table saw, they will SMOKE AND trip your fuse, and won't be able to handle the pine boards. BUY THE fine toothed fine finish table saw blade. If you use the finest, there will be no need to sand the edges.
AS A RULE, go to Home Depot or Craftsman, look at the table saw circular blades... the size that has the finest tooth comb must have the matching table saw size, and the power, buy the table saw model that can support that. The coarser blade will require a lot of sanding and you have just increased your time more than 4 times. You do not need sanding AT ALL using the finest blade, maybe just one swift pass over a sandpaper to make dull the pointed corners.
DO NOT USE a portable circular saw... Your wood blocks would not have the 90 degree angle.
If you want grooves, use a router mounted on a table, but that could use up a lot of your time.
THE FASTEST WAY TO FINISH THE HANDLES MIX THREE INGREDIENTS an oil-based wood filler, varnish and an oil-based wood stain... If you want you can mix in an oil-based gold paint or colored paint. The gold paint will make the handle antique-like. You'll discover the right amounts eventually.
Using an old t-shirt wrapped around your gloved finger, dip into the mixture and sweep over the wood, and let dry. That's it!
DO THIS IN OPEN AIR... don't do this inside the home. DO NOT SMOKE, keep away from fire, the oil is flammable.
You can buy FOAM SHEETS at art stores, and paste the sheet on one side of the pine plank. Cut the wood and the foam sheet together to save time. or You can cut the wood, place contact cement on the cut wood blocks and the foam sheets, and using a cutter (blade), cut around the wood blocks. Use an old table or cut over an old phone book, or if you have thick glass or mirror or an old plexiglass sheet like an old cheap framed picture with an acrylic plastic cover, you can use these.
DON'T CUT OFF YOUR HANDS OR GET BLINDED. Use goggles, and do not use your hands on the table saw. Use WOOD STICKS to push and guide the wood you are cutting. DON'T GET LAZY AND FAIL TO INSTALL THE PROTECTIVE BLADE COVERS AND GUIDES. WASTE AS MUCH WOOD as you feel is the safe distance between your fingers and the blade, just don't get your fingers too close to the blade. You have been warned. EXPECT flying projectile pieces of wood as you cut the shapes. Don't let kids or anyone else watch you cut, do not let anyone stand in the direction of the blade.
USE A DUST MASK, I actually wet an old but clean cotton scraps of t-shirt and use a mask to keep it in place. Even with this precaution, you still might inhale wood dust - which is STILL better than inhaling plastic dust - do not attempt to cut an acrylic plexiglass sheet this way.
In the long run, a decent sized rubber stamp that is for the mass market will cost you just pennies.
TO SAVE TIME, EVEN FOR HOBBYISTS To save time, your platen, 5" x 8" in my case, will have a square area of 40 square inches... compare this to a 4" x 6", which will have a square area of
24, almost half of the 5 x 8. This means that you can "scrunch up" all your designs before you go to a metal photoengraver, arrange them to optimize the baking area, they don't have to be in the same upright direction, to fit in a 4.5" x 7.5" square area for the platen, with some allowance for the edges. It's the flexible rubber sheets that you'll be cutting with scissors and setting on the handles.DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE I DID, I BOUGHT A 4 X 6 SIZED MACHINE, AND IT EASILY TRIPLED MY PRODUCTION TIME AND DISCOURAGED ME FROM MAKING HUGE RUBBER STAMPS.. Just imagine, if you have a 3" x 2" rubber stamp design, see how many you can make on those 2 popular sized rubber stamp machine. The 4 x 6 will accommodate a 3.5 x 5.5 total area of designs.
---------------------------- Advertisement ----- ONCE AGAIN I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND THE METAL ENGRAVINGS for $400 OR BEST OFFER, and you pay for the shipping. I will need more than that for shipping costs, and then I'll send you a moneyorder for the difference in shipping costs.
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SUPPLIERS AND REPAIR
The machine has 2 important components - the 2 heating platens, and the pressure is provided by a CAR JACK. The car jack needs to be replaced once in a while. The heating platens can be repaired by a local electrician. The best way to find an acceptable electrician is to go to a tire shop and ask the shop who they call to have their vulcanizing machines repaired.
The uncured rubber sheets can be purchased from the vulcanizing shop's suppliers or you can see them online from the rubber stamp suppliers..
The matrix boards also have suppliers online. Just type the words - matrix board rubber stamp supply... they also supply rubber sheets and foam, but the foams are usually over priced.
Foam sheets can be purchased cheap and locally using the BUSINESS yellow pages under foam sheets or foam rubber sheets. This is usually used for furniture repair. Or go to Michaels or any art supply store, and they will have multicolored, decorative foam sheets. Although you really do not need foam sheets and you can just paste the rubber to the handles, foam sheets give the users a degree of familiarity, and contribute to the comfortable, classic look.
To easily mount rubber on the wood or foam, you can use DOUBLE-SIDED PERMANENT Carpet Tape, or adhesive. The strongest I've seen is the double sided plastic sheets sold by the rubber stamp suppliers, but it also adds up the final cost of a stamp.
RUBBER SHEETS Consider foam rubber There are 2 types of foam rubber in the market... the open-cell and the closed-cell. Foam has cells, and open-cell rubber foam is like dishwashing sponge, and allows for air to pass through each cell. Closed cell has air, but since the cells do not have holes, the closed cell is not pourous.
Rubber sheets, do not have cells, they're just flat sheets even after vulcanization... this is the type used for patching tires and the same material is used for the usual rubber stamps... If you want to save money, buy rubber sheets where the tire repair shops buy theirs.. compare the prices between them and the rubber stamp suppliers.
The self-inking stamps that do not have the pads, where users just brush ink over the impressions, use the open cell foam rubber.
So to make rubber stamps, you can use the open cell foam sheets or you can use the plain rubber sheets. You only use the foam rubber sheets if you have those ready-made plastic rubber stamp handles where the rubber just recedes into the handle, and not invert to "kiss" the hidden inked pads when at rest. Foam rubber sheets also have a different set of temperature and pressure, and is more expensive to produce.
METAL ENGRAVINGS VERSUS PHOTOPOLYMER... These two types of printing press sheets are normally used by printing presses which do not use the offset type of printing. You might be asked if you want photopolymer instead of metal, and you might be tempted to get it... Photopolymer is like the actual rubber sheet, except that it is made of clear plastic. The sheet is plastic, not rubber, and ink does not stick on plastic. You'll notice the impression it makes is not a rubber stamp impression. It only works with printing press ink. You can go as far as cutting these flexible sheets with scissors and mounting them on the handles, but your customers will know they did not get a rubber stamp.
The engraver will also ask you how DEEP you want the engraving to be... tell them you need them to make rubber stamps and no deeper.
The metal (or photopolymer) sheets are photosensitive sheets. They are exposed to light in a process you and I don't need to understand too much. After the sheet is exposed, they are placed in an acid bath, and some parts of the flat surface remain and some parts corrode. The deeper engravings spend more time in the corrosion process, and it is not advisable for making the matrix molds, because "caves" and not indents will be produced on the metal sheet, which will permanently lock together the matrix mold and the metal engraving. You will never be able to use the metal sheet at all. You just need the depth to be deep enough to "indent" the matrix board.
MAKING PHOTOGRAPHS INTO RUBBER STAMPS The sheet makers have a process to convert pictures into the dots. I usually call and spell it "velox", but there's a more accurate term. Look at the newspapers and you will notice that the black and white pictures are made of dots. Ask for your metal engraving shop to convert your pictures to that, and they will understand what you want. If you do this using photoshop and print it out of your machine, and bring this printout to your engraver, you will get a bad engraving. Let them do their job... they can even convert a huge or even colored picture into your specified size.
---------------------------- Advertisement ----- ONCE AGAIN I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND THE METAL ENGRAVINGS for $400 OR BEST OFFER, and you pay for the shipping. I will need more than that for shipping costs, and then I'll send you a moneyorder for the difference in shipping costs.
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MAKING OFFICE RUBBER STAMPS THE TRADITIONAL WAY
YOU WILL NEED: Metal types Metal Type Tray Lead Quoins / inserts / spacers Type cabinet brayer printing ink paper all of this can be purchased from a type foundry.
additional - sharpie permanent ink markers
Metal types are used by the traditional type printing presses and hot foil stamping machines. You purchase metal types in sets... you choose a typeface, and the set will have like 4 capital Q's, 4 small q's, 10 A's, 25 e's, etc. The more popular the letter, the more there will be in a set.
The type cabinet is like a set of drawers with small compartments. The traditional trays have a designation, so the A's go to a compartment, the a's go to another compartment, the B's go to another, b's go to another, and so on, including punctuation marks. Each typeface and type size goes to one drawer.
BEFORE I UNPACK AND UNRAVEL AND SCATTER ABOUT A TYPE SET, I GET A PERMANENT MARKER, A GREEN MARKER, RED MARKER, BLUE, AND BLACK for example, and I run the marker on the exposed edge AND COLOR CODE THE SET, so that if a letter mixes in with another type set, I easily spot it.
You compose the metal types on a metal tray, and since the letters are mirror image, you need a good eye, a good spelling skill and a mirror to check your composition. You need spacers between words, which are included in the typeface set, hence having the same height as the letter set, and you need line spacers in between the lines.
You "lock" your composition on the metal tray using additional spacers and quoins.
spread ink on a brayer, and run the brayer over the composition. Top the composition with bond paper, and run the brayer over the paper to make a positive ink impression. Use this as a PROOF to check your spelling and if you missed any lines.
All this is metal, you place this tray composition on the platen, and heat it for 15 minutes. When you are sure the metal is hot, you press the matrix board on the tray, to make the letters indent onto the matrix board.
IF YOU GET IMPATIENT, and you press the matrix board on cold type, you will flatten and destroy your type. If you indent even one or two letters, or if you remix flattened letters with the rest of your set, you will produce UNEVEN letters. This is also why you need to proof your composition with ink, and see if you are getting a level impression.
