pew pew pew, laser printers!!

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Reggie

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Hi Gang, as I've now got the facility to allow me to do intricate inside cuts, I thought I'd turn my attention to patterns and fixing them to a work piece.

I see that there are many methods, the main one being printed out on any printer and then glued or taped to the work piece with lots of clear tape to help with lubricating the blade.

I saw one method that uses toner transfer to get the image onto the work, where the image is printed on a laser printer, stuck to the work piece and then some form of liquid chemical is used to transfer the toner from the paper to the work piece.

This has had me thinking for a while now, I like making stuff with electronics and have been known to etch my own PCBs in the past, we use 'toner transfer' as a method to get ink from a laser printer onto a copper clad board, except we don't use chemicals to do it, we use heat. I have just tried the PCB toner transfer method on a scrap piece of ply and it's worked quite well :)

Here's my method:

you will need
1x clothes iron (turn the steam setting off!!)
1x smooth piece of wood (the smoother the better)
1x laser printer (mono will do )
some sticky tape
image editing software

1. Open your pattern image in your favourite image editing software and mirror it, this is necessary as you will see in a moment

2. Print out your image with the highest quality and darkness available, make sure you set the paper type correctly too. This will get us loads of ink on the paper which will help when we come to transfer it.

3. Take your printed pattern and place it image side down onto your work piece, align it as necessary and tape it down on the back or sides of the piece, make sure none of it is at the top, otherwise it will melt and smell nasty.

4. Turn your iron on, I haven't tested different heats, I just set mine to maximum, once it's heated up, you can go ahead and start to iron the top of the work piece, I didn't time myself, so it's really going to be trial and error over how much time is enough time, 30-60 seconds should be enough but there's probably no harm in doing longer.

That's it, once you've let the work piece cool, you can take the paper off and you will see your pattern transferred directly to the work :)

I've only tested my theory once but the result is good enough for simple patterns, however, the piece of ply that I used wasn't particularly smooth, so the pattern is a bit grainy, the transfer is a bit thin in places too, which could probably be mitigated a lot by sanding the work before you start the transfer method and simply paying more attention to the pattern and using the tip of the iron to get more ink from the paper onto the work, of course you should be careful using the tip as you can mark your work if you push too hard!!

Despite the grain effect and the thinness of some parts of the transfer, the transfer is very accurate, it's also very simple to remove, a quick sand and the residue is gone, no need for any harsh chemicals to remove it.

The only issue I could see with this method is the heat from the iron affecting the shape of the wood, does anyone have any thoughts on that? I had a feeling that the heat might make the ply come unstuck or warp but it's absolutely fine.
 
I have also watched that video did not like the use of chemicals a bit unsafe. I think your idea is interesting, heat may be a problem on ply but should ok on solid wood, will be interesting to see what the experts have to say.

Tom
 
I saw the video as well. I think it was just a time consuming idea that worked reasonably well, but why all that bother when you can just print the pattern off you want and stick it on the wood, been doing it for years and its quick and simple.
 
Pritt stick (Staples equivalent) and masking tape for me, used successfully on many hundreds of jobs. :D

Take care.

Chris R.
 
I'm a scroll sawing beginner, today was my first real go on it, I've got the adhesive spray to stick patterns on, I just wanted to experiment, it went ok, no better or worse than any other method I suspect.

Either way, I had a good time on the scroll saw today, I clearly need more practice but I'm pleased with the results so far, I'm making a simple finger joint box, so it's all straight edges, I thought I'd try something simple to start off with, plus I need a box for a little computer that I've got.
 
Don't have a laser printer but TBH it seems a lot simpler to just print out the pattern and stick it on to the work-piece. :)
 
I guess I'll find out when I try the printing and sticking method, ironing the paper took no time at all, so I thought it was worth looking at.
 
Horses for courses, Reggie, and if you are enjoying yourself, that's all that matters. I've seen mention of other people using the same method. What computer is the box for? Raspberry Pi?
Martin.
 
Hi martin, nope, not for a raspberry pi, although I do have a couple of those knocking around :) It's actually one of these:
http://www.andahammer.com/mini210s-sdkh431c/

Yes, that's my google apps. tutorial at the bottom of that page in case you noticed ;-)

I'm using this web app. http://boxmaker.rahulbotics.com/ to design the boxes, It's actually meant for laser printers but I import the pdf into image editing software, then I can move around the pieces so that they fit on a4 paper correctly :)

If anyone uses it, a handy tip is to just grab 3 sides and print it out twice, as the pattern is just 2 of everything, or print once and do a double stack. Lastly, if the inside measurement of the piece is important, make sure that you add 2x the thickness of your plywood to the width/depth measurements.

I'm happy with the results so far, I didn't expect things to be perfect, I went just over in a couple of places so I tried to go wide of the line on the remaining pieces so that I could creep up on the fit with a file or 2.
 
Reggie. I have been busy with craft fairs these last few days so have missed whats been going on here. I read your last post and if I can offer a little bit of advice it is this. When I started on the saw one of my biggest problems was cutting a straight line on the patterns. I would spend ages on the belt/disc sander getting things right. Like all things we learn from experience. These days when I need to cut a straight line on the scroll saw I use a number 7 FD ultra reverse blade. Not wishing to boast in any way but I can now cut a line as stright as it needs to be and I very oven check with a steel rule and its spot on every time.
 
Hi Geoff, I actually use olson reverse tooth, I think I was using the 9.5tpi version, in reality, I now know that the scroll saw was physically moving across the bench, so considering it was moving when I was having issues, I think I was actually doing better than I thought. Once I'd realised that the whole saw was creeping across the bench, I stopped it by bracing the table with my fingers to stop it moving and my lines went back to being nice and straight. Once I fix the saw to a bench then that issue will be gone.

I saw the thread on buying blades from Mike's workshop, I think at some point I will make an investment in a selection of some FDs from him.
 
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