The Great Seal of the United States (with the Eye in the Pyramid): aluminum and steel

[Simon Arthur]

I created this one just to show our customers what this type of sign looks like. Also to give an idea of what goes into turning this type of seal or crest design into real metal parts you can touch.

The materials are brass, stainless steel, and aluminum, all 1/8" thick. Plus one tiny laser cut piece of black acrylic.

The metals are all waterjet cut.

The design was taken from the original Wikipedia version

Then cleaned up into shapes suitable for cutting in Inkscape.

After waterjet cutting, some of the pieces needed to be redone: they had sections that were too small, bridges too thin, etc.

You can read more about it on our website.

 

[2B]

looks very good.

if you do it again (or a like project) would suggest making the background frosted acrylic so you can see through it and also if you ever add LED lighting the shine through is AWESOME

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

I can see a lot of things wrong with this, but I guess if you're happy with it.

 

[Simon Arthur]

I can see a lot of things wrong with this, but I guess if you're happy with it.

I know it's not perfect. What would you suggest to improve it?

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

I know it's not perfect. What would you suggest to improve it?

The size of certain elements and the placement is way off. Namely, the lettering across the top doesn't follow the arc. The ribbon on the bottom appears too low, as does the pyramid. I would use a slightly oversized adhesive vinyl template to place the elements, similar to what we use to place laser cut letters on an interior wall.

 

[artbot]

I'd either cold cast it or either acid etch aluminum for this. attached is a similar project i did way back by etching aluminum.

 

[Simon Arthur]

Good idea on using the stencils.

I resized the lettering and banner after the originals didn't turn out right on the waterjet, which meant that I kind of had to wing it as far as the positioning. If it was for a real customer, I'd have been more careful.

The size of certain elements and the placement is way off. Namely, the lettering across the top doesn't follow the arc. The ribbon on the bottom appears too low, as does the pyramid. I would use a slightly oversized adhesive vinyl template to place the elements, similar to what we use to place laser cut letters on an interior wall.

 

[Simon Arthur]

Fantastic detail in these. What kind of relief depth can you get?

I'd either cold cast it or either acid etch aluminum for this. attached is a similar project i did way back by etching aluminum.

 

[Zac]

Illuminati!!!!!!!!!

 

[artbot]

with etching aluminum it's not so much about depth. there's the mill side (unetched) then the etched negative space, they reflect in completely different ways. plus when buffing them out the edges capture
the black residue, you can leave that in lightly with nicely accents detail. as for actual depth, it up to how much acid and how thick the aluminum is. i preferred to use .060 and etch down around a 1/16th of an inch.