robert Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 dirk, volker - my apologies! after seeing that detailed completed car it is tin beyond a doubt. Volker - good point about the vacuforming, you would not need a double sided mold..DUH! Those ST-1 pics are awesome! When are those robots coming!!!!!!!!! :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry seven Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 :) It has been stated that the body of the vehicle on the Robby Space Patrol toy is a fine example of some of the more severe forming of lithographed tin in a space toy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.I. Gosses Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 The way a robot is made is as follows:A wooden dummy is painted with the decor. Then steel press-molds are made according to the wooden patern. These molds are used to press tin, lithoed with a numbered grid. So when the pressing comes out, you will know that, for instancethe eyes should be on A12 to A14 and D22 to D24. So working back from the formed sheet, you make a strangely streched and compressed picture. This is called an Anamorfose. (enter this word into Google to save me some explanation) A wellknown example is a chocolate Santa with a silverfoil wrapping. Straighten this out and you will see : ear>cheek>eye> nose & mouth> eye>cheek> ear> back of the head. This made it so infinitely difficult to make a repro before there was computer contour-scanning technique. You can not "un-press" steel, so you haveto try and try again. Mr. Atomic was, reasonably, easy to reproduce as it is nearly a cylinder. Chiming Space Trooper, with many litho details on humps and bumps in the litho will be very,very difficult. Schuco published a book (in 1960?) "Das Spiel mit Stahl", in which they illustrated the whole process of making a toy car. I hope that someone else, who also owns this book, will scan and post these pages. Dirk? BTW the thickness of toy tin, Volker, is between 0.3 and 0.7 mm (mulltiply by .39 for inches) . St 1 would weigh 3lbs if it were 1,5mm...I have recently bought an hydraulic press, to help my DIY robot productions, and I can state that steelpressing and moldmaking is about as easy as the second theorem of relativity. As a consolation I find that when I look at my robots, I am not the only one having these difficulties. Since I now have my 7th password and verification to satisfy the "security" of this form, I will post some info on my efforts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 As always you continue to amaze and astound - thx Henk!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe K. Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Welcome back to the TALK pages, Henk.You (and your expertise) have been sorely missed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dany Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Hey Dirk, Volker........and........I will go to Brussels to lets have a robotmeeting thereDirk look at your mail boxDany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic guy Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Hey all! Wow, that's what I call education, especially for a newbie!! I am almost afraid to pick up my robots now when I see the craftsmanship that went into them... Respect is the best word I guess.Dirk (and others), I will gladly join in in Brussels! :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneluna123 Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 fantastic info.Ive often thought of making my own tin robots and this info excites me heaps.. Thanx guys !.Can you buy a home hobby die press ? tin press ? Is there a kit you can buy to litho tin ?Had a good search on the net but found nothing !.How can you learn more ?I have always loved the way tin toys are made and pieced together.Thanx again ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dratomic Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 The presses for stamping tin are industrial sized machines with many thousands of pounds of pressure behind them. Definitely not the thing they sell as a home hobby device, I'm afraid. And the dies are designed to take that kind of pressure -- not cheap to make. This is why there's no one just spitting out these toys on a hobbyist level. Way too expensive for the machinery alone.As for lithographing tin, your best bet would be some sort of silk-screen set up. It's not really the same process, but it'll probably give you a nice look. Sorry to be the dasher of dreams, but if it were that cheap and easy, I can assure you that you'd be seeing a LOT of new toy robots. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solaar Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Hello everyone (again)!Here's another example of anamorphotic distortion and how the compensation didn't work out with the repro.At the left the original Yoshiya Space Robot (photo from Doc Atomic's Attic), at the right two views of the HA-HA repro. While the rectangular grill is neatly aligned at the chest of the original the same element is totally distorted at the repro.Have a look at the rest of the photos at Doc Atomic's Attic of Astounding Artifacts, it's really mind-blowing, how the raster for the shading works out in spite of the distortion by the mold!A modest toy, but a great herald of lost craftsmanship ...Solaar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneluna123 Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Thats a shame.But you haven't dashed my hopes.Tin origami is the way to go ! A pair of tin cutters , cut fingers and a bit of imagination will do the trick !Even though we cant press tin its still an interesting process.Just thinking of ways to create tabs and tab holes...and ways to mount gear boxes inside. Im off to my shed !The presses for stamping tin are industrial sized machines with many thousands of pounds of pressure behind them. Definitely not the thing they sell as a home hobby device, I'm afraid. And the dies are designed to take that kind of pressure -- not cheap to make. This is why there's no one just spitting out these toys on a hobbyist level. Way too expensive for the machinery alone.As for lithographing tin, your best bet would be some sort of silk-screen set up. It's not really the same process, but it'll probably give you a nice look. Sorry to be the dasher of dreams, but if it were that cheap and easy, I can assure you that you'd be seeing a LOT of new toy robots. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinplate6 Posted September 15, 2009 Share Posted September 15, 2009 You could try a hand-hammered tin toy. Create a mold in wood, and using very thin tin and a face hammer (a rubber tipped mallet) you can continuously tap the piece down onto the mold. It may come out a bit wrinkled, but you can push out some of the wrinkles with a smooth metal tool, it's called burnishing. It's an imperfect process at best, but as close as you'll get to a true stamped plate. Then paint the piece by hand. Who knows this could be the start of a new cottage industry, or at least a hobby, hey, what have you got to lose? ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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