As some of you may know, I am working on a homemade mercury barometer. I’ve got the mercury, the glass tube, etc. I’ve only found one place that sells barometer “cards” www.barometerworld.com but these don’t look so great.
However, I think it would look really sharp if the readout was on a polished brass plate. I have learned that custom engraved brass plates look really sharp - and are really expensive. So, are there any cheaper ways that printing can be done on brass - anodizing - that sort of thing? And does anyone know a company that does this type of work? I would like 2 brass plates - 1 that goes from about 27 to 32 inches and another that is graduated in millimeters.
The last time I had brass engraving done, it was simply by the letter, and not too steep (been awhile, though.) For something like a barometer scale, where precision is important, that’s probably a lot pricier. My 2 cents worth, you can etch brass with acid (wear goggles!), or by sandblasting. Probably not too helpful.
Another possibility would be to make a copy of an existing scale. If you can borrow one, most engraving shops can copy it with a pantograph. This should be considerably cheaper than if they had to do all the layout themselves.
Last possibility, do the engraving yourself. Dremel makes a rotary engraving tool (not the kind that buzzes as you scratch the surface, more like a miniature router) that’s not too pricey, and there must be stencils available for lettering and such. I don’t know what the relative costs of all these is, but it might give you some ideas.
Rhubarb
Thanks for all the suggestions.
One thing I should mention is that I have made my own computer printouts which are precisely to scale. Of course, a paper printout doesn’t look great for a barometer scale. Still, would this help out an engraving shop or would it help me if I got the Dremel engraver?