any metal experts out there?

i want to make small (max 10cm width) branding iron featuring a logo for burning onto wood.

anyone have any suggsetions how to go about this – cheaply? is it trial and error with a bit of alu and a dremel maybe, or poss something a cnc or somesuch machine could do easily?

It’d be pretty easy on a CNC. Most of the cheap ones struggle with metal but it’s OK if you go slow and don’t need a mint finish. You might find it isn’t that expensive to get it professionally made. Draw it as a DXF and get a coupe of quotes .

Dremel is a reasonable option for DIYing especially if you use guides and you want a negative image (ie just taking lines away for the image). If you do want a positive then maybe you could ‘draw’ it with a welder. You’ll get a fairly rounded finish which might be OK, or you could then tweak it with a dremel.

How complicated is the logo? Maybe a blacksmith could fabricate it.

Not sure I would use aluminium tbh. Surely you need iron/steel really for high temp use (mechanical wise) and also higher specific heat capacity (will hold a lot more heat).

Not sure I would use aluminium tbh. Surely you need iron/steel really for high temp use (mechanical wise) and also higher specific heat capacity (will hold a lot more heat).

Agreed.

Try your friendly local neighbourhood laser cutter if you can live with a stencil-type brand. If you’re prepared to wait for one of their larger customers to get a large batch done in the material that you want then they will probably shoe-horn your part into the corner of a sheet somewhere. I’d still expect to pay around £20 to £30 though for mild steel.

+1 for laser cutting. Bog standard mild steel is the way to go, not ally (better for what you want and cheaper). Then maybe get a bit of round bar welded onto the back of the logo (perpendicular (sp?) to the logo plate) for something to handle it with.
We use SSC laser quite a lot, they always come out the cheapest and also very good on delivery prices too I believe…

http://www.steelservicecentre.co.uk/

You’d need to send them a dxf to cut the logo.

Cnc plasma cutter would probably be detailed enough for a branding iron, you probably want pretty thick steel of you are heating it or itll warp when heated and not all the brand will contact the wood. you’ll need a handle welded on the back. There will be more folk about with plasma than laser. There are companies online you can email your file to a get the item sent in the post in a day or two.

Water cutters are good for thick stock too. There a place up in Aberdeenshire called Neptune or Poseiden (I forget which) who’ve done mail order stuff for me.