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Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 4:31 pm
by twehr
Many of you know that I have recently been pretty busy getting ready for a market where I was a vendor with some of my laser work. Thought I would share a few samples of the products I was making.

I am taking regular scroll saw patterns and using them with the laser as cut patterns. Works pretty nicely.

Here are a few sample of iconic portraits, some nightlights, and a clock.

Elvis.png


MM.png


Dancer.png


Flowers.png


Clock.png

Re: Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:09 pm
by dirktheeng
Tim,

would you mind writing up something that describes how to take scroll saw patterns and make a cuttable laser file from them? This is something that I would be interested in doing. I do a lot of scroll saw work and inlay. I looked at a few things online but I am interested in what you do.

Re: Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:11 pm
by whmeade10
Very nice work Tim. I especially like the night light shades. Hope all went well at the market you attended. :D

Bill

Re: Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 8:58 pm
by twehr
dirktheeng wrote:Tim,

would you mind writing up something that describes how to take scroll saw patterns and make a cuttable laser file from them? This is something that I would be interested in doing. I do a lot of scroll saw work and inlay. I looked at a few things online but I am interested in what you do.



Will do soon (I hope). Have to finish a few custom orders from the weekend first.

Re: Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:14 am
by bdring
Those look great Tim. Do your customers know you built the laser yourself?

That reminds me of a blog post I did a while back regarding "hand crafted" in the digital age. I know it's all digital, but at some point, and I think you qualify, you can almost call it hand crafted again.

http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2010/08/hand-made/

Re: Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:38 am
by twehr
bdring wrote:Those look great Tim. Do your customers know you built the laser yourself?

That reminds me of a blog post I did a while back regarding "hand crafted" in the digital age. I know it's all digital, but at some point, and I think you qualify, you can almost call it hand crafted again.

http://www.buildlog.net/blog/2010/08/hand-made/


Some know it. Most don't really care. They sometimes find it interesting, but they may also think that home built means they should not have to pay as much for the products I create. Perceptions are powerful, whether working for you or against you. I do emphasize that everything I do is done with a laser. That surprises and impresses them.

Converting Scroll Saw Patterns for Laser Cutting

PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:28 pm
by twehr
Dirk asked about the process I use to convert scroll saw patterns for use with the laser. Rather than writing up the steps for everyone to wade through, I thought it might be better to just do a quick video demo. So here is my first "Over the Shoulder Video" - just a demo with camera and audio running; no script; no fancy titles, but with enough meat that you can get started yourself.

Scroll saw patterns come in three varieties, paper (to scan in and convert), image files (already scanned by someone), and PDFs, which can be either vector or image based. This video is about getting the image file converted and ready to go. Later I will do one on PDFs and later still I will show you how to turn any portrait or photo into a scroll saw pattern.

Enough talk - here's the video:


Re: Scroll-sawing, the EASY way

PostPosted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 3:25 pm
by lasersafe1
Better watch out for the royalty police on those "iconic" photos of Elvis and Maryland. There is no such thing as "open source" on those photos.