As announced in January, we had a Badge Contest that ran through April 21.  We had some great entries this year from our members.

We had nine members show off their awesome badges at the meeting: Karen, Bill**2, Keith, Tom K., Kathy, Jon, Tom G., Brant & Carl

Now it’s the opportunity for everyone to vote and determine which badges they like the best!  Please view the badges and descriptions below, then click on the “VOTE HERE” link and select your favorite.

Several of the members submitted descriptions – please see them below.

Bill**2

Badges? Badges! How I made my stinking badges.

Badges 1 & 2 were started by a visit to the Metal Hack Rack which yielded a fine scrap of brushed stainless steel large enough and thick enough for my needs. Three blanks were cut out, with two being milled to size and slotted on the Gorton mill. The corners of the twin blanks were then belt sanded round and then all edges were deburred by hand filing.

Badge 1 (code name: “Ooh Shiny”) was then polished to a medium shine using several of the buffing wheels. Badge 2 (code named “It’s a Blast”) was sand blasted to a matte finish. Positive and negative designs were created and files were prepared by someone with talent (Thank you Shane). After taking Lexie’s class on Silhouette Studio and the vinyl cutter (Thank you Lexie), I was able to make the vinyl stencils I needed.

Badge 1 received what I call the positive image where everything but the image was covered; likewise Badge 2 received the negative image. The badges were (separately) etched in a hot salt water bath, the badges were anodes and the third badge blank was a non-sacrificial cathode. 5-6 amps were applied for about 1.5 hours with a couple of salt water changes during the etch.

Both badges were cleaned and the edges sanded smooth. Badge 1 was set aside as done, Badge 2 was heated with a torch to add darker temper colors for contrast and the main smooth surface brushed with a brass brush for additional contrast.

As an afterthought, the letters from one of the vinyl stencils were applied to a green anodized dog tag and the one side of the tag sandblasted to create a Thumb drive badge in case I leave the drive anywhere in the space.

Brant H.

Carl

Jon H.

Behold all the might and glory brought to bear from the year 1989 in all it’s 8-bit splender!
My name badge is crafted from an original Nintendo Gameboy sporting one of the very first consumer digital cameras to become available, The Nintendo Gameboy Camera, first available in 1998. I utilized the 256×224 (down scaled to half resolution on the unit with anti-aliasing), black & white digital image using the 4-color palette of the Game Boy system to craft the image showing my name and the Milwaukee Makerspace Logo. I also laser cut a new Gameboy screen bezel of clear acrylic over black acrylic now showing the words, “MILWAUKEE” and “MAKERSPACE” etched between the layers of the bezel with the original LED still shining through. To aid in my proper identification in the case of my badge being lost or stolen, I have incorporated my photo printed from an original Gameboy printer and afixed to the case front. A leather strap was locally sourced and then carefully cut with the type of scissors you should not run with to allow the badge clips attachement. It is most fortunate that the badge clip is resilient enough to support the weight of the Gameboy unit, though I am required to wear a shirt of stout enough fabric to prevent tearing or personal injury while wearing it.

Karen P.

Kathy H.

I started out with a plain fluorescent pink tag. I used acrylic paint, decorative papers and trim, glitter, ribbon, a hole punch and a printer to decorate the tag. All of these items can be found in the craft lab except for the hole punch. By covering the original hole and punching two new holes I was able to attach the ribbon for hanging from the badge holder. The technique I used for adding my name was to run the back sheet from a sheet of printable labels through the printer and printing on the slick side where the labels once were. Using clear packing tape I lifted off the ink for my name and laid it over my badge, pressing it down to be sure it adhered firmly.

Keith M.

This badge is solid copper, with a design chemical etch. The copper board was polished to remove oxidation, then spray-painted with primer as a chemical etch resist. The badge design was created in InkScape, and imported into Corel Draw to drive the 50 watt CNC laser cutter. The laser was used to remove the spray paint from the copper board. Two passes at 40%/40% speed were used to remove all traces of the primer in areas to be etched, each pass took 21 minutes.

After the board was prepared, it was submersed in a solution of two parts hydrogen peroxide, one part muriatic acid for approximately 10 minutes, with agitation. Mineral spirits where then applied to remove the remaining etch resist, and the entire board painted with black enamel paint. A gentle second application of mineral sprits removed the black paint from the surface of the board, leaving it in the etched areas.

Tom G.

Tom K.

This is my badge I’m entering for the competition :-)
it is a combination of Swiss Army pocketknife, USB thumb drive, lockpicks.
Contents:
1-USB thumb drive,LED light shows through maker space logo on other side.
2-can opener
3-bottle opener ,Straight edge screwdriver
4-Scissors
5-tension bar
6-two double ended lockpicks rakes
7-File
8-Phillips screwdriver
9-Corkscrew
10-Attachment ring

VOTE HERE!

Milwaukee Makerspace

Member Badge Competition

What is it?

This is a very open-ended competition: Build a name badge that looks awesome and shows off some of your skills!

What are the rules?

All badges must display your name.

There are 3 classes that you can compete in:

• Class 1: New Member Badge Replacement

This badge must hang on a single plastic strap and metal clip – like the ones that current badges utilize.  Additionally, it must be easily made by a new member as an introduction to a tool, process, or the makerspace in general.  This badge should take no longer than 2 hours to create.

• Class 2: Standard Badges

Like the new member badge replacement, this must also hang from a single plastic strap and metal clip.  There are no limitations on complexity or build time.

