Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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

"Greg Murray" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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

stan

Greg Murray wrote:
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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:

"Backlash" wrote in message
...
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

"Greg Murray" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce
wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the
computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

Sorry, I forgot the link:

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...K-5&type=store

Any electronics parts store should have it.

"AL" wrote in message news:...
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:

"Backlash" wrote in message
...
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

"Greg Murray" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece
of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce
wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the
computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

"Greg Murray" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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. g

Ed Huntress

You can tape the paper pattern on top of the steel & cut through the
paper & the steel. Works GREAT & the paper will not burn! I could not
believe it till I did it.

Greg Murray wrote:
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

"Greg Murray" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray


Would a pantograph work?


Nate

--
http://www.NateTechnologies.net:8000

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 23:54:57 GMT, "Greg Murray"
wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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

"Gunner" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 23:54:57 GMT, "Greg Murray"
wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 14:31:50 GMT, "Greg Murray"
wrote:

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

http://users.hubwest.com/hubert/mrsc...antograph.html


Oh..thought you might like this too for fun

http://cs.smith.edu/~orourke/DTS/pantograph.html

http://www.kucer.homestead.com/files/Kcr_make.html

Gunner



"Gunner" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 23:54:57 GMT, "Greg Murray"
wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer
I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

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

In article k.net,
Greg Murray wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray




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.

Greg Murray wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce
wheel and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the
computer I want to cut out of sheet steel...

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: http://katyforge.com/signage.htm for examples of
my stuff.
--
Tom Stovall, CJF
Farrier & Blacksmith

http://www.katyforge.com

"I ride a big blue roan, I carry all I own,
In the pouches of my saddlebag, with my bedroll tied behind..."
Mary McCaslin, "Prairie in the Sky"

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?

Glenn
"Ernie Leimkuhler" wrote in message
...
In article k.net,
Greg Murray wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce
wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the
computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray




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.

"grd750" wrote in message
link.net...
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

grd750 wrote:
... when I have tried to cut through a paper template with my
Hypertherm power max 600 it set the paper on fire big time. ...

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

When we did this it was taped to the side of a machine - vertical surface.

grd750 wrote:
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?

Glenn
"Ernie Leimkuhler" wrote in message
...

In article k.net,
Greg Murray wrote:


Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce

wheel

and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the

computer I

want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray




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.

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

Pete Stanaitis
------------

Greg Murray wrote:

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

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
----------------

Greg Murray wrote:

Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.
Greg W Murray

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 23:54:57 GMT, "Greg Murray" wrote:
Does anyone know of a good way to transfer a paper pattern to a piece of
steel to be cut with a plasma torch? With wood I have seen a pounce wheel
and a bag of chalk used. I have a number of craft designs in the computer I
want to cut out of sheet steel. I would appreciate any economical
suggestions. Thank you in advance.

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