Can anyone advise me if its possible to home make precision
brass/other metal stencils without expensive equipment?
i.e. mainly lettering for fonts about 3mm tall. But they must be clear and sharp. I would be gratefull for any links.

thanks

Etching works really well on brass! Just use the same etching fluid you would use for etching electronic boards.

I don't have any links for this, but there are plenty out there. Basically you want to make a laser printout to be your etching guide...

While this kit is expensive, this will give you a list of materials needed for etching metal. As for the photo-resist, I remember reading an article, either here or on another website, where a pattern was printed onto paper from an inkjet printer, copied using a Xerox machine. Then using the Xeroxed copy and a hot clothes iron to transfer the pattern from the paper onto the brass sheet metal before etching. Hope this helps.

http://www.micromark.com/micro-mark-pro-etch-photo-etch-system,8346.html

I've actually had success printing out on my Laser printer on Ink Jet paper and then ironing that on...

I had to try 3 different types of paper, but in my case it was the cheapest kind that worked the best...

You just have to remember to print out the mirror-image of what you want to re-produce...