Stamping very thick metal (Steel)

Hi all,

first post, please be kind :) Hope I am not breaking any rules ...!

I have what I think is a simple question:

- we can stamp steel, even by hand with a hammer and a stamp (which is typically long - I guess so there is a lot of metal in the "vertical" direction).

My question is, since jewellery is often thin, this technique is really clear for thin materials. But if I want to stamp on a cube - say 1cm x 1cm x 1cm (... umm I think that's about a half an inch , cubed) ... or twice that - etc - is that feasible?

In other words, does the thickness of the sheet/object I am stamping on make a significant difference? In some ways it seems obvious that it would - it's "more sturdy" ... but in another way I feel like the top layers are all that matters

Hope I have explained my question well enough. I am not looking for an "engineering" or "scientific" answer (although all details welcome!) - more for an anectodal "yes you can stamp a small pretty shape on a shipping container" (or not)

Many thanks to all :)

Phil

I think what you will find is that for clarity of imprint, the hardness of the metal is the most important factor.

Hollow items will tend to distort and thinner pieces will show a blemish on the reverse. For those laser marking is recommended. Dennis.

Thanks Dennis - that's helpful!

I'd still like to understand, if I want to make an imprint on a relatively thick surface whether or not that will be possible... your answer suggests yes, and that it may be even better than thin pieces that can distort. Really great point! Any other thoughts or experiences will be very welcome :)

You can basically stamp on any thing, thin material will distort much easier, therefore you would need to be more conservative when applying the stamp, given enough pressure any size item will distort
you should have no problems stamping a 1cm x 1cm cube you may find the out line will tend to raise up slightly and may need to be filed flat the best way to find out is experiment to gauge just how hard you need to strike the stamp

Oh! welcome to the forum

Thanks China, that's awesome to know - I wasn't really sure of the equipment, but sounds like I can start with a relatively small kit :)

Thanks, I love places like this (both in the real world and online) where people are working together and helping each other ... so awesome. At 911 posts, I am sure you've helped so many people that you wouldn't even know what you've helped create! So cool.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by china

You can basically stamp on any thing, thin material will distort much easier, therefore you would need to be more conservative when applying the stamp, given enough pressure any size item will distort
you should have no problems stamping a 1cm x 1cm cube you may find the out line will tend to raise up slightly and may need to be filed flat the best way to find out is experiment to gauge just how hard you need to strike the stamp

Oh! welcome to the forum

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VIN are often stamped into chassis on Land Rovers, for example. ~3mm thick (or so we hope) mild steel - the plastic deformation of the metal is in the immediate area of the stamp, the depth of deformation isn't a massive increase over the stamp depth.