Emblems

[FLexpat]

Originally Posted by kevmen

Beautiful! Stupid question - is there a particular place those are supposed to be mounted? I have never seen them before.

This is a minor project that is getting way out of control - I probably need a chaperone or some sort of adult supervision.
The 'SeaCraft' emblem is a copy of the zamak one used in the 60s and early 70s. Most of those have succumbed to corrosion. On the 19 it was mounted on the sides just fwd of the transom - about where the SeaCraft decals were on the later hulls. The '27' emblem is a copy of one that came from a '68 hull and was mounted behind the 'SeaCraft' emblem like I show in the drawings/photos. I am not aware of any other models having that. As far as I know, Carl Moesly only used zamak or nylon emblems and Bill Potter only used decals. While there are only a few of the 21s left, it looks like they had nylon emblems without MIAMI, FLA and just simple numbers 21 riveted to the hull (see Gillies pics of his 21 in this thread). I have seen several old 19s that still have the zamak SeaCraft emblems with MIAMI, FLA on them but nothing with a '19'. If anyone has better info I would love to hear/see it.

After making replicas of the original 'SeaCraft' and '27' emblems, I decided that some of the other hulls deserved jewelry too so I made up the 20, 21, and 23 emblems following the same general profile. That is why I am considering length emblems for the rest of the Moesly and Potter models.

Essentially these are jewelry - put em on the sides, on a console, on a helm, or anyplace that makes sense. I am putting mine where the decals were on the sides. We spend a fortune rebuilding these old gals so I tried to put together proper adornments in case folks want 'em. Actually with the cost of making a few prototypes, buying more tools, and the mess of turning the kitchen into a metal testing and finishing lab, it is high risk if my wife ever figures out the details or comes home from a trip early.

Originally Posted by dirtwheelsfl

I honestly like the raw non-polished version. Nice patina to it!

That is the way they come from the 3D print shop after tumbling/cleaning. I did learn that they need to be cleaned up after they arrive because the fine dust from tumbling has iron (probably from 420SS) that rusts. My new ultrasonic cleaner gets delivered tomorrow and I will be using that with a citric acid bath to clean and passivate mine to prevent surface dust from rusting. I am waffling about polishing the face of the letters/numbers but when I get this set up folks will be able to order them direct from the print service and polish them or not - whatever they like (I don't think they can be ordered with a mirror polish).

[gofastsandman]

Originally Posted by FLexpat

This is a minor project that is getting way out of control - I probably need a chaperone or some sort of adult supervision.
The 'SeaCraft' emblem is a copy of the zamak one used in the 60s and early 70s. Most of those have succumbed to corrosion. On the 19 it was mounted on the sides just fwd of the transom - about where the SeaCraft decals were on the later hulls. The '27' emblem is a copy of one that came from a '68 hull and was mounted behind the 'SeaCraft' emblem like I show in the drawings/photos. I am not aware of any other models having that. As far as I know, Carl Moesly only used zamak or nylon emblems and Bill Potter only used decals. While there are only a few of the 21s left, it looks like they had nylon emblems without MIAMI, FLA and just simple numbers 21 riveted to the hull (see Gillies pics of his 21 in this thread). I have seen several old 19s that still have the zamak SeaCraft emblems with MIAMI, FLA on them but nothing with a '19'. If anyone has better info I would love to hear/see it.

After making replicas of the original 'SeaCraft' and '27' emblems, I decided that some of the other hulls deserved jewelry too so I made up the 20, 21, and 23 emblems following the same general profile. That is why I am considering length emblems for the rest of the Moesly and Potter models.

Essentially these are jewelry - put em on the sides, on a console, on a helm, or anyplace that makes sense. I am putting mine where the decals were on the sides. We spend a fortune rebuilding these old gals so I tried to put together proper adornments in case folks want 'em. Actually with the cost of making a few prototypes, buying more tools, and the mess of turning the kitchen into a metal testing and finishing lab, it is high risk if my wife ever figures out the details or comes home from a trip early.


That is the way they come from the 3D print shop after tumbling/cleaning. I did learn that they need to be cleaned up after they arrive because the fine dust from tumbling has iron (probably from 420SS) that rusts. My new ultrasonic cleaner gets delivered tomorrow and I will be using that with a citric acid bath to clean and passivate mine to prevent surface dust from rusting. I am waffling about polishing the face of the letters/numbers but when I get this set up folks will be able to order them direct from the print service and polish them or not - whatever they like (I don't think they can be ordered with a mirror polish).

A small project that has gotten out of control...

[NoBones]

Originally Posted by kevmen

Beautiful! Stupid question - is there a particular place those are supposed to be mounted? I have never seen them before.

The way they were on my 1968 27 Seamaster when purchased 5 years ago...

[FLexpat]

The first prints of what I think is the production version were waiting for me when I got home from a trip. 316 stainless infused with bronze. Non-magnetic with a regular magnet and only slightly magnetic with a neodymium supermagnet so I don't think they will rust. They feel beefy enough to handle kissing a wood piling - concrete or rocks probably not good. With the grit blast finish after printing, they look a lot like sand castings - I think I will probably leave mine that way instead of polishing the letter/number faces. I can always polish them later if I end up wanting to.
I will have to send one emblem back since it came a bit curved with a minor defect on one edge but all the others came out fine.


We are working on a way for folks to be able to just download files and have them printed - that way I am not the gatekeeper or moneychanger. More news to follow on that.
I have already made 20 and 21 emblems (in addition to the 23 and 27) and will post those too. I can do other numbers if someone wants them - all it takes is about 1 nice glass of wine and a quiet house.

[jamesstern]

Hey FLexpat, these are looking great! I own a plastics manufacturing facility. Have you looked into having these machined out of plastic? We're building a set of machines right now and are making the face plates out of 2 color HDPE. This allows for us to machine away the top layer with a CNC router to reveal a contrasting color below. I've got some extra material lying around, could give it a try to see if that's an option?

[Cptn5245]

Any updates on this? Would love to participate if they are available.

[FLexpat]

Originally Posted by Cptn5245

Any updates on this? Would love to participate if they are available.

Although I have been sidetracked with work, family, etc., the emblems are still in play.
Right now I am looking at heat treating to get the patina to the 316/Br prints instead of chemical treatment (like cold blueing for guns) that I used on the first few. I hope to have that dialed in a few weeks.

After that I will come up with a way for folks to just download the files they want and have them printed by a shop (I am using ExOne) with the finish they want and shipped to their house - it keeps me out of the loop. Right now the files I have already made are:
SeaCraft emblem (Miami, FLA. below)
27 emblem
23 emblem
21 emblem
20 emblem

If there is interest, I can also make 18, 19, and 25 emblems.
Likewise, if someone wants to replace the 'Miami, FLA.' text with something else (year?), it should be easy for me to do a few custom ones.

As far as pricing goes, it has been costing me about 250 (delivered) for a set of 2 SeaCraft emblems and 2 length emblems (one set for each side) - I guess just the SeaCraft emblems would probably be about 190/pair delivered. The heat treat patina will cost a few bucks more. I am planning on polishing the letter faces myself after mine get heat treated - but it looks like ExOne could do that too for more $.

[Cptn5245]

Flexpat,

Thanks for getting back to me! Looking forward to it.

[JUST JOHN]

Nice work, check out https://www.protolabs.com/ if you want a second quote. I've have used them many times for work projects.

[Preble1970seacraft]

Are you still Making these?