Foil tags....Reproduction part 2
All,
Here is a little write-up I put together on the making of the foil tags...
I got the call in the middle of winter. “Cliff, its Paul. What do you think about reproducing these foil HIN tags? I need one to finish my restoration”.”
“Well Paul, it sounds like A LOT of work. But if we’re going to make them, we’re going to make them the right way”.
Little did I know that by saying that, I had just outsmarted myself. So, after months of trying to scan digital pictures I decided that was the absolutely wrong method.
Then I got the next call “Hey, I got someone to lend us a foil tag”…. “You’re kidding” I said.
It showed up 3 days later… That’s when the fun began!!!
After, an exhausted search for a vendor that would print foil labels, we finally found someone who had the patience of a saint. I must’ve gone back 4-5 times making sure everything was where it needed to be. These guys were/are fantastic. I think they were just as excited about getting it right as I was. Not only did they work with me to make sure everything was correct, they even custom blended the ink, because the original shade was no longer available.
First, we tried scanning. It looked terrible. The lines were all jagged, the dimensions were all wrong. Again, this is NOT the right way to do this. “How the hell am I going to get this right?” I asked myself. After a few days of deep thought (yes, I am capable of deep thought from time to time) and moderate quantities of rum, it comes to me…
Eureka, I need a measuring microscope!!! Where the hell am I going to get one of those? Well, it just so happens that my mother-in-law works for a company that has several. Fortunately, they gave me a pretty good deal on it. I didn’t have to pay the several thousand dollars that it cost them.
People have used the term “painstaking” in the past. I now know what they mean. Every line, box and logo was measured to the thousandth (.001 for you manufacturing types). Granted, it’s impossible to get ink to flow that precisely, but my CAD files were dead on accurate.
FINALLY!!! After months and months (and a few thousand dollars) the foils look perfect!
Now, step 2. How to imprint these beauties without screwing them up? For those of you who’ve looked at these things pretty closely, you know that they have a consistent “patent number” embossed on the tag as well as the other pertinent information which differs from tag to tag.
So it was decided (by me) that a custom embossing tool was needed to imprint the “Patent number”.
Luckily (or not) for me, I’ve been in the manufacturing business for many years and know just the guys who could help me make an embossing die. I still had to make the holder though. Well, after 15 hours of designing, milling, drilling, tapping, grinding, heat treating and more grinding, the embossing tool was finally finished… Anyone else see a theme here??!!
So, now I have these beautiful foil tags but no way to stamp them with Deck, Hull, Outdrive, and Engine numbers.
So now, it’s back to my friend who engraved the embossing die for me. The company he owns has been in the industrial marking business since the 1930’s. He has catalogs of marking equipment as old as the company is. The search begins. After hours a looking through paper brochures that are just about disintegrating in my hands, I find exactly what I’m looking for…in a brochure dated 1958!!!
At this point, I’m a little dejected…but I’ve come this far. I can’t give up now. Ahh…the internet is a WONDERFUL place. After months and months of searching, I find EXACTLY the machine I’m looking for…in Pennsylvania. I call the gentleman who has it for sale to confirm the exact make and model. He offers to ship it, and even tells me, “If you’re disappointed in its condition, I’ll give you a full refund including shipping”. I tell him “No thanks, I’ll be there first thing in the morning”. Yes, it’s about a 5 hour drive, but I’m not taking any chances by letting this baby get away.
So, 5 hours and several hundred dollars later, I have the “Enigma Machine” in my possession. It’s perfect! The condition was even better than I expected. It was just about brand new in the box. Everything is finally coming together after all this time and expense.
Take a look at the pictures and I think you’ll be just as pleased as I am.
Now, I know some of you are reading this and thinking that I’m being a bit “cryptic” in some of the details. We (The DMRS) are offering these for sale with the blessing of Donzi Marine, and we really don’t want them being copied. These will only be offered for sale through Donzi Direct.
This would also be a good time to tell those that are interested that there are differences in our reproductions from the originals, so we will know if one tries to get passed off as an original.
