How to apply pattern to plywood sheet?

[ppdavid]

Is there a good way to apply a pattern to a sheet of plywood so that all the lines and marks are there for cuts and holes to drill? I have a need to cut large shapes from a sheet of plywood and also drill holes in them. Marking all the points by hand on each sheet will take a lot of time. Is there any quick way to mark all the lines and points for my cuts without doing it by hand. I think a large sheet of metal with small holes to mark critical points would work but I don'e have any way to build such a template. Paul D

[Phisherman]

Perhaps you could make templates from hardboard or cardboard sheets?

[RicodJour]

A paper template and pounce the lines.

[Guess who]

Use a large sheet of paper: You can draw it in a CAD program which will print to scale, and you join the several sheets. Then "pounce" the lines etc as already suggested.

[Charley]

There are many ways to do this but the faster ones aren't very accurate. You didn't say how accurate your marks had to be. For instance, I once used a film projector to project an image on a sheet of plywood and then used a magic marker to trace the image onto the plywood. This method is great for making cartoon cutouts at different scales, but terrible on accuracy. If accuracy is more important than that, but still not critical, I have made cardboard templates of parts and then traced them onto plywood. You could also use a sheet of very thin plywood to make a template. If the template was 1/4" thick and made of a firm material, you could also use it as a router guide. When I do this I put a piece of 1" foam behind my wood and the template on top, attached with double side tape. Then use a router with a guide and down cutting spiral bit or roto-zip bit to trace around the template. The tip of the bit is protected by the foam and the chips get imbeded in it. The foam backer also minimizes tearout on the back side of your part, plus it can be used over and over since the cut just leaves a small groove in it. Once cut out this way you have a part that is slightly larger than your template due to the differences in dimension between your router guide and your bit. If the part needs to be exactly the size of the template, I then switch to a top bearing mounted pattern bit and re-cut the edges of the parts to the size of the template.

[Dave W]

You are going to have to layout the points once no matter what method you use. Why not do your first layout on a cheap piece of ply and make that your template for marking the others. Alternately, you could use one of the "real" sheets as your template. Dave

[Morris Dovey]

| On Sun, 07 May 2006 02:10:44 GMT, "ppdavid" | wrote: | || Is there a good way to apply a pattern to a sheet of plywood so || that all the lines and marks are there for cuts and holes to || drill? | | Perhaps you could make templates from hardboard or cardboard sheets?

Phisherman's suggestion is a good one. I'd narrow it down to just the hardboard - 1/8" for limited usage or 1/4" for longer template life.

I've had a number of local cabinetmakers come to me to have hardboard templates CNC cut for projects requiring more than usual precision - most recently a set of templates that were used to do the decorative inlays for the executive conference table at the Science Center of Iowa. If the CNC approach seems appropriate for your project, I'd be glad to hook you up with some shops in your area - but it'll be up to you to produce a DXF file and negotiate a good price.

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA