Rubber Stamps

[Sean Bullock]

Anyone here do rubber stamps?

Question:

I have noticed, after engraving text on rubber, that there seem to be areas on the rubber where the ink will not stick. Almost like the surface tension of the ink causes coagulating and will not cover the entire surface so when the self-inking rubber stamp presses on the paper there will be areas left blank.

After engraving I clean the rubber with dish soap and water, using a tooth brush to scrub. I thought maybe the soap could be leaving a film or effecting the surface of the rubber in some way to cause this.


Any suggestions? Remedies?

[Anna Linn]

Not an expert here but I use water and a little paint brush to clean the stamps after lasering. After a few stamps, they seem to work fine. I haven't heard differently from the people who have purchased them.

[Sean Bullock]

Not an expert here but I use water and a little paint brush to clean the stamps after lasering. After a few stamps, they seem to work fine. I haven't heard differently from the people who have purchased them.


The reason I was cleaning the rubber with soap and water was to 1) thoroughly remove any debris that might effect stamp quality, 2) reduce the smell of burnt rubber.

It seems that using a dry tootbrush does well enough to get the debris out from some of the smaller engraved areas. Doing notary stamps, the state seal is quite detailed and is necessary to remove it all.

I am working on the theory that the soap and scrubbing is cleaning the surface so well that it is resulting in a high surface tension of the ink and causing the problem described above. As I cut more rubber with larger inked areas I will experiment more.

[Bill Cunningham]

I make a lot of stamps, and believe me, your fingers are your worst enemy.. Oil from your fingers that is.. Natural oil from your finger tips (no you cant feel it) will contaminate the clean smooth surface and repel the ink. Buy a box of surgical gloves (their cheap) and wear them when your handling stamp dies.. This oil contamination is more of a problem on "rubber" dies than on photopolymer. The rubber seems to attract the oil and its real hard to get rid of it, you might try some acetone..

[Sean Bullock]

I make a lot of stamps, and believe me, your fingers are your worst enemy.. Oil from your fingers that is.. Natural oil from your finger tips (no you cant feel it) will contaminate the clean smooth surface and repel the ink. Buy a box of surgical gloves (their cheap) and wear them when your handling stamp dies.. This oil contamination is more of a problem on "rubber" dies than on photopolymer. The rubber seems to attract the oil and its real hard to get rid of it, you might try some acetone..

Good information. I have been handling the rubber with bare hands. I assumed the soap and water would clean it enough, but I realize now that even after I had cleaned it I was still contaminating the print surface as I attached the die to the plastic body.

[Bill Cunningham]

If I laser a rubber die, i carefully carry it over to the sink, so as not to disturb whatever rubber dust is collected around the engraving, and run it under cold water.. This washes off all the rubber dust, and general smoke contaminants. Then pat it dry as best you can with paper towel, and let it sit until its completely dry.. 'then' stick it to the stamp using thin rubber gloves.. I used to run into this problem way way back, in the early days when I was engraving arborite with a pantograph then vulcanizing rubber into the engraved matrix.. It was hot, and I was pulling the rubber off the matrix with my fingers (ex weldor, tough skin ..ha) the oil would transfer, and bingo a crappy imprint until I read some of the info that came with the vulcanizer.. (yup, I gave up my manhood, and read the instructions..:rolleyes: )