• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

Correct FMTV stencil font?

Awesomeness

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,813
1,518
113
Location
Orlando, FL
Are you going to sell stencils?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Maybe/probably? My general philosophy is that anytime I have to do something that hasn't been done before, do it right and reproducibly so that other people won't have to do it for the first time [again]. That usually means it's more expensive for me to do it initially, but maybe it's worth a few bucks to others not have to go through the same hassle.

I'm experimenting with 3D printed stencils. The first one I printed yesterday came out pretty nice, with 1.5" tall letters. I need to try several different sizes, down to 0.3" tall letters (seem to be the smallest stenciled on any of my military stuff) and see how they work.

They won't be too much if I do.
 

Awesomeness

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,813
1,518
113
Location
Orlando, FL
The 3D printed stencil test went very well. I don't think anything on the truck is smaller than 0.5" tall letters. In this test, the 0.3" tall letters started to have some minor problems, where the diagonal cut across the zero is now cut completely out and the quote became one single hole. (If I really cared, that could be fixed with a smaller diameter nozzle, but that would increase print time, or using a different 3D printing technology.)

2.5 hour print, 8"x5"

Font Size Test.jpg
 

ramdough

Well-known member
1,554
1,729
113
Location
Austin, Texas
The 3D printed stencil test went very well. I don't think anything on the truck is smaller than 0.5" tall letters. In this test, the 0.3" tall letters started to have some minor problems, where the diagonal cut across the zero is now cut completely out and the quote became one single hole. (If I really cared, that could be fixed with a smaller diameter nozzle, but that would increase print time, or using a different 3D printing technology.)

2.5 hour print, 8"x5"

View attachment 800955
Cool, I need a few. Like the air cleaner lid ones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

ramdough

Well-known member
1,554
1,729
113
Location
Austin, Texas
One thing that would be really nice, if you sell stencils, make them with alignment features, so you can align them to parts of the truck to make them perfect. For example, if you made the air filter stencil, put all text on one sheet with arrows and make it round to align to the lid. Then it would be hard to mess it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Awesomeness

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,813
1,518
113
Location
Orlando, FL
One thing that would be really nice, if you sell stencils, make them with alignment features, so you can align them to parts of the truck to make them perfect. For example, if you made the air filter stencil, put all text on one sheet with arrows and make it round to align to the lid. Then it would be hard to mess it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Not a bad idea. However, I think the air filter lid in particular is not flat, it's actually domed, which would make that one difficult.
 
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks