Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps?

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps? There are many uses for 3D printing in the design and engineering world. One of these is to create custom rubber stamps. A customer could come into any office supply store and buy a blank stamp that can then be scanned with a 3D scanner, or they can download free designs from the internet.

The 3D printer will then print out an object which has been designed to fit exactly onto the rubber stamp, creating a customized seal on paper documents such as contracts or letters. This customization makes it easy for companies to get their brand out there while saving time and money!

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Can you 3d print rubber stamps?

Yes! You can use almost any 3d printer to print rubbery stamps. In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a stamp from the free vector graphic “Keyboard” by Deesigns4you. You can download and modify it for your purposes or choose another vector graphic design that fits your project (we will add more examples in the near future). We used the following tools: Blender, MeshLab, and ReplicatorG. With ReplicatorG we sliced the model and saved it as an STL file format.

Then we imported the STL file into Simplify3D to prepare it for printing on our Ultimaker 2 Go 3D printer. The final step was sending the GCode file onto an SD card and printing the model on the Ultimaker 2 Go

Once you have downloaded both models, continue with our tutorial below.

Tips & Tricks Start by screwing the pin into to rubber dome of your choice.

You can use any size or type of screws to secure the pin in place. If you are using a wooden ball for stamping we recommend an M6 thread (1mm thick) which fits perfectly with wooden balls.

For leather stamps, we recommend a thinner 0.8mm thread diameter (M5).

The thicker threads will bend easily if put under too much pressure. Then cut out a piece of thin but sturdy cardboard for your template and attach it to either side of the rubber dome using double-sided tape.

We used a 10° point scalpel with an edge of 2mm (1/16″) for cutting out the shape.

After you cut the template, use that cardboard to draw the outline on the rubber material.

We recommend using thick rubber sheets around 1 – 3 mm thick or car floor mats which are very sturdy and have a thickness of about 5mm.

Then insert your pin into the hole you created in step 6 so it is secured in place, put some super glue at each side on top of it to hold it firmly in place while gluing later on. Now prepare your leather ball by removing any dust or dirt particles from it with a brush or vacuum cleaner

After putting on some vinyl gloves, dampen the leather ball with some water or use an airbrush to paint it black.

Then put your template over the leather and secure it firmly in place with one hand while tracing around it with a sharp pencil. Afterward, make sure you remove all markings from the surface of the leather by erasing any leftovers carefully with your palm (don’t press too hard!).

Now take off your gloves and place the rubber sheet on top of your template.

Make sure that both materials are placed face down so that only the backside is showing. Click on “Print” in ReplicatorG & select “Simplify3D as printer” which will open up a new menu called “Printer Settings”. Click on “Output Options” -> “Post-Processing scripts” and select “ToolChange.py”.

This will ensure that the printer starts printing right away when you insert an SD card with a GCode file on it. Now start your 3d printer and check if the nozzle is about 2cm above the surface of your template.

Insert your memory card into your computer and open up Simplify3D.

In case you haven’t configured Simplify3D before, please take a look at our tutorial to get you started: We used a layer height of 0.2mm in this example which gives us a good balance between detail resolution and print speed.

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps? (cre: formlabs)

We also activated “Only retract when crossing perimeters” in “Other settings -> Advanced” to minimize any oozing on the sides which didn’t turn out too well in our case so we would recommend you to deactivate it. Now click on “Export GCode” and select your desktop as the destination folder.

Then open up the exported .gcode file with a text editor of your choice (Notepad++ for example). Delete all lines between M82 and G92.0G0X0Y0 and replace them by:

M109 S{material_print_temperature}
M104 S{material_print_temperature}
G1 X{xpos} Y{ypos} Z{zpos} F50 E10 ; Home extruder
G92 E0 ; Reset extruder position
M82 ; Start extruder
M109 S{material_print_temperature}
G1 X5 Y5 Z0.45 F10000 ; Extrude 10mm of filament into the air M82 ;

Start extruder Delete all lines between G92 E0 and M104 S200 where your Ultimaker 2 is homed in case you are using manual bed leveling. If you are using auto bed leveling, make sure to keep these lines present! Now save this file next to both GCode files with a “.s3g” extension.

You can now prepare your SD card again by removing any unnecessary files on it (Scandisk anyone? ).

