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I've been all over town to find someone to stamp the ID plate I had made at a local sign shop without any luck. The plate came out great but the sign shop couldn't stamp it with the numbers and letters. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Jim

:edit: Jim asked that this pic be added to his Original Post (OP).



:edit: Jim asked me to add this pic of OEM Mil plate

I have taken all of mine to a trophy shop and had them engraved. I have been very happy. Tom @ Snake River

ditto on a trophy/engraving shop,,,,,took the originals in and they matched the font perfectly.

Are posted on the Gallery page, you could even add yours when you get 'em done.
BTW, A local franchise of a place called "Things Remembered" did mine.

http://www.g741.org/photogallery/main.php?g2_itemId=180

Thanks for the replies, the stamping on my original plate does not look a normal setup. I was hoping to stamp it the same way. If not, the company that made the plate can engrave it.

Jim

Steel letter and number stamps are available, but a bit pricey for a one-time use. If you absolutely must have the authentic look, that would be the way to go. Engraving, with the original font or a reasonable facsimile thereof, would be much easier and would probably result in a better looking product if engraved deeply enough.

My original ones were so bad it looked like a 10 year old did 'em.
Crooked letters was/were the norm!

For sure on the crooked letters! When they're hand stamped, one at a time, that's what you end up with every time. That's what I was referring to as the "authentic" look...that and the fact that some are stamped deeper than others.

An MVPA publication, had a "How To" article on stamping your own Data Plates, you needed to make a jig that held all of your letters/numbers? I'll see if I can find it, or maybe someone else will remember which issue?
You might even be able to ask them if you go to the web page, not sure?
Good Luck,

The guy in MVM bassically just clamped a straightedge over his dataplate in order to ensure that he maintained an even verticle line of type. Horizontal spacing of letters has to be by eye anyway in order to get the text to appear good (proportional spacing).

Bassically, he took a large pair of spring clamps and used them to hold both a wooden ruler and the dataplate securely on his workbench. Make sure that you pad the ruler so that you don't scratch the dataplate and that the surface you are working on is solid enough to give you a good impression when you strike the number punch.

Inexpensive number punch sets can be purchased at Northern Tool or Harbor Freight...

Alternatively: Dan Parmley at MV Dataplates offers a stamping service and will include the inspector's cartouche (sp?)... www.mvdataplates.com

I've never tried having any of my plates engraved, but I've seen some done that way and they look nice.

Good luck.

Thank you for the lead, MVDataplates will stamp it for $10 plus return shipping. After the thousands spent on this truck getting it back to original condition I'll invest another $10!

Jim