Wait another 10 to 15 minutes to cure the matrix board.
When cool, the matrix board can just snap off using a regular old butter dull butter knife to pry the board from an exposed edge.
UNCOMPOSE the tray and put the type back to the type tray. Make sure the tray is cool. Uncomposing will take as much time as the time you compose the tray.
As you slowly make money, buy more metal typefaces so you can offer more styles and sizes to the customers. A traditional type cabinet will have 10 to 18 or more trays, and the top is inclined with locking edges so a worker can compose with the tray on top of the table and the worker can sit comfortably on a high stool.
Metal type used for foil stamping is more expensive but is made of harder material.
AND THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO MAKE RUBBER STAMPS That's why rubber stamp making is a business... even if everyone knows this, not everyone can afford the necessary machine, and not everyone will have the space, time and energy to do this just for the heck.
---------------------------- Advertisement ----- ONCE AGAIN I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND THE METAL ENGRAVINGS for $400 OR BEST OFFER, and you pay for the shipping. I will need more than that for shipping costs, and then I'll send you a moneyorder for the difference in shipping costs.
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BIGGER PLATEN AREAS
Bigger than 5 x 8 machines are available, but you will still the 5 x 8 for smaller orders... The bigger ones will also need bigger car jacks / pumps, which might not be available in your area. They also tend to be geometrically more expensive. Bigger machines are not for the mom and pop operation. If you want to be the rubber stamp center that consolidates all the rubber stamp orders from all the rubber stamp / office supply stores in the whole city, then buy a bigger machine. You must assure yourself a huge customer base, because orders for office stamps, for example have a turnaround time. You cannot tell your customers to come back next month for their orders because you're still consolidating orders for rubber stamps.
Your uncured rubber will displace to the edges of the matrix board as you vulcanize and bake the rubber into the mold. A bigger platen area will put in more pressure on the rubber sheet, you will end up with a thinner rubber stamp, which may work, but will be ugly.
STREET FAIRS
I made $800 bucks in 2 days selling rubber stamps for a dollar each. I remember getting the costs down. I ended up with stamps that just cost me under a quarter each to make. Of course you also have to consider the traffic. Since they were just a dollar, I let the customers try the stamps and they didn't care if the stamps they bought were still wet with ink or get dirty. They're just happy getting a lot of stamps for a buck each. Hobbyists also know that the stamps naturally get dirty when used.
You can also try selling online!
And forgive the grammatical errors and disorganization.
If you want to know more, just email me.
---------------------------- Advertisement ----- ONCE AGAIN I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND THE METAL ENGRAVINGS for $400 OR BEST OFFER, and you pay for the shipping. I will need more than that for shipping costs, and then I'll send you a moneyorder for the difference in shipping costs.
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THE POPULAR FIRST NAMES....
I BOUGHT BABY NAME BOOKS... I used a computer to list all the names, and eliminated the ones I thought was not popular at all. I calculated the cost of metal sheets that I can afford to pay the engraver and narrowed down the names some more.
I made sure I spelled and capitalized the names in different ways... for example, I had Elizabeth and Elisabeth, JoAnn, Joanne and Joan.
then i composed them on the computer and separated them in groups and made sure they have ample line spaces. The names did not have to have word spaces between names, because I will be cutting and separating them with scissors.
Each group of names fit my 5 x 8 platen... alphabetically from a to z...
then i made the rubber sheets with a RED COLOR
then I used wide permanent double sided carpet tape on the back of the sheets, without removing the paper on the remaining exposed side,
then i passed a brayer with black printing ink on the impression side.
ONLY THEN DID I cut them individually.
Then I used wide transparent tape, and stuck the pieces on the tape ALPHABETICALLY, with AMPLE SPACE between the names and TAPED THE TAPE with the pieces protected from falling onto CARDSTOCK PAPER I bought from Kinko's.
I bought a mirror so I can easily AND QUICKLY search through the mirror FOR A NAME.
THIS WAY I DID NOT HAVE TO MOUNT ALL THE NAMES, AND WILL ONLY MOUNT UPON DEMAND. TO SAVE SPACE and ease the load... Just because you have a thousand names, you don't have to carry a thousand rubber stamps, you can just carry
200 handles, and mount on demand.I went to the street fairs... KIDS AND PARENTS come over, and I go I bet I have your name, and they go, no you don't it's not spelled in the popular way, or it's something like Lakesha... I go through my stamps, I see it, they feel what they got is a find. I made the money, they get a rare name stamp. Stamps like those are incredible because the square area of rubber I needed for a small name, that is 1/4" in height is really smaller than a 3" x 3" heart stamp.
---------------------------- Advertisement ----- ONCE AGAIN I'M SELLING MY RUBBER STAMP MACHINE AND THE METAL ENGRAVINGS for $400 OR BEST OFFER, and you pay for the shipping. I will need more than that for shipping costs, and then I'll send you a moneyorder for the difference in shipping costs.
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