Resurfacing Paulson hotstamps/Starbursts redux (1 Viewer)

[tigon]

I was reading this thread on Chiptalk http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker...resurfacing-paulson-hotstamps-starbursts.html.

With the new Chiproom deal it seems like this could be the way to go for a set of semi-custom chips. The only problem for me is the lack of a drill press. Has anyone taken this on using just a handheld electric drill? I can see problems like lopsided chips occurring if the bit wasn't held totally square to the face.

Also, I was wondering what the typical depth of the recess on LCV hotstamped Paulson roulettes (Empress Joliet roulettes in my case). There is definitely a recess there, but I would guess it's only around 1mm or less, probably not enough for just slapping a label on without more work.

 

[BGinGA]

I think standard vinyl labels are 2 mils thick, adding lamination bumps that up to around 6 mil.

 

[tigon]

My first estimate was just awful which might have contributed to this. Each chip is about 3 mm by my measurement... the recess would be .2mm or less (probably .1mm, so probably not able to label properly without milling). I'm guessing there should be a decimal point in front of your numbers.

 

[BGinGA]

mils, not mm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousandth_of_an_inch

 

[stocky]

Join the metric system

 

[tigon]

Mils actually seems a rather more useful unit of measure for this though it's new on me. It looks like a vinyl label will fit, and a laminated label would even fit if my most lenient estimate of .2mm was accurate.

 

[Gear]

I was reading this thread on Chiptalk http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker...resurfacing-paulson-hotstamps-starbursts.html.

With the new Chiproom deal it seems like this could be the way to go for a set of semi-custom chips. The only problem for me is the lack of a drill press. Has anyone taken this on using just a handheld electric drill? I can see problems like lopsided chips occurring if the bit wasn't held totally square to the face.

Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster. There's no way you'd ever be able to keep the bit square to the face AND centered on the face AND hold onto the chip itself AND cut it to the right depth, with a hand-held drill. Maaaaaaybe with a drill press attachment that accepts a hand-held drill, but in my experience those are terrible in terms of accuracy (which doesn't matter much when you're drilling 3/8" holes in two-by-fours, but matters a LOT when you're milling the face of a poker chip) and good ones are probably just about as expensive as lower-end drill presses anyway.

Also, I was wondering what the typical depth of the recess on LCV hotstamped Paulson roulettes (Empress Joliet roulettes in my case). There is definitely a recess there, but I would guess it's only around 1mm or less, probably not enough for just slapping a label on without more work.

It looks like a vinyl label will fit, and a laminated label would even fit if my most lenient estimate of .2mm was accurate.

There is a lot less recess on an LCV chip than an SCV, at least when they are new. I would recommend against labelling directly over new hotstamps, because the ridges at the edges will usually cause a "lumpy" appearance and feel, plus the adhesion will not be as good as it should (e.g. against a smooth face.)



BTW, I grew up and went to school in Canada, and therefore love the metric system and generally dislike US customary units ("Imperial" isn't really accurate anymore since the UK is metric now!) However, I got my degree in Mechanical Engineering, much of which is still conducted in US customary units (especially tooling) by necessity. Then I went on to a career in the printing industry, which is also dominated by US customary units, at least in North America.

And of course poker chips are a weird hybrid -- all the chip sizes are in mm, e.g. 39 mm for a standard Paulson chip, 43 or 44 mm for oversized, 66.7 mm racks for Paulsons, 67.7 mm racks for other chips, etc. etc. etc. even though most of them were/are made in the USA. Until you get to labels and laminates, which are measured in mils because ... well, it's the printing industry again. Everyone uses mils because that's how the materials are sold.