Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion ID tags stamping

I bought a replacement ID tag for a project and was hoping to get it “stamped” to look original. I’m finding that no one around my area does this. How do you guys do this or do you just have it engraved?

Thanks

I have my data plates "stamped" by the local jeweler.

Like Marshall said go to a jeweler and have it engraved or stamped

You can buy a whole set of stamping dies at Harbor Freight.
Quite inexpensive.
Just take your time and you'll be fine.
These weren't real well stamped originally so having them engraved is a bit of overkill (IMHO).

I have a set of dies and like Jim said just take your time!

I have mine engraved.

Years back I used to occasionally stamp serial numbers and other information as part of my job in aerospace manufacturing. The stamping didn't have to be perfect, but it did need to be reasonably neat. We used to use Harbor Freight stamps to do this. They're not the top of the line, but they work well.

If you want to keep the lettering lined up, create an edge with masking tape and carefully move the edge of the letter to the edge of the masking tape. Doubling the tape up may help. Practice on a piece of scrap metal first.

It may be more authentic to eyeball it, however, so if you want authenticity, you may want to look at some others to see how well they line up.

Thanks for the ideas. I think I'll go buy a stamping set and try it myself.

Just for conversation . . .
I duplicate the numbers on new reproduction plates using my own stamps.
And then I mount the original plate inside the pump using the same longer bolts I use to mount the new plate on the outside.
This way, I can show that my pumps started out as original units - not something made up from a bunch of scattered parts.

Like mentioned the harbor freight stamps work just fine. It's worth the time to clamp a straight edge (like a paint stick) on the data plate to keep a straight line. Takes out one direction of error cause you just rest the stamps against the straight edge. You still have to get the letter spacing right.

I ended up going to harbor freight and buying some stamping punches. Turned out just fine for this project. The paint stick idea to line them up is a great one, I was a little impatient. Thanks for all the tips guys

And by the way this is not for a pump. It’s a shelf for my sons room so I put the date he’ll get it and his name on the tag.