Fabricating a stamping jig

WARNING: MACHINING CONTENT

One great thing about having a machine shop is that I can make strange tools like this one. I received my custom maker's mark a few weeks ago and I'm currently preparing my first regular production run. After fooling around with the mark I decided I needed some kind of jig to hold the stamp and the flashlight head in the correct and repeatable position.

Cutting off some aluminum stock I had laying around

I scrounged around my scrap bin and came up with the appropriate piece of material. A bit off topic, but I got this band saw for free a few years ago. It was sitting outside in the weather for two years and was a real wreck. I spent a couple weeks restoring it and now it works great! Here is a link to the project if you are interested.

Would you believe I also have a custom made LED work light on my mill? I guess you would. 

As always, the fist task is to square up the piece of stock. Precision isn't all that critical here but I like to start with something that is actually square to save myself frustration later.

Next I located two holes. One will receive a set screw to align the stamp and the other will  get enlarged to hold the head of the flashlight.

The flashlight head is 1.2" in diameter so I used a series of  "silver & demming" drills to enlarge the hole to 1".

The final dimension bored precisely with an adjustable boring head. It produces a very fine machined finish, unlike the large diameter drill.

I drilled and tapped the small hole all the way through for a 1/4 28 screw.

Next I needed to flip the part on end and drill a hole that the maker's mark will slide into. The shank on the mark is square and the hole is round, so I'll thread in a small screw that will help the mark align on of its flat faces.

Viola! That was easy right? I added a back-stop (not pictured) that let's me set the head to the exact same depth every time. Then the whole thing goes into my press to make the impression. I tried hitting the mark with a hammer (pretty standard practice) but I found that it was too inconsistent. Remind me to take a photo of the jig in the actual press...that would probably make things more clear :)