Put some fresh new rubber sheets on top of it, insert the SD card in your Ultimaker 2 and send the GCode file to your printer. Use the arrows in Simplify3D to move the print head over to the left edge of your bed, wait until it stops moving and switch off “Only retract when crossing perimeters” again in case you activated this option previously.

Now push the print bed forward until it touches the nozzle and starts printing by clicking on “Prepare” -> “Print”. If you did everything right up until now, your 3d printer should start printing a complete sphere using two different materials which will fuse together later on due to their melting point being lower than 185°C (365°F). After about 15 minutes you can safely let go of both materials and they will feel stuck together from now on.

As a finishing touch, we would recommend you to cover the first few millimeters of your first painted layer on the bottom side with some tape as this will release any tension which could cause your rubber sheet to detach from your print later on or maybe even warp it.

If you are using an Ultimaker 2, we would also recommend you to increase the X-Y jerk speed as it is too low by default resulting in a very thin first printed line that will stick to your print as well.

After another 10 minutes (or as soon as your filament runs out) just let go of the print bed and remove the finished object carefully from it by cutting around its perimeter with a sharp blade or some scissors. This step requires a lot of patience but eventually, after about 20 minutes, your object should be free and ready to use!

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps? (cre: howchoo)

3D print embossing stamper

Today I will show you a nice little hack using an embossing stamper from the hardware store and some acrylic paint.

I have had it for a while, since when I was looking at getting my own house.

In Italy we don’t have many options when you need to buy something for construction or household items, so you often have to go to the nearest DIY shop which might be far away from your home.

Most of these places are not very well organized and it is hard thinking straight with all that noise around you, but sometimes there can be diamonds laying around waiting for you to grab them! So one day I saw this embossing stamper and I thought it was good material for 3D printing.

It requires some preparation, which is actually what you do to make something like this:

The steps are simple:

1) sand the surface (you can also use steel wool to take off that silver coating);

2) paint it with one or more colors;

3) let it dry and repeat these 3 steps as many times as you want. As you see below, after sanding the embossed stamper becomes quite rough and “clever”:

As for painting, I usually go guided by intuition, but keep in mind that acrylic takes time to dry so you have to plan your work accordingly. Also, try not to get too much paint on the depressions otherwise it will be hard to recover the original shape. On the other hand, keep in mind that you don’t want your embossing stamper too flat so you can still use it later on!

Since I have a lot of colors at my disposal I hardly think about which one to use and just grab a random brush with a random color. This time I tried adding some grey pigment to a lighter blue and this is what happened:

As for drying times, allow me an educated guess: probably more time than acrylic paint on its own but less than varnish or varathane-like substances?

In any case, give enough time to dry! Otherwise, you might end up looking like this:

In the end, though it’s a very personal decision which colors you want to use, and if you’ll sand the surface before or after painting – remember that this is not for final consumption but just as a proof of concept.

The only issue I see so far with the embossing stamper 3D print is that you might need some time to find a good orientation.

This will be achieved by either rotating the whole model until you find a nice spot or by slicing your model in slices and testing each slice one at a time until you get all the way through.

I’ve found out about this problem because once upon a time I wanted to try a Zephyrus slicer, stored my models on a different hard disk, and sliced it thinking it was going to be a normal print on my default slicer.

Zephyrus kinda works as a bridge between your software and printer, so you can actually feed G-code from Cura or Slic3r to it if you want to try something new.

In any case, I had been using this for a while but at some point decided that the main problem with the software is that it’s too slow, as in unusable slow!

So I went back to regular slicing at last, but experience tells me that even if things go smoothly, printing through Zephyrus can take up to 4 times more time than regular slicing.

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps? (cre: sparkfun)

3D printed letter stamps

3D printed letter stamps are a unique and affordable way to add some fun to your snail mail.

The stamps serve as a reminder for yourself or help you send a special message to a friend.

Either way, this simple project is a great place to start getting crafty by 3D printing!

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps?

3D printed Pottery Stamp

In this article, I will share my experience, the idea behind it, and give a few tips on how to make a professional-looking 3D print with a pottery stamp.

3D printing a simple object like a pottery tool is one of the most rewarding things you can do in 3d printing.

It’s not extremely complicated nor time-consuming, but there are some key ingredients that play significant roles in ensuring your model prints well so let’s take a look at these factors to optimize quality and simplify troubleshooting.

Objectives:

In order for any project to be successful there must be clear objectives from the start so here they are: Print Quality / Finish – As always when making anything in 3d Printing I seek excellent surface finish and part accuracy.

