Plasma cutter art

try this link:

walt

On 22 Jun 2004 13:01:04 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho) calmly ranted:

$5 garage sale pantograph, or build your own.

------------------------------------------------------ No matter how hard you try, you cannot baptize a cat. ----------------------------

I bought a very nice overhead projector for $50 used at a school sale.

Print your image on a transparency

I won't say what I got one for at the thrift store :O It did need a new bulb which was $15 so that almost broke a bill, although I have only seen a couple in all my visits. I used one to enlargen a spitfire wingtip to almost 6" from a 2" square from a website. You really lose the line (1/4-1/2" wide at that point) when you go that big which may or may not be a problem.

In woodworking a pantograph is used to upscale about 8x.

What are you making the patterns out of?

Joel. phx

Take it to Kinkos or most printing/copy stores, they should be able to enlarge it, either photographically or on the computer. That would probably be more accurate than a pantograph or an overhead projector.

Richard

R> Have my new Hypertherm up and running, and I'm anxious to cut some

I use these methods: 1) Scan drawing or photo. Using a paint program or viewer (I use PMView) re-size to whatever size you want. Print the result. Lightly spray the back of the drawing with spray adhesive and stick it on the workpiece. Follow the lines with your plasma cutter. The paper will char but so what? You can always print another. 2) For more critical stuff, I do a drawing in CAD (I use Generic CADD 6.11). I print this 1:1 and procede as above. 3) Since I got a digital camera, I sometimes use that to get an image and then procede as above.

Ink-jet and dot-matrix printers work well for this. Laser printers use heat to fuse the toner and this can cause dimentional changes in the paper. This is to be avoided for critical work.

Ted

Thanks Ted, I had heard you can cut paper with a plasma and it won't burn the paper, but I've been skeptical. I'll try it!

Ronnie

Glued down paper will char but I haven't had it flame. Sometimes with simple patterns that won't fall apart, I just clamp the corners. Since the paper is not in intimate contact with the metal, it will burn but not violently.

Ted

Yep - metal is a good heat conductor - and the paper never gets hot enough. Put an insulation layer under it - e.g. rubber glue and the paper burns. And the rubber!

In the process of doing a EE mag article on the subject.

Martin

Please keep us posted on the status of the article. I'm sure many of us are either doing this process or will be trying it soon.

Jim

the rubber!