Follow UpsBramblebush ForumsFAQ
Posted by bpfink on March 06, 1998 at 21:13:35:
In Reply to: METAL PHOTO ETCHING posted by Roberto on August 24, 1997 at 12:44:33:
Here's the system I use. not easy to explain so please be patient in reading ... This is not photoetching but is drawing and photo scanned drawing etching as well as sandblasting. bpfink
This layout system of cutting and tracing starts 2-D but is used for 3-D as well It may be out of the ball park for most to own but it is still there to make use of. It is a system to draw out your patterns and transfer to your sheet copper or whatever with extreme accuracy...
with any degree of programmed distortion or not...
in any scale from one or two inches to billboard size.
Sign painters today don't usually do much hand lettering, they use a computerized system with thousands of fonts and an unlimited drawing process through scanning or drawing on computer, then transferring to a tool called a plotter / cutter. It's not cheap equipment as mine with the software cost close to $5000. and that's without the computer, but smaller new units could be had for about $2000. much less for used systems bought through ads or via sign painter resell shops.
Or just go to your local sign painter and have him do it for you for a few bucks. Once on disk the repeat is cheap.
As a sculptor I use a Roland Desktop Sign Maker PNC-950 Camm-1 nearly daily and the software is from Flexisign
http://www.amiableworld.com
The process briefly is this:
1. Draw your form via computer in nearly any drawing program (I use Corel or Photopaint), or on paper in a size you can later scan, or via photograph in a high contrast or cut out shape.
2. Scan in and convert the drawing to a TRACING or outline form. (In simple form this is real easy but many of my more complex forms require minutes for this conversion. (Used to do it with 16megs RAM and 1 Gig HD and it worked well but now use 80 RAM and 5 Gig HD to hold the files of extensive drawings.)
3. The tracing can be cleaned up here, changed, stored, sized
differently warped, etc.
4. The drawing result is usually printed out here to fit on an 8.5 x 11 or 14 sheet.
If acceptable it is then drawn out on a roll of paper to actual size.
For me this is often up to 14 feet long and paneled in 24 Inch strips (The comfortable max. width of the plotter). so it can also be in any width but you paste the edges back together. If I'm working on a large sculpture this may be done in segments as I intend to modify in the 3rd dimension as I work but the initial scale is there at all times. (Drawing is done at a max. speed about 16 inches of movement per second... small drawings are therefore done in several seconds to a minute total. My best and largest fine art drawings take up to an hour and 20 minutes to do each one. Shows the detailing and intricacy they can get to and why I needed more RAM).
5. If you were working on the weathervane scale as this question was originally posed... This is even simpler. Instead of plotting this out on paper. Use sign makers self sticking vinyl (any color or white, thousands to chose from) that has a sliconized paper backing on it. Draw it out with a magic marker or pen (held in the unit by wrapping it with drafting tape to better fit the holder of the plotter) and then before removing it re draw it again with the carbide cutting knife that fits the unit. It is a bearing swivel knife that follows well and cuts
figures or letters as small as 1/8 inch if needed. (More explanation needed here if you really go this route, best to go to a sign makers outlet and get a demo).
6. The outline or shapes you want to keep are then isolated by
"weeding" out all the extraneous parts of the vinyl.
7. The remaining shapes are covered with a transparent paper tape and the backing paper is removed.
8. The paper tape holds all shapes or centers in place as it is
transferred to your copper or whatever and then pressed on and the paper tape is wetted and falls free. (You may want to 'weed' out the actual forms and transfer onto the copper those parts that will later be cut away so the copper patina if it has one isn't altered.)
9. The vinyl is removed with a special solution and your home free.
I use this system to do proposal drawings for prospective
clients... and if the commission pans out they can be immediately
transferred to the next step in full scale.
The proposal drawings can be any scale and they serve me with also being original "blueprints" (but only if I put in a blue pen) in any size up to the minimum 24 " drawing width by any length. This is especially handy if your working with committees or outside contractors for bids, installations, etc. as they can also get the best possible copy... and if changes are made during process (I most always also redesign some along the way) updated revisions are easy to resend.
I use this system to draw out final presentation drawings for
sculpture competitions using a large sheet of watercolor paper as the main presentation board.
I use this system to do all the lettering with it either tracing out each letter or using a "fill" to draw them in opaque using any color or variations of colored pens.
I use the standard sign painters vinyl to put up full color
presentations.
I use the system to cut out stencil masks for silk screening on paintings.
I use the system to cut out rubber masks to sandblast on stone but more often on copper sheeting and bronze castings such as a tie pattern in a bronze tie of a life-sized cast figure so the natural aging patina will also naturally age in pattern. ( It also cuts via several identical passes a thicker rubber material on a plastic backing and then this is peeled out and transferred onto your form. This is the same material and system updated gravestone makers use to mask off prior to sandblasting the letters and forms in.)
I've been a near full time sculptor since '60 and love this tool. It's another 90's option introduction.
Bruce Paul Fink Woodstock, CT 06281 bpfink@neca.com
http://www.fink.com/bpfink (See for several drawings done via the system)
Follow Ups:
Follow UpsBramblebush ForumsFAQ
