Black infill for engraved brass memorial plate

[Chris MCW]

I am engraving a brass plate for a memorial bench. Can I fill the letters with black soft filler wax? If not what should I use?

[Gray]

Not wax. Paint is what I use.

http://www.mastergrave.co.uk/catalogue/detail.php?product_ID=1618&product_Category_ID=

There was a tutorial in downloads by planetUK900 (remember him)

 Download probably gone now.

[Gray]

No I found the topic .......... How good am I. That's my good deed for the day done. 

 

 

 

[Chris MCW]

That's brilliant!!! I thought there must be something about this on the forum. I have spent ages searching but didn't think to use the words blacking fluid in the search. Thank you so much for finding this form me. What a good memory you have. 

[Gray]

Yeah 65 and I'm not done yet.   I do a lot of brass bench plates and this is a good method.

[Michael]

Cellulose paint is better than blacking fluid for solid brass!!

It actually fills the engraving slightly and has a shiny finish, where as blacking fluid is just a chemical reaction that makes it look like the lettering is dirty.

[GLENGRAVING]

Is the Mastergrave paint @Gray linked Cellulose based?

(They sell Cellulose Thinners "for use with Mastergrave's filler paints", which implies the paint is, but its not explicit)

I've used wax in the past (pita), recently used acrylic paint mixed with a bit of water to thin it down a tad, that turned out nice
but I'm reading that Cellulose is better. 

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by GLENGRAVING

[Michael]

Mastergrave paint is cellulose.

I prefer this to acrylic as it has a gloss finish, I find the acrylic stays matt when dry.

[kobblers]

We use an outdoor long-life gloss from our local ironmonger. Been using it for a while with no problem and it cleans up really well with acetone.

Rick.

[GLENGRAVING]

I just PM'd ironplanet a question, then realised that he doesn't post so often these days, so I'll copy/paste the question here 

"I see in an ancient thread about engraved plaques, you're using some syringe for the infill. I've only used small brushes so far. 



Lovely job. Where's best to buy appropriate syringes? (Being based in Glasgow, I could get plenty for free off the ground if I didn't mind having the Hepatitis alphabet)
And how thin should your paint be? i've ordered Mastergrave's paint and thinners, still waiting on that to arrive. Can you rinse out a syringe with spirits to reuse?

Cheers
Bryce"

[Paul_]

If you want my advice (I'm not saying i'm right but i've done hundreds of brass signs) use the Mastegrave paint.

Before you mount it on the wood simply pour a small amount onto the plaque and move it around with a rubber scraper into all the gaps, wipe of as much excess as possible with the scraper. then leave it to dry (over-night ideally).

With the thinners wipe of all the excess, i put the round pet tag into a cloth and dip that into thinners, rub gently over excess. This should leave the black paint in the engraved areas. A simple polish at the end should have the plaque finished.

Hope that all makes sense. Any problems feel free to inbox me and i'll try and explain better.

[hakeemz]

yes i agree.. syringe method is good for porous surfaces like tile, wood etc where cleaning after paint has dried becomes difficult. its not needed on brass, just roughly pour some paint on spread it to as near the engraved area as possible and clean afterwards

[GLENGRAVING]

Cheers guys

[Dennis]

As Paul says...but you can use meths to clean off cellulose paint, it's gentler and doesn't pull the paint out of the engraving.  Pantograph Services do small plastic jars of cellulose in about 5 colors and blacking fluid.  Flexi plastic glue spatulas for spreading.  Phil is your man, he spent hours and hours filling and cleaning brass.