I didn’t want this piece to be a one-trick pony, it had to fit and look good for multiple purposes both as a stamp and as a bookmark. Simplicity – There were no complicated undercuts or difficult features that require support material.

The model should print well with the least amount of post-processing possible. Scale X / Y / Z – My pen is about 3cm long so the object would scale out to 7x3x1 cm (X/Y/Z)

Materials:

PLA was chosen because it’s strong enough for this application and has generally great finishes, but there are many other materials you can use such as ABS which is stronger however requires more work to get the nice surface finish, PVA is water-soluble support material which I find extremely useful for complex prints however it has to be dried before using the object since water will dissolve it.

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps?

Tools:

The first part of preparing a model for 3D Printing is checking if it needs to be repaired, this comes in handy because most slicers are unable to successfully repair broken geometry so I use Meshmixer by Autodesk.

It’s free and simple to use even with little experience, also supports many file formats so you can start tinkering with your own designs without converting them over first.

Once the object is ready for printing I usually send it off the Cura slicer by Ultimaker, unless I have specific requirements or features that need manual support or custom settings like very small details then I resort to Slic3r.

I’m using a 0.4mm nozzle when printing PLA at 200°C, I’ve been trying many materials when it comes to print settings, and here’s my take from experience:

Layer Height –

By default layer height is 0.2 mm which in most cases gives me excellent results, but feel free to experiment with smaller layers depending on the model you’re making.

You might see that there are many tutorials online that recommend larger layer heights up to 0.4mm however since the 3d printer prints by depositing plastic onto a flat surface it usually makes sense to have this surface as closely fitted as possible so it doesn’t require much post-processing if any after printing.

Infill –

I used only 10% infill to keep the weight down and simplify post-processing.

If you’re making this for somebody else feel free to experiment with different infill settings but be aware that using 40%+ usually requires some post-processing (sanding etc) if your print is supposed to look professional.

Part Thickness – I’ve learned over time that thicker parts warp less during printing, I usually go 2-3mm in most cases.

Retraction –

It’s a setting that many people don’t use when they start 3d printing however I would always recommend it especially since PLA likes to ooze out of the nozzle when not actively extruding which will over time deteriorate the part finish, increase stringing, and add artifacts onto your model.

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps?

Extrusion Multiplier –

It’s the ratio of how much plastic is extruded per mm traveled, 100% means that one length unit will push out the same amount of filament as another length unit so I usually go with 125% which gives me slightly thicker walls and slightly better overhangs.

Temperature –

All your plastic parts should be printed at their recommended temperature, but keep in mind that if you’re using PLA at 220°C then don’t use it for ventilation or wiring since these parts can heat up to very uncomfortable temperatures during printing.

You need to remember that all your printer settings are relative so feel free to play with them but always seek quality first, speed second.

Print Quality :

To get excellent print results mostly need a well-calibrated printer and a very well-tuned slicer and of course quality print materials.

PLA workhorse:

I usually keep the printer running PLA most of the time since it’s easy to handle, low cost, and high quality, for this project however I went with ABS since I wanted the part to have a slightly different color tone so printing RGB objects is an excellent choice if you are using ABS.

Also, note that there are many industrial applications that use ABS for its higher temperature resistance so don’t underestimate it!

You can also mirror your object when printing or even print half an object at 0°C/50°C/100°C /200°C although in these cases slight shrinkage might occur due to cooling after the print has finished. Cura settings : PLA print temperature – 200°C Layer Height – 0.2mm Infill (%) – 10% Shell thickness (mm) – 1.0 Top/Bottom Layers – 5 Speed settings: Slow print speed 30mm/s

Can You 3d Print Rubber Stamps?

Can you 3d print leather stamps?

It’s a question we get asked a lot, and the answer is – No.

Currently, there are no machines that can print leather.

Leather printer manufacturers have been trying to achieve high-resolution printing on leather for years, but it still seems like something out of a science fiction novel. It’s not impossible in the future, but right now you’re going to be limited by machine speeds and resolution capabilities when printing on this material.

Conclusion

3D printing with rubber stamps was a huge hit at the most recent trade show, and it’s easy to see why. Not only does this process save time and money on creating custom-designed stamps—but it also makes for some seriously interesting designs. There are so many options available nowadays that you can really create your own stamp world! So what are you waiting for?

Further Reading:

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