Help with cutting small lettering please

[AES]

Good evening all,

In case it’s of any interest here’s some info on what (scroll saw!) stuff I’ve been up to recently.

A few weeks ago nadnerb posted his Claddagh Plaque wedding memento. At that time, along with several other members, I commented on how clear and accurate the cutting was, especially the lettering.

Since then I’ve been having a go at lettering cuts myself, purely as “practical practice” exercises, and now I just have to say “nadnerb, your cutting is not just good but bloomin’ marvellous mate!” Tell me/us more about your letter cutting techniques please.

And while I’ve been away I notice that Claymore has had problems with the pattern coming unstuck from the wood when cutting out very small bits like my lettering (see below). I had just the same problems, no matter if just gluing the pattern straight onto the wood and then cutting, but also if using parcel tape, either when stuck onto the wood first, or stuck onto the wood after the pattern was stuck down (in all cases I’ve been using Pritt Stick and clear tape).

I like the idea of using masking tape (instead of parcel tape) before sticking the actual pattern down, and also bodgerbaz’s idea of using a self-adhesive A4 label sounds good. I’ll try both and see how I get on.

But to my own (pretty awful) attempts at lettering. Just because it was available I used Mike Good’s oval key chain software to have a go at some practical exercises with a (hopefully) useful end result, rather than just doing “mindless” cutting exercises for the sake of it.

Apologies for the fact that the only pic I have of the results was taken while the varnish was drying, AND for the fact that without thinking the old poly carrier bag I used as a base has got lettering all over it! Anyway …..

To give you an idea of size, the biggest “Sylvia” here (2nd down, LH column) is approx 95 mm long x 34 mm high, and the biggest letter (the “S”) is approx 18 mm high x 12 mm wide. The average width of the letter parts is 2.5 to 3 mm.

The “Jeanette” (RH column bottom) is a similar size to the above, but the lettering is smaller (to make it fit the oval).

Mike’s software “adjusts” the proportions of the oval to suit the overall size chosen, but to my eyes anyway, the most pleasing in terms of size/proportion is the bottom LH column “Sylvia”. But as a result, the lettering portions are less than 2 mm wide, and the biggest letter (the “S”) is still only 7 mm high x 6 mm wide – pretty small for these old eyes, even with a magnifying lamp.

And you’ll also notice that in the middle RH “Jeanette” the centres of the letters “e” are missing – one fell out and although I tried to stick it back with cyano that didn’t work (twice)! So in desperation I cut the centres of the other 2 letters “e” out as well! NOT very good.

So my problems, for which I’d be grateful for any help/comments, are:

1. If I’ve understood the various Internet tutorials correctly, and the couple of books I’ve read, the way to do cut outs is to drill the entry hole as near to an edge as possible, as shown in the LH sketch below.

But I find that although I am able to rotate the work piece through 90 degrees (or more) to change cut direction without problems, I am NOT able to do this without the work piece accidentally wandering off a little from side to side. I therefore end up with A) a larger hole than necessary, and B) if it’s a small cut out like these letters I often end up with the blade outside the cutting line – obviously NOT good if it’s a letter!

2. So what I’ve been doing is drilling the entry hole as shown in the RH sketch above. But then when rotating the work piece in various directions although I can get to all the areas to be cut, and I can keep the blade well within the cutting line., the angling of the work piece in various directions means that I end up with rather rough-edged cuts, instead of smooth. These then take a long time fiddling about with needle files to clean the letters up to a more or less acceptable standard – inaccuracies do tend to stand out like the bulldog’s whatsits on lettering, even on small letters like the ones in the pix above.

So has anyone got any tips or help please? Or do I have to go back to drilling entry holes in the extreme corners and just keep practising rotating the work piece without allowing it to wander from side to side as I rotate?


But I’ve also just about completed a much easier “wiggling fish” pull-along toy for a young gent who’s just about to celebrate his 1st birthday. This has work rather better than the key chain ovals, so I’ll do a (much shorter) post on that soon.

AES

 

[Chippygeoff]

Hi Andy. Cutting text is probably one of the hardest things to master with scroll saw work. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. What you need to do is to practice cutting the various angles of the letters on scrap with a series of lines running at different angles. I say this because when you are cutting names on a plaque for example you are cutting across and with the grain and everything in between so the blade is going to react differently every time you change the angle of the cut and you always need to be one step ahead and anticipate where the blade is going to go. I am sorry but I can't explain it any other way.

