I am building a cradle from plans. I have never built anything from a plan before, I usually just look at a picture and wing it. Consequently I have no experience in working from plans.
The plans call for me to cut out various shapes and transpose those shapes onto stock and cut the stock. How is this second step done? TIA Mekon
A bandsaw is good for this. Or you can cut the shapes out in hardboard and use a bushing on a router. Use the router to cut out the shapes with the templates attached. Depends what kind of tools you have and the shapes you want to machine.
I have the bandsaw, cutting and shaping isn't the problem, how do I get the irregular shapes of the plan transposed from the paper to the wood?
Mekon
Mekon
Take the plans to a copy center ( Staples, Kinkos, etc. ) and keep enlarging them till you get close to the correct size. Be careful when you do this because the lines of your plan will become larger than a normal pencil line. After enlarging the plans your lines may be close to an 1/8" of an inch thick. Don't forget to bring a ruler with you.
That will get you close to what the size of the final project will be. Transfer that copy to a piece of hardboard and tweak as necessary.
There is another method of drawing a grid of 1" squares on a piece of paper and another grid of squares on the original plans and copy freehand the lines from plan to template. I haven't done that since the enlarge function of the copy machine was invented.
Larry C
If the plans aren't already full size, it's generally easiest to re-draw them full-size on newspaper or wrapping paper. On occasion I've taken a digital photo of a plan sheet, imported it to my CAD package and used its drawing tools to trace outlines, deleted the photo image from the CAD drawing, scaled the drawing to the size I wanted, and printed it out
1:1 on as many printer pages as needed, and taped the pages together to produce the full-size plan.If you print the plan with a laser printer, you may be able to use a clothes iron to transfer the image (if you take this approach you'll want to print a mirror image of the plan).
If you don't print with a laser printer, or if you already have full-size plans, you can perforate the lines to be copied and then, after laying paper on wood, use a "powder puff" with chalk dust to pat marking dust through the perforations.
Nowdays I cheat - once I've captured the plan for a complex part in my CAD package, I export it to my one of my CNC lash-ups and let the CNC do all the rest of the work. :-)
I often use Lee's suggestion.
1/4" hardboard is very easy to work, and the smooth side attaches easily to the work with carpet tape. A wide putty or drywall knife seperates the pieces nicely. If you save the rough "negative" of the pattern, you can use it to check figure patterns of the stock before you stick on the pattern.Once the template is made, stick it to the stock and bandsaw as close as possible to the template. Minding the cut direction in relation to the spinning bit, use a bearing guided straight bit in a router table to finish. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be turning out identical curved parts with a perfect 90 degree edge surface that requires very little additional work.
Pantograph or overhead projector if the pattern isn't full size.
If the pattern is relatively simple, I'll set out any straight lines, and follow with french curves or drawing bows to fill in the curves. You can get pretty close this way.
If the pattern is full size, a pounce wheel and chalk works well.
Do a Google search for: enlarging drawing image
On my search, way down on page 1, was a link to: Drawing Course 101 - Google Books.
The Link is to a Web preview of a book by Robert Capitolo and Ken Schwab
I would post the link, but it is way too long, and most don't click on tinyurl type links here.
phil
On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 11:57:31 +0100, Mekon wrote (in article ):
If the plans are same size as finished item, trace through with carbon paper or use the renaissance method - prick through with pins on all the corners and several points of each curve then join the dots with a pencil Or use a photocopy and spray-mount or gum onto your stock, then cut through plan lines and stock together.
If plans are NOT same size, then you can use am enlarged photocopy. This may be tricky to get exact sizes and correct proportions, depending on equipment used - years ago it was always recommended to use diazo copies (ammonia developed "blueprints") as photocopies were not accurate enough for scaling. This is largely irrelevant now, but check your copies to be certain
Then there's the squaring up method. for irregular shapes - basically drawing a scale. grid over your plan and a scale grid on your stock and transferring lines by eye. This can be incredibly accurate but even more incredibly tedious. Both this and the pin prick method have been used for centuries
Intermediate plan "shapes", same size, on stuck-down brown or white paper may be useful. and avoid pinpricked work or carbon snudges.
A better alternative to carbon might be paper coated in red chalk or "rouge."You could, of course, use white chalk, depending.
A friend of mine uses an overhead projector to enlarge acetate tracings or printouts onto mdf sheets for routing out decorative plaques. Not suitable for mission-critical accuracy.
Thanks all...
Mekon
Forgot to add:
once you have a to scale drawing, you can mount the paper pattern to the wood by spray adhesive. 3M makes two good products Super 77. and Artist Adhesive. Get Artist spay mount (white can) at Office supply store. Super 77 (look for black can) at most BORGs. Remove pattern with small brush (acid type brush?) and mineral spirits.
Some recommend using blue (or purple) painters tape directly on the wood. Spray both tape and paper with spray adhesive, wait a few seconds (but less than 30 seconds) and attach. Then use clear packaging tape to cover the lines you are going to cut.
The theory is 3M uses a special coating on the clear packing tape so when on the dispenser roll layers of tape won't stick together. This coating tends to lubricate the blade slightly, but more importantly, adds a very tiny bit of 'burn' protection to the wood. The trace protection, which you will normally sand off before applying any finish, because it might contain silicone.
Phil
DING DING DING DING DING!!
We have a winner in the Tip of the Week contest, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for the idea, Barry, that one's definitely a keeper.
Mekon wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com:
I often draw a grid directly on the stock, and transfer the design from a grid drawn the plan. Cuts out the middle step of making a pattern from a pattern in order to put the pattern on the stock.
Scott
I used to use carbon paper, and sometimes still do. But I like this method:
Make a copy of the paper plan, making sure size does not change. Lightly spray the wood with glue (any craft spray glue) and fix the pattern onto the wood. Cut and sand off the paper.
Another method is to tape the pattern onto the wood and use a pin to make tracks along the lines. Remove the pattern and use French curves to connect the dots.
Another method uses graph paper, particularly if your pattern is already blocked out.
There are dozens of other methods and I don't use the same one for everything. Be careful that some methods may distort patterns.
I'm working on an inlay project with several templates I have these drawings in an CAD file and am luky enough to have a plotter. Once the drawings are printed, I use corbon paper to transfer it to the wood (and yes you can still find carbon paper)
Thanks for noticing!
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