I've recently gotten into selling products on Etsy and wanted an easy way to brand my packages! Learn how to make your own rubber stamp with a removable handle using MAGNETS!

Tools

Materials

Step 1: Carve the Stamp Out of Rubber

The first step was to make a reverse image of my logo so that I could carve it out. I used Adobe Illustrator to flip my logo and make the entire background black. I imported the logo into Inventables Easel software as a .svg.

I used a 60 Degree V-Bit for the entire carving. If I did it again, I would have carved this with a 1/8 in end mill first, before using the V-Bit for the detail work.

Also, my depth of cut was a little shy of 1/8 in. I would have gone a little bit deeper so the edges of the stamp wouldn't get ink on them. I also could have cut this out as a circle rather than leaving it square.

Don't have a CNC?

You could also carve these out by hand with a set of carving knives, a steady hand, and patience...none of which I have ;)

Step 2: Attach Stamp to Wooden Block

I super glued the rubber stamp to a .5 in thick wooden block and then trimmed off the edges. You could stop at this step and not have a handle, but I wanted to make it more complicated than it needed to be ;)

Step 3: Turn a Handle on the Lathe

I wanted to use the same handle with multiple stamps. Even though these handles are pretty simple to make, I wanted to make something a little more versatile.

I turned a stock piece of Poplar down on the lathe to give me an overall handle shape. The handle was sanded with 120, 220 and 400 grit sandpaper while still on the lathe.

Step 4: Drill Holes for Magnets in the Handle and the Rubber Base

After some trial and error, I went with four small rare earth magnets in both the handle and the rubber base. I started with drilling out the holes in the base.

In addition to using painters tape to avoid any chip out, I also added another layer to be used as a template to transfer the hole positions to the handle. I punched the holes through both layers of tape and removed the top layer for the template.

Then, holding the base/handle secure I drilled the holes to the depth of the magnet.

Step 5: Glue Magnets in Place

Using super glue, the magnets were attached to both the base and the handle.

DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE I DID.

I completely forgot about the polarities of the magnets. One of my magnets on the stamp is reverse of all the other ones. I had to do the same thing to the handle so that the pieces would attach.

One trick I used after gluing all the magnets in the base is letting the handle magnets attach on top. Then with a handle that already has glue in the holes, I placed it over the magnets and waited for the glue to set. This way I made sure I had the polarities right!

Step 6: Apply Finish

I finished the handle with 5-7 coats of spray shellac.

Step 7: That's It!

Now the last thing is to get some ink and stamp your heart out!

The stamps are a fun way to add some inexpensive branding to your packaging. If you're interested in checking out the signs I'm using this stamp for then go here.

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