Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern

I've never tried this on metal, only on wood, but you can run a photocopy of a design, then use it as an iron-on transfer. It might be worth a try, but don't get your hopes up. You'll have to do a reverse copy if you have lettering and such.

RJ

I've printed templates in Autocad at a 1:1 scale, glued them on and cut them with a jigsaw.

stan

Greg Murray wrote:

Iron-on transfer is also what I would try but I don't know if the heat generated by the plasma torch will melt away the toner. I do this when making PC boards and I use special paper intended for this application:

Sorry, I forgot the link:

Any electronics parts store should have it.

It you have to see the pattern with the torch on, I don't know of anything to suggest.

But, as for getting the pattern on the steel, you could adapt a method used by graphic artists. You print the pattern on a laser printer or by means of a photocopy machine, in reverse. Next you lay the paper, toner side down, on the medium you want to transfer to. Then you use a cloth pad or a paper towel dampened with xylene to brush the back of the paper, letting it permeate the paper but not getting it soaked (getting it soaked will blur the image). The xylene dries off in seconds, and you have your image.

On steel, I think you'd have to coat it with paint or something else to keep the image from blurring and running. And then you have the matter of finding a paint that isn't dissolved by xylene.

Ed Huntress

Would a pantograph work?

Nate

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Pantograph

Quick, simple, cheap, enlargable or shrinkable..

Sometimes old tech works pretty damned well

Hell..couple the plasma torch to the pantograph, rather than just moving a pen or a soapstone

Gunner

" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age... I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity, bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity, fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We *assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation to keep the State out of the church business, we've destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*. Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

I like the Pantograph Idea and I am going to try cutting through paper. Has anyone seen any plans to build a pantograph? Thanks for the help

Damn..Im sorry, I thought Id included the link in my post

Oh..thought you might like this too for fun

Gunner

" ..The world has gone crazy. Guess I'm showing my age... I think it dates from when we started looking at virtues as funny. It's embarrassing to speak of honor, integrity, bravery, patriotism, 'doing the right thing', charity, fairness. You have Seinfeld making cowardice an acceptable choice; our politicians changing positions of honor with every poll; we laugh at servicemen and patriotic fervor; we accept corruption in our police and bias in our judges; we kill our children, and wonder why they have no respect for Life. We deny children their childhood and innocence- and then we denigrate being a Man, as opposed to a 'person'. We *assume* that anyone with a weapon will use it against his fellowman- if only he has the chance. Nah; in our agitation to keep the State out of the church business, we've destroyed our value system and replaced it with *nothing*. Turns my stomach- " Chas , rec.knives

I do this all the time. I print out sheet metal plans on my E size pen plotter and use spray adhesive to bond it directly to the metal.

Cut through both paper and metal with the plasma cutter. Spritz the pieces with some acetone to lift off the paper and adhesive.

I cut quite a bit of artwork out of 12g, 10g, and 3/16" plate with hand held plasma.

I do the original artwork, usually in wireframe form, clean it up in Photoshop, then print the artwork as a transparency.

I built a vertical easel that consists of two 6' pieces of 2" channel with 1/2" holes drilled from the bottom up, 12" to 36", every 6" on center. The channel runs parallel to one another, 40" apart, and is welded to the shop wall purlins (40" width in order to accommodate half sheets.) I use 7/16" s-hooks to support the bottom of a sheet and steel spring clamps at the top, usually with scrap wood spacers in order to keep from inadvertently cutting through the easel.

I have an overhead projector sitting atop a cheap, Wal-Mart, adjustable- height table that I use to project the artwork on the plate. I can locate and size the artwork by moving the projector up and down, forward and backward. When I get it where I want it, I soapstone the outline of the artwork on the plate, then cut it out by hand. Cutting vertically instead of horizontally takes a little getting used to, and you have to learn to cut from the bottom up in order to keep from wiping the soapstoned artwork off the plate, but it's about the most efficient way I've found to do detailed stuff on a timely basis.

Please see: for examples of my stuff.

Hi - Erine when I have tried to cut through a paper template with my Hypertherm power max 600 it set the paper on fire big time. What is your method so this doesn't happen?

Not to speak for Ernie, but you can try brushing the paper with sodium silicate ("waterglass") and letting it dry. It won't support flame once it's treated.

Your local pharmacy should be able to get you a small bottle of it.

Ed Huntress

Was your paper glued to the steel? Fire would be much more likely if it was just taped. Bob

Go to

They have plans for one available to members (at least in the quarterly magaizine), so you may have to join.

Pete Stanaitis

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Greg Murray wrote:

I design the part on Turbocad, then print it out full size and glue it onto the metal. But if the burning of the paper is a problem, I design the part, as before, but then add a cutting line to the outside of the shape that is equal to 1/2 the diameter of my cutting tip. In my case, it's an oxy-acetylene torch. Then I cut that shape out of plywood (easy to saw and trim) and attach that template to the stock to be cut, spacing it about 1/4" above the stock. Then I just hold the torch against the template, and go at it. The plywood lasts for 3 or 4 uses. I'd have to make it of steel if I was going to make lots of parts.

Pete Stanaitis

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Greg Murray wrote:

Just stick the paper down to the steel and cut. Misting a little water on the paper after it is down will cause the paper to adhere, and will prevent the paper from flaring up while you cut (just dampen, don't wet it).

Gary