• Class 3: Unlimited

This is the unlimited class.  All badges must be able to be transported by a single person, no wheels allowed.  Otherwise, anything goes!

When is the contest?

It’s starting RIGHT NOW!  Come up with an awesome badge idea, build it and show it off!

The contest Ends April 21st!

What can you win?

Each and every contestant will win (your own) memorable Member Badge!  We welcome suggestions for awesome awards that can be presented to the participants.

How do I enter?

Present pictures of your completed badge along with a 2-3 paragraph description of what you did to make it to badgecontest (at) milwaukeemakerspace.org.  Your descriptions and pictures will be used to create a blog post and run open voting within the membership.  Bonus points for members that provide in-process pictures and how-tos on the construction of their badges!

The mold and final cast part.

As someone who has gone to GenCon quite a few years and knows several of the GMs of major events, I’ve started getting asked to make props…  This year I have decided to expand my experiences in molding and casting in order to make one of the props.  The prop requested was a “Bracer that looks like it is made of Amber – part of the shell of an insect”.  Thankfully I was afforded quite a bit of creative leeway beyond that.

In the past I have used Smooth-on products, but one of the members of the Makerspace mentioned they were a distributor for Alumilite, so I thought I would give them a try.  This was my first experience with most of the Alumilite products.

I ordered the following supplies:

UMR 12 oz.

Alumilite Dye 1 oz. Red

Alumilite Dye 1 oz. Yellow

Mold Putty – 15 2 lb. Lt. Blue

Amazing Clear Cast 2 gal. Kit Clear

Synthetic Clay

Other items I used:

A form made out of a 3″ PVC pipe shaped to look like a human arm.

3” Diameter PVC Pipe – Approximately 18” long

3” Diameter Hose Clamp

Plaster Bandages

Vaseline

Disposable Mixing Containers

Stir Sticks

Steel Wire (to hold the mold together)

Syringe

Drinking Straw

I wanted to make a “generic” bracer that would fit either arm, not a right or left arm bracer, so I didn’t want to do a life cast of my arm first – it would be too specific.  Instead I picked up a piece of 3” pvc pipe, cut a section out of most of it (leaving a part connected) and then used a hose clamp to tighten the open end down.  It turned into a really good stand-in for a human arm.  The shape is close enough that it is recognizable, but is not left or right arm specific.  (Note that the screws in the picture were added at a later stage)

Once I had the basic form for the arm, I used the synthetic clay to create the shape of the bracer.  I was going for an organic look, so I wanted curves and no sharp edges.  The biggest challenge I had was trying to smooth out the sculpt.  I still need to figure out the right technique.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the sculpted bracer.

The form and original covered with mold putty.

Once I had the sculpture complete, I added some screws around the edges as alignment points.  I was careful to make sure the heads were close to the PVC so they would not get stuck in the molding material.  Then I got to try my first new material – the Mold Putty.  I really liked the idea of it – take two parts, hand-mix, then just push it onto the original.  It essentially worked exactly that way.  I thought the mixed consistency was almost perfect for my application.  Unfortunately, the biggest difficulty is being sure not to trap air in it – particularly when placing a second mixed batch next to an already placed batch.  I ended up with some imperfections in the final mold because of this.  Would I use it again?  Yes, but I think I may also try other approaches – either a box and pourable rubber, or brush-on rubber.

The mold with half of the mother mold present.

Given the way I wanted to cast the bracer – standing vertically – I wanted to make sure that I was able to hold the rubber mold to the arm form well.  So, using the plaster bandages, I made a two-part “mother mold” for the rubber mold.  First, I coated everything with Vaseline as a release agent, then I covered half of the arm piece with plaster bandaging, making sure the edges were particularly strong, and that the top edge, where I would be creating the second half of the mold, was also quite smooth.  After the first half of the mother mold cured, I then coated the edge of the plaster with Vaseline to make sure the other half would not stick to the first half.  Once I was done placing the Vaseline, I then coated the other half with plaster bandages.

Once all of the plaster dried, I used a sharpie and drew lines across the edges of the plaster.  These lines are so that I could realign them easily after I took the mold apart to remove the original sculpt.

After I removed the original sculpt, I realized I forgot something major…  A way to get the resin into the mold.  Oops!  After a bit of thought, I decided the easiest way to get the resin in would be to drill some holes through the PVC pipe and pour it in that way.  Ideally, I would have designed pour holes and vent holes into the original design of the sculpt.  Something to remember for the next one!  In order to try to control the fluid a bit better, I used straws to extend the holes out.  Bendy straws would have been good – I’m not sure how effective straight straws were.

Using the volume of clay from the original sculpt, I did a rough guess at how much resin would be needed to fill the mold (~12oz).  I measured out 6oz of each of the two parts, added one drop of red and six drops of yellow to one of them, then mixed it.  I used a syringe to suck up the mixed resin and transfer it into the mold.  It worked quite well, although it was a bit disconcerting because of the number of bubbles that were exposed during the suction process.  Thankfully, as soon as the resin reached normal pressure the bubbles disappeared.

The raw bracer prop as removed from the mold.

The resin takes 24 hours to cure.  24 hours wondering if it turned out.

And after that full day of waiting, I de-molded it.  Quite the pleasant surprise!  I think it may have slightly too much red, so I’ll have to correct that for my next iteration.  I’m still debating about sanding and buffing it in order to get it to be more glass-like.