A Halftone routed with the Samson

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Joe Jones
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A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by Joe Jones »

My grandparents, from the 40's I would assume by the hair and clothing. The original is 5"x7". The halftone carving is 48" tall.

I'm going to cut it one more time, with the lines closer together to get rid of the white lines.

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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by Capstone »

Joe, I got the Halftone app, thanks to you and was playing with it. I have my router set up working but had a few questions before I started making dust.

1. What size bits are you using for these halftone pieces?
2. Do you always use the "inverted" selection for the halftone?
3. Is using a "V" bit the best choice?

Thanks for sharing your process on YouTube as well.

Phil
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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by Joe Jones »

Mom (1939 - 2011)

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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by Joe Jones »

Capstone wrote:Joe, I got the Halftone app, thanks to you and was playing with it. I have my router set up working but had a few questions before I started making dust.

1. What size bits are you using for these halftone pieces?
2. Do you always use the "inverted" selection for the halftone?
3. Is using a "V" bit the best choice?

Thanks for sharing your process on YouTube as well.

Phil
Hi Phil,

I am using a 3/8" 90-degree V-groove bit. The decision to invert is based on the color of the material. If the surface is white and the material is dark (like white marker board) then wherever you CUT, you will EXPOSE dark lines. A deeper cut with a V-groove bit means a wider groove, and less white space between the grooves, which give you your various shades.

The V-groove is best, because you can place your grooves very close together. If the top edges of the grooves touch, then you will ONLY see the color of the paint that was used to paint the grooves. But if you SAND on those ridges, you take down the top ridges and begin to expose the surface color of the material which was NOT painted. Remember that when you sand down the ridges, you are SIMULTANEOUSLY making the surface (material) color more prominent, while reducing the width of the painted grooves. So take your time and don't be too aggressive with the sander.

Also, the sander MUST keep moving. The paint will heat up and begin to form clots of gooey sludge, so keep the sander moving, and allow the material surface to remain COOL. You can always go back and sand a little more, but once the ridges are sanded down too low, you cannot replace them.

If the material is dark (like black SINTRA board) and you want your carved image to be another color, or several other colors (with careful masking and painting each color into the grooves or AIR BRUSH!!!) then you would carve the image, paint the colors into the grooves, LET IT DRY COMPLETELY (think: 48 hours), and then come back with some 80 grit sandpaper and an orbital sander to remove the paint from the surface, re-exposing the black Sintra board. Remember to keep the sander moving at all times. HEAT is your enemy.

I haven't even gotten into colors yet. JUST WAIT!
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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by PlasmaMac »

Great stuff, Man!! That is a really amazing level of detail that you're getting with the router hooked up to your plasmacam! Do you have any plans on experimenting with any other tools? By looks of it, you could probably put any tool you wanted to on a plasmacam.

Keep it up brother!

JAG
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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by Joe Jones »

I want to get a 4x4 table that is portable. I will set it up on a trailer frame and tow it to craft shows, etc.

You cannot imagine the things I have planned for my tables. :D
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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by PlasmaMac »

yeah, that would be pretty sweet!!

I came across this picture on the web of another plasmacam owner that has a petty choice set up for mobile plasma cam-ing:
PcamSmall.jpg

Over the years I've seen a few plasmacam's cutting live at couple of outdoor Agricultural shows where they where cutting live. Funny how many people they have crowd around when they started the Arcs and Sparks! Definitely drew people in. One of these guys would have a few templates already drawn up and add you name or address to it, cut it in front of you (and would you would pay for it by the how much it weighed after it was done (non painted). I had never seen a custom cut out sold by the LB/oz before. Pretty ingenious.

Keep us posted, Brother!

JAG

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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by Joe Jones »

PlasmaMac wrote:yeah, that would be pretty sweet!!

I came across this picture on the web of another plasmacam owner that has a petty choice set up for mobile plasma cam-ing:
PcamSmall.jpg

Over the years I've seen a few plasmacam's cutting live at couple of outdoor Agricultural shows where they where cutting live. Funny how many people they have crowd around when they started the Arcs and Sparks! Definitely drew people in. One of these guys would have a few templates already drawn up and add you name or address to it, cut it in front of you (and would you would pay for it by the how much it weighed after it was done (non painted). I had never seen a custom cut out sold by the LB/oz before. Pretty ingenious.

Keep us posted, Brother!

JAG
Oh my God! Talk about trying to keep your table square and flat! Four INDIVIDUAL Harbor Freight Tool crank up trailer tongue jacks?!? :shock: NO WAY! I'd wear myself out just cranking them up and down!

If I build a portable table, it will have a MUCH better setup than that.



.
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Re: A Halftone routed with the Samson

Post by PlasmaMac »

Definitely more than one way to skin a cat. Anything that you can do to minimize set up oriented work at trade shows probably pays off big time.

A mobile plasmacam set up similar to this would be way cool:
machine at show.jpg
(image source:http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/fa ... le-283704/)

Heck, You could even set up the plasmacam to run w/ a wireless remote control if you wanted to ...possibilities are endless!

JAG

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