No-be looking to buy cutouts

[petersenj20]

I don't own a scrollsaw. I am into metal casting and want to make Plaques and signs. I would like to create some letter patterns for this but am at a loss. I have looked at the craft stores and art stores and cant find various size letters and numbers. Is there a place I can buy these patterns in wood so I can cast in metal?

I know forums aren't the place to solicit business but can anyone point me to somewhere or someone that can make me some ABC's in a couple different sizes?

[SharonW0111]

Hi Pete-- welcome to our little corner of the twilight zone-- I don't have a clue to where to "buy " the numbers or the letters you want but I can tell you how to make them yourself.
There is a lot of clip art and font disk out that you can get tons of different fonts--numbers and such .. I have one that my son uses to make decals out of. He has it to where he can just pull up the program- pick out his font then he types in what he wants it to say-- he does it on windows notebook or paintbox -- paint box i know he changes things on the size and shape and stuff-- then he just sends it to the computer printer-- then you could use soapstone to trace your font or I would sugest a marker or a white grafite paper to trace it on you metal then go back over it to make it more readable == then weld away-- I have seen a lot of the scrollwork done on metal that was done by welding and boy learn to do that and learn scrolling and you 'll be somethin! Lots of luck and hope this helps
Sharon

[Marcel in Longueuil]

Pete,

Where are you located?

We have lots of talented scrollers here, and one may be located in your region.

If not try the SAW website. they might help you out.

Regards,
Marcel

[petersenj20]

I'm in metro Atlanta.

I've been looking around the sight here and see that there are a lot of folks doing letters of one kind or another. I could look into buying a saw, but have really already gotten carried away with my numerous metal hobbies and related tools.

Plus I'm not real confident in my attention to detail. Last night I put a rotozip bit in the drill press but that was a laugh. There just wasn't enough speed to cut well. I'm not steady enough to freehand anything.

[Gill]

None of us were steady enough to freehand anything when we started scrolling. Okay, there may have been a few, but they're very much the exception to the rule.

I'm not surprised you found it difficult to control the roto-zip - as you say, they lack power; routers seem to be the preferred choice for that sort of work.

You could, of course cut your own letter templates out of plywood with a scrollsaw, fill in any 'discrepancies' with a wood filler, sand it, then use the templates as moulds for your metal work. I don't know how you'd go about converting something made out of wood into a suitable mould for hot metal, though. I'm guessing you'd fill the plywood template with a rubber solution, allow it to set, then make a plaster cast mould of the set rubber. I've never tried it, though, so I don't know.

Gill

[petersenj20]

You use the shape to make a sand mold. You ram the sand into a box around the pattern(s) then open the mold and remove the pattern. The wood never gets hot so theorically will last forever.

Is it possible to have this kind of control with a coping saw? I was thinking I could use it to cut in a soft wood like balsa. Would this wood splinter? Any suggestions for another soft wood that I could cope the letters without my arm falling off?

Also, I found a plan on Make zine to make a scroll saw.
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive...owered_sc.html
I could try to make this but wonder if it would be any better than just a coping saw.

[CanadianScroller]

Have you thought about using a hotwire cutter and styrofoam?
There are some good articles on the Make blog for that.
Also there are other plans online for scrollsaws.
You may want to look at this link.
I have seen a couple of scrollsaws made using a jigsaw for the drive motor. If you already have a jigsaw this may be an alternative.


You can use a coping saw but I think it may be a little frustrating.

Some craft stores sell precut wooden letters but the size and font selection is very limited.

[Forester21]

I sent you a PM - maybe I can help?
Theresa

[petersenj20]

I have decided to try to use a dremel router I have. I have never done any woodwoorking so will see how it goes. I will post my results. Thanks everyone for the help.

Joe