Jump to content

Getting ready to scrollsaw


Smallpatch

Recommended Posts

Maybe someone wants to turn a picture in to wood pieces on the scrollsaw  and do a style of intarsis. 

  Before ever making an intarsia picture I set about to see if I could cut the time down saving days of hard work and still end up with something recognizable to the human eye ball.

  Well here is what or how I decided to handle this chore.

Any picture can be cut to pieces with a scrollsaw after he has glued it on to the top of a flat piece of wood.

 

 

 First I found a picture, put it in the printer and sent it to resizer which mom had loaded onto the computer for resizing her stained glass patterns, she done the hard work, and I had resizer to make this firefighter thingy 13x13". It kicked out 4 pieces of paper, which after cutting and taping them together is 13" square. So after preparing the wood flat and smooth I put down a layer of 2" clear packing tape. Next I sprayed stickum all over the clear tape and installed this pattern on to the stickum glue. If any edges out past the pattern are sticky I use news paper or tissue to cover it so my hands won't get stuck making it hard to turn the pattern around and around on the scrollsaw. Next I drill a small hole between the pattern and the area I will call the box. Install the blade and saw all the way around the pattern. This should cut the pattern free of the box. If you haven't pushed the saw blade sideways while sawing, the pattern will push out of the box. If it won't come out, more practice using straight blades is needed using the scrollsaw. And here my friend using a spiral blade will give you no practice operating a scrollsaw. Throw them away.

  And everbody knows practice is mandatory especially if a person wants recognition.

 

Also this being a stained glass pattern I have to stop and cross out all the unnecessary lines before I start sawing. Although on some of my projects I use all the glass lines so the picture ends up with the same amount of gaps on the entire picture so hopefully I can place pieces of thin wood around the sides to eliminate all the gaps.

 

  Learn something everyday. One does not have to double click when he is inserting a picture unless he wants two of everything. So when I figure out how to take one away, I will.

   You will also notice people who draw patterns for glass don't get real technical. Study this picture for a while. 

  

IMG_8420.JPG

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats right Lew. See where I peeled off the tape and the rest of the pattern on the box. If I did not use the clear tape I would have lots of glue and pattern to take off the box top. The quickest way to remove that is lacquer thinner.  Lots of extra time spent. 

Some use blue painters tape which is okay but is more narrow and takes longer and more uneven surfaces. I like my surface to saw as flat as I can get it if I am cutting really small things so the reason the wide clear tape. I do overlap a little .Some spray the back of the pattern instead of on the tape. I have less screwups if I spray the tape. I had a pattern fold on to itself before I could get it installed is the reason the glue goes on to the tape. My way takes a long while  of thinking and doing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot to mention that Rusty. Yes thats the other main reason to use clear packing tape. And if you are stack cutting  put a sheet of wax paper between each layer of wood. 

   You can tell and feel the difference if you put the tape a couple of inches from where you start sawing say 3/4" wood and by the time you get to the tape the pressure of pushing the blade will change. 

  When I bought the new Dewalt scrollsaw in 98 or 99 I was putting the glue directly onto the wood, no tape, then having to remove the glue and pattern with lacquer thinner. Almost make me sick but the thinner was the fastest way. 'Too  bad I can't think of the host or moderator of the Scrollsaw  forum on Wood back then. From seeing his collection of clocks and things he much have built ever pattern  Wildwood Designs had to offer back then...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Smallpatch said:

I was putting the glue directly onto the wood, no tape, then having to remove the glue and pattern with lacquer thinner. Almost make me sick but the thinner was the fastest way.

  I was doing the same and found that with some pieces that had a lot of finer cuts it was just a nightmare to remove the pattern. I came across the tip for laying down painters tape first and never turned back. It makes for easy clean up.

 Adult & children's coloring books are also a great source of patterns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I started scrolling about 10 years ago I had never heard how to get the pattern onto the wood. I used carbon paper to start and then I found Steve Goods site. The other person that gave me ideas was ( is ) Greg Aksdel and Wayne Mahler.

Greg has some videos that showed using painters tape, so that's where I learned to do that.

I want to try the packing tape next time I cut but with an unheated shop that's around 20* and dropping, that may not be for another week or so.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...