Ames Lettering Guide (Simplified)

An Ames lettering guide is the best friend of anyone hand-drawing blueprints or lettering comics. It easily makes consistent guidelines for words anywhere on a page with the help of a T-square. A full guide is generally transparent acrylic and has a set column for 1/8" lines and four rows inside a rotating wheel to set custom line heights with specific types of spacing for various applications. Due to the opaque nature of most filaments and the difficulty of truly clear 3D printing, some sacrifices have been made and this guide only has two adjustable columns--one for evenly spaced lines and one for the 2/3rds ratio. 

Both columns on the wheel have handy etched links to help you if you choose to omit the central line when you're writing in all caps, and the final registration dot is replaced with a crosshair for easier alignment with opaque plastic. The left hand side's set 1/8" holes also have etching to mark the 1/4" increments. The right hand side is set at the traditional 68° to allow for some grid-line applications or as a guide for italics.

For more information on how to use this tool, check out Salgood Sam's handy blogpost on Ames guides.

Printing

I printed this in PLA with .16mm layer height. Print the two pieces separately--there is 0 tolerance between the two to ensure the circle doesn't slip when being used (if it does slip on you, you can always use a bit of tape to secure it at the angle you need; I have to do that with my acrylic “real” Ames guide.) I recommend printing it with the top (etched) side facing up to ensure the bottom slides as smoothly as possible.

Assembly

Assembly is straightforward--flex the base a little by twisting it and insert the circle. This isn't a large motion, no more than a degree or two! The circle should happily nestle into its groove as you relax the base.