Letter Punch Even Spacing - How?

I am trying to stamp some miniature labels with 1mm (one mm) Letter Punches but I can not get the spacing correct. Putting tape round the set (word) gives ridiculous spacing between letters. Free hand is all over the place. What's the trick?
Thank you

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You should be able to set up a simple jig to hold the punches above a milling machine table or lathe cross slide, on which the labels are fixed. A little experimentation will show you how much to move the table between each letter.
David

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that gives me ideas ..
you could take the drawbar out of your milling machine.
make a close fitting bar to go in its place ...that goes all the way thru the quill this bar would have a hole drilled in the end parallel with the bar ... grub screw set into it opposite to johns idea ..
at the top of bar would be long shaft tapped into it at 90 degrees to hold it whilst you wack ...and mark on top of machine to line bar up with
or you could have this long shaft at the bottom .....then serves triple purpose of lining up .....holding punch .....and for you to hold on to.
use rotary table or x/y for positioning
then you just wack the top of the bar.
all the best.mark

To get letter or figure spacing even and the impression of the stam
fairly constant needs a simple jig constructing.
There should be a drawing with this post to give you a (very) roug idea of how it works.
Make a slot the width and depth of the stamp in a piece of material t act as a stamp guide.
Mount the material on a piece of angle iron so that the slot i vertical to whatever you use as an anvil and there is clearance for th job to slide under the stamp guide.
Screw the angle iron down onto the anvil.
Either make a clip to keep the stamp in place or even use a cable tie just ensure that the stamp slides freely.
Bring the item to be stamped under the stamp holder, using the angl iron as a guide. Hit the stamp. Change stamp and position the item yo are stamping so that the spacing is correct and hit the stamp.........
Using the angle iron as a guide will ensure your stamps stay in line.
Good luck.
Joh
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wrote:
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Take 1" diameter bar and drill hole thru it equal to the A/F size of the stamps about 1/2 from one end.
Tap end and fit grub screw to just trap punch, this will make sure all punches are square to one another.
Put bar in lathe chuck and lock spindle, make sure punch is vertical.
Position plate on a block on the cross slide with double sided tape, clamps etc.
Use saddle to position plate, hit punch, change punch, move plate to nearest thou whack next punch.
Check spelling.....................

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:56:02 GMT, John Stevenson
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A hole diameter based on the cross corners dimension would be a little easier for later use ;-)
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A large diameter grubscrew possible bigger than the A/F of the punch would be appropriate? Cup end or faced off
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Checked and acceptable ;-) Excellent method IMHO, thanks for that.

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:11:31 +0000, Richard Edwards
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It was getting late <g>
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DaveC wrote:
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Make a George Thomas universal pillar tool (kit from Hemingway).

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True, but that does not supply a method of spacing the letters.
David

DaveC wrote:
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I have dim memories of a guy at a market offering a labeling service, and I'm sure he had letter punches and some kind of simple jig.
Details (I'm sorry) escape me, although I recall being quite impressed at its simplicity and elegance.
BugBear

It's a simple question, but it's not a simple answer.
You need to determine two things and then devise a way to do them.
Because we deal with them every day, the arrangement of letters (lik faces) is very closely analysed by the eye. This means that anythin out of line or uneven spacing sticks out like a sore thumb.
First of all you need you need to ensure a succession of characters i all on the same line. I would second the suggestion of making George-Thomas-type punch holder, because that gives you at least on fixed reference point. Next you need to butt the work piece up agains a straight edge (eg, a clamped steel rule). Now you can move the wor piece left or right under the punch and all characters will b vertically aligned.
Next, you need to get the inter-character spacing right. This is no easy (big understatement). In this context there are two kinds o fonts: proportional and fixed pitch fonts. A fixed pitch font use exactly the same amount of space for each character, whether its an 'M or 'I', a proportional font varies the width according to the character Proportional are generally more pleasing and 'designed', fixed are mor utilitarian. Most fonts are proportional, but a common exception i 'Courier', where you will notice that the serifs on normally thinne characters are designed to add width. Courier was designed fo typewriters and teleprinters to give a fixed spacing to enable layou to be straightforward. In my limited experience, most punch fonts ar 'semi-fixed'. ie most characters are the same width - except the lette 'I'. You could use off cuts of steel to move the workpiece to the left regular amount, again referenced to (another) clamped steel rule.
You can see why DTP software became popular!
Hope this helps
Mat
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Would it be easier to print out on very thin paper what you wanted to punch and just punch through the letters - hope that makes sense.