How do you make DNA?

[marc rosen]

Seriously, I have "been asked" / "volunteered" to make a series of award plaques for our research technicians at work. I am going to use Ipe because I was able to collect hundreds of BF scrap from a trellis that was erected outside of my lab and the research committee (and I ) thought that using this wood would be keeping some "conceptual continuity" and would add to the importance of the award (plaque). My design had a grooved borader on the front with rounded over edges and a key slot in back to allow for it to be hung or propped up on a shelf. The rest of the committee wanted their logo - a double strand of DNA - across the top of the plaque. This has me thinking; how do I do that? One idea was to make two jigs with a bandsaw, one for each strand, and then rout them with a very fine pointed bit, going in opposite directions. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance, Marc

[Upscale]

I'd make them out of something pliable like thick coloured wire or coloured strands of malleable plastic and then display them in some sort of wooden stand, maybe something like you'd see in an hourglass, but displayed laterally. Sure, you could spend hours making the strands themselves out of wood, but for me if I was making them, it would take the pleasure out of the construction and I suspect most wouldn't realize and not be able to appreciate the effort that would be required to make the strands out of wood.

[J. Clarke]

The easy way would be to send it out to someone who has a laser engraving machine.

If you've got a compressor you might try making a stencil and then sandblasting the logo through the stencil. Done right that can be very nice for some logos--doesn't work too well for those that have fine lines though.

Making up a branding iron and burning it is another possibility.

Then there's good old fashioned hand carving.

[Pat Barber]

[Robatoy]

Make a ladder from beads and dowels. All small stuff. The 'rungs' of the ladder 1/4" x 1-1/2" with a hole drilled through the length. Use the same drilled dowels for the vertical ladder components. The intersection between the vertical ladder dowels and the 'rungs' is handled by the drilled beads (about 3/8" diameter beads)...only drilled enough for string. Drill through the beads and small dowels and run string through the parts to make a rope-ladder. twist the whole thing into a helix and dip in WEST epoxy, or brush on some other clear epoxy. You can, of course, scale the thing to any size.

r

[bent]

If you need to picture what a 2D projection from a 3D object looks like to draw it (read dimension it), prop up (orient) the item where it is best described as front, right, top, then it dn't move. Then coordinate a std. ortho space system (normal 3D space), picture each features' edge in the 3 or more view(s) by visualising where water would flow when acted upon by gravity.

[bent]

ie if a shadow was cast on the plane from an infinitely distant light source. In order to draw that cast, the features', picture a drop of water from highest to lowest.

[bent]

or just draw it, seriously, in 3D.

[bent]

you can try using calculus to help figure out the slope

[bent]

. . . . . . . that should help

[marc rosen]

Hey everyone, Thanks for your replies. I should have been clearer on my description. It needs to be 2 dimensional, routed or etched into the surface of the plaque. The committee is on a very tight budget so that's why my work is "volunteered" and I know they would not want to pay for an engraver. The Miles craft item looks like it might work - I'll have to see how well it does linear work. Pun inteneded -I'll be "experimenting" with my own double helix template this weekend. If it is doable I'll let you know. Thanks again, Marc

[Lee Michaels]

"marc rosen" wrote

Pun intended - If you have time, could you come up with a cure for cancer while manipulating that DNA?

[marc rosen]

We try to do that everyday at work. Marc