When you come to a point or where the angle of the letter changes abruptly you need to turn the blade just before you get to where the line changes direction and as you turn the work piece to start the new line you will find that when you have tuened the wood the blade is already on the new line. If you go up to the end of the line before turning the wood by the time the blade in in a position to cut the new line you will have gone past it and when you do this you automatically try to get back on the actual line and the end result looks awful.

When you get to a sharp point you need to back the blade up, turn the work piece 90 degrees, making sure the teeth of the blade cut into the waste side of the letter and then back the blade up to the end of the cut and then line the blade up to start the new cut. When you drill the pilot holes drill almost at the bottom of the letters and then when you start the cut aim for the corner and then follow the line of the letter, when you are getting towards the starting point it is an easy matter to take the cut right to the starting point. Should you not quite get it right you can shave the wood with the blade.

The best way with a pattern is to apply 2 inch masking tape to the wood, use stick glue to fix the pattern to the masking tape and then cover with clear packing tape, if the wood is very hard, like kiln dried oak then use 2 or 3 layers of packing tape. When you have done this drill the pilot holes and after that sand the back off to get rid of the break out from the holes and then you are ready to start cutting the letters. Hope you understand this and it helps with your problem. I am enclosing a plaque to show you the lettering.

 

[bodgerbaz]

I have to say that cutting out letters/words is the most difficult thing I've ever scrolled. I've found that it doesn't really matter where I start as it's the shape of the letter which seems to dictate how I cut it out. When cutting out a shape, if you wander off the line a bit it doesn't usually cause a problem and you can get away with it. But, when cutting out letters/words the tolerance is so much tighter and a little wandering usually looks obvious as the thickness of the letter looks different to the ones next to it.

The other problem I found was with pieces snapping off.

In the example below, (left image) if I start cutting at the 'star', and go in the direction of the black arrow, when I get back to the 'star' (at the red arrow) I've found that the apex of the letter breaks off as it isn't supported any more . . . if you follow me??

I found it better to start at the 'star', (right image) cut down the black arrow a short distance then back track to the 'star' then go down the red arrow thus keeping a nice perfectly formed apex to the letter.

Just my musings ;-)

 

[nadnerb]

Hi Aes
Thanks for your kind comments,and don't be so hard on your self!! your work looks fine!!
I think the most important thing when cutting lettering is to ensure that the pattern is really well stuck down. I use the same method as Chippy Geoff, masking tape over the wood, glue stick to the back of the pattern and then stick it onto the masking tape, then I leave the piece over night . This means that the glue has time to set , this is crucial in my opinion because if you are cutting letters with only 3-5 mm thickness the last thing you need is the pattern lifting. I always glue my patterns for the next days work last thing the night before and leave them in the kitchen to dry The diagram of the two "A's " is the way I drill my pilot holes although I don't drill too close to the line. I prefer to cut at a curve up to the line .If you drill too close it is easy for mistakes to happen and the drill hole might go over the line.
If I am cutting small pieces I use a sub table , made from 6mm ply with zero clearance on top of the saw table. this is a great help because the inserts are about 1-2 mm lower than the table on the saw and can cause problems when the piece you are cutting is smaller than 50mm or there abouts.
The only other advice I can offer is practice and patience , different blades have different characteristics, because they are stamped out of a metal sheet, they don't cut on a straight line,ie the line will be approx 5-8 degrees off center when you are cutting, this is important to remember when doing fine work
In my opinion two of the most important pieces of equipment for scrolling are 1. a good magnifying glass preferably with a light and 2. a foot switch. the magnifying glass is a must for cutting small lettering
Hope this is a help
Regards
Brendan

 

[AES]

Thanks Geoff, Barry, & nadnerb (Brendan) for the comments. A great help, all of your points.

Yup, having the template paper well stuck down so that the cutting process doesn't result in the paper lifting up half way through cutting a letter is obviously a fundamental and I'll have to employ some of your methods gents.

The sub-table idea seems worth a try, and - oh yeah - and practice, practice, practice ..............

And I'm glad that you all seem to find cutting lettering difficult - it's that word "practice" again I guess. But a big help to get all your thoughts.

The Excali is really going well, and a new post in a mo shows a (very simple) little pull-along toy that I've just finished.

Cheers
AES