How to replace/refurb metal ID plates

[ArkTinkerer]

How do you refurb or replace the metal plates with Model #, phase, voltage etc that are so common on older motor driven tools? I can deal with most of the rest but have found no good solution for these.

 

[jakemac]

Here's a post in a restoration thread by Scimonetti that describes how he restored a brass raised letter plate on his MW jointer. Read through the posts to see his process.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4547958#post4547958

Others have hand painted the plates or covered them with repro decals.

The flat id plates can be harder to do.

 

[Kevin54]

If you can't go back to the company that made it in the first place, get a piece of aluminum and have it anodized and laser engraved. Talk to Deere2210 and he can do both anodizing and laser engraving. If you can send him the old one, probably better as he can match the fonts as close as possible to the original. Now grant you, it won't look exactly like the original, but it will be awful close.

For instance, most are black and aluminum. He can anodize it black, block off what needs to be aluminum, laser engrave what needs to be done, then clear anodize everything to protect it.