PSTOIC Medal 2022

February 14, 2022

I learnt with about a week’s notice that there would be a small PSTOIC dinner this year. A few of the people still left in London were going to meet up. As per the other years there was a “bring something” challenge. This year it was ”bring something STOIC”. I volunteered to create a medal.

For this year, I thought I could use the milling machine to help me make something. I found a round billet of aluminium and cut off a slice with a hacksaw. The mill was used to flatten the surface to create a nice blank.

I sketched out a rough idea for the medal using FreeCAD, although I got my measurements wrong and the design was a bit small for the blank. I knew I would be ok with straight lines and that the letters could be freehanded but the curves of the logo would be a challenge.

One of my unfinished projects is a faceplate for the lathe. For that project I had created a stub mandrel to test the size of the hole I was making and also to support the faceplate whilst the rear was machined. It mirrors the shaft of the lathe which means my other chicks also fit onto it. Such as the 4 jaw chuck.

With the chuck mounted on the mandrel it could be rotated. The blank was mounted in the chuck and adjusted till it rotated evenly.

I used a ballend milling cutter to carve the logo on the blank. The setup was a bit unstable too and there was some movement, so it needed some clean up. A Dremel with a smaller bit was to tidy up and square off the corners. As the logo was a bit small there was not quite enough room for the numbers, I drew those on free hand and then used the dremel to engrave them.

To fill the gap around the logo, I “decorated” the surrounding with a cold chisel and hammer. I used letter stamps to add the name and motto around the rim.

A bit of a sand and polish and popped in a nice box for delivery to London, along with some “something STOIC” postcards that reminded me of my time at the TV station, and are likely dated from around that time too.

This year’s winner was Martin who produced a display of a rotating logo from the early STOIC days. Thanks also to Martin for taking some nice photos of the medal, above.

By Andy from Workshopshed Add Comment

  Posted in: PSTOIC Medals Materials: Aluminium