Thanks, Bulvoy!
Your Very Welcome, i'm Glad you like it, i'll try to address a few questions :
Id love to know how he got the curve in it... ive thought of doing this with coins and just JB welding them to the saber but the curving has stopped me. Simply hammering them isnt exactly the best for the coin
two ways i tried ( this is a 20gauge nickel-silver 3/4" blank
#1. used welding gloves , needle nose pliers heated the back side a little bit then held it over a 3/4" INNER diameter pipe 1" roughly and started bending ( results weren't so good the heat made some splotches.
#2. this worked way better i cut out a steel pipe to make a half pipe, medallion on the inside , spare semi-hard rubber pieces down and on top & bottom to protect said medallion DO NOT overheat you will run the risk of rubber melting only need some heat transfer , heated up with a regular cheap propane torch ( any hardware store) then tap it with round end of ball peen hammer, little taps , then constantly check fit/ In this case i used my manticore for the fit
I'd love to try that salt water etching in future I see people create such amazing designs with it- very cool. I'd imagine that design would be kinda tricky to transfer over/ stencil, which is part of prep for process if I understand it right.
Salt water etching with a 9v battery mini aligator leads , Q-tip works pretty good, just have to make lots of passes to color fill, i did electo etching,with salt water image sticker and lots of free hand its a eco-friendly small hobby machine.
Soon to be project- I ordered 22 gauge aluminum & copper blanks 7/8" ( im thinking that thin can bend easily,yet still be stiff for this application without having to use heat), and i will be using the transparent peel and press blue PC board transfer paper with an image printed out on my Laser printer the toner ink to create the image sealant ( reversed of course)
heat applied on, then masking backside, and using PCB etchant solution from radio shack ( $10.) 2 parts water, 1 part etchant soak in clean off i did a test with scrap aluminum already it came out nice, so i think i'll be able to make them fast and easy when supplies arrive. along with a necklace for myself when in jedi garb for outings
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**** NOTE anyone reading this if you are going to use this solution remember ALWAYS MIX ACID TO WATER. NEVER, NEVER WATER TO ACID you will burn yourself. Read up on the process
It's attached with 2 part loctite epoxy. I took the picture as soon as it started to set and gild. I went back with some acetone and a toothpick to clean up the excess
As far as the epoxy Don't be fooled this wicked strong stuff, throw the jb weld away. sandpaper score the backside, then the 2 part loctite marine resin & hardener its like nails, on a spare pommel for test i obviously couldn't move it with my fingers, and it took alotta effort to just lift an edge with a screw driver. My original application was tack down with this, then i soldered edges, which solder was overkill, it will hold trust me