DAK4442
Elite Cafe Member
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Last edited:
Critique Request A Try at Western on a Copper Plate
- Thread starter DAK4442
- Start date
silverchip
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
You got the sequence of cuts pretty good, a little finesse and control are the next order of business. Keep going!!!
Brian Marshall
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Those pins are one of the most useless work holders ever flogged to beginners! I would ban them if there were some way...
They look cute and useful, but about they ever manage to do - is ding up the workpiece.
Find a good solid way to mount your work.
Use one of the thermoplastics, hot glue, pitch, whatever is convenient and works.
Make a fixture of some kind if necessary.
Even double sided carpet tape will work in some situations...
IF it is applied to the work and a block of plexiglas, brass or other non-porous surface with sufficient pressure. If not, accidents happen.
Toss or bury the the pins - or give them to someone you are not very fond of?
The two main requirements for sheetmetal workholding:
IT MUST NOT HARM THE PIECE! (yeah, i know this was only practice - but practice with correct techniques!)
IT MUST SUPPORT THE ENTIRE BACK SURFACE WHERE THE ENGRAVING IS TO BE DONE.
That means no bubbles, air pockets or voids.
Hollow work can be filled with water and frozen, bismuth alloys, pitch, shellac, water soluble waxes, etc. Even oiled sand or wet clay will dampen vibration.
As always there are some exceptions.
For example, if the work is thick enough not to need support.
Or pieces where there is absolutely no access to the underlying back surface.
Brian
They look cute and useful, but about they ever manage to do - is ding up the workpiece.
Find a good solid way to mount your work.
Use one of the thermoplastics, hot glue, pitch, whatever is convenient and works.
Make a fixture of some kind if necessary.
Even double sided carpet tape will work in some situations...
IF it is applied to the work and a block of plexiglas, brass or other non-porous surface with sufficient pressure. If not, accidents happen.
Toss or bury the the pins - or give them to someone you are not very fond of?
The two main requirements for sheetmetal workholding:
IT MUST NOT HARM THE PIECE! (yeah, i know this was only practice - but practice with correct techniques!)
IT MUST SUPPORT THE ENTIRE BACK SURFACE WHERE THE ENGRAVING IS TO BE DONE.
That means no bubbles, air pockets or voids.
Hollow work can be filled with water and frozen, bismuth alloys, pitch, shellac, water soluble waxes, etc. Even oiled sand or wet clay will dampen vibration.
As always there are some exceptions.
For example, if the work is thick enough not to need support.
Or pieces where there is absolutely no access to the underlying back surface.
Brian
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KCSteve
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
I've got some chunks of 1x2 I use to hold small things. I drilled in some holes at various angles, heated up some Thermolock and blobbed it on. They have a layer up to about 1/4" thick near the center.
To stick something on I use a small heat gun - actually one for doing scrapbooking - to heat it up to the depth I need and then press in whatever I want to work on. Today I did some earrings. I used my shorter one and was still able to put both blanks on at the same time. Usually I use a burnisher to press in a dent for popping the piece out, for the rather thin earrings I just re-heated it a bit.
I found a similar little heat gun at Hobby Lobby - it says it's for embossing. click here
You can find the same thing lots of places.
To stick something on I use a small heat gun - actually one for doing scrapbooking - to heat it up to the depth I need and then press in whatever I want to work on. Today I did some earrings. I used my shorter one and was still able to put both blanks on at the same time. Usually I use a burnisher to press in a dent for popping the piece out, for the rather thin earrings I just re-heated it a bit.
I found a similar little heat gun at Hobby Lobby - it says it's for embossing. click here
You can find the same thing lots of places.
Open the bag, apply heat, enjoy what thermoloc can do for you !
John P. Anderson
Elite Cafe Member
Looks good. My attempt at bright cut was a total fail.
Southern Custom
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
I'm no bright cut expert but I do see something that distracts me. The two central scrolls appear to have a large flat spot on the spine towards as they come around to the knob. And the lower center scroll has a bit of a bulge on the spine. Other than that, the cuts appear well done. Things like this appear magnified in western bright cut since all the parts are somewhat separate.
Layne
Layne
silvermon
Member
Dan, Having purchased a lot of bright-cut for my product line from many varied sources, I'd say not too bad. Many of the comments already made are very much on point. Room for improvement, but in anything but the most demanding circumstance, near sellable. I would add that you will seldom be asked to bright-cut on a flat surface and since you are so close to sellable work on a flat sample, I'd consider moving on to curved samples now. Dan 
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KCSteve
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
One trick I didn't mention: make sure your object is 'at the top of the hill'. You don't want any little ripples or bumps sticking up around it to get in your way while engraving. Use your microwave as per the ThermoLoc directions for the initial heating. The blob's at the right temperature when you keep saying 'Ow!' while working it. Once you've got it blobbed onto the wood you just need to heat it deep enough to set your object which is where the heat gun comes in. You can also use the heat gun to soften it a bit to get something out, which is usually not a good idea with metal objects and microwaves. 
With flat plates it can be tricky to both get a good hold and have enough of an edge to run a divider down so just know that if you need to run a divider down an edge it's going to be a little rough (unless you can do it before you stick it down).
What's really fun is after you do the other side of something. Flipping those earrings over to sign them, when I popped them back off you could see every cut - even the shading - from the front.
BTW, the trick for getting best use out of the pins for flat plates is to make sure you put them as far out on the jaws as you can and set the plate in a diamond, not a square. You want the pins on one jaw to go across a corner for better grip and you want as much of the plate supported as possible. Still not ideal, but often it's ok.
Oh - get some longer chunks of wood too - a ThermoLoc stick is wonderful for doing unbent bracelets. One kind I make are little bangles where I use heavy flat silver wire - about 6mm wide. Border designs work best on those. I can't think of any other way to hold a 1/4" wide, 6" long strip for engraving.
With flat plates it can be tricky to both get a good hold and have enough of an edge to run a divider down so just know that if you need to run a divider down an edge it's going to be a little rough (unless you can do it before you stick it down).
What's really fun is after you do the other side of something. Flipping those earrings over to sign them, when I popped them back off you could see every cut - even the shading - from the front.
BTW, the trick for getting best use out of the pins for flat plates is to make sure you put them as far out on the jaws as you can and set the plate in a diamond, not a square. You want the pins on one jaw to go across a corner for better grip and you want as much of the plate supported as possible. Still not ideal, but often it's ok.
Oh - get some longer chunks of wood too - a ThermoLoc stick is wonderful for doing unbent bracelets. One kind I make are little bangles where I use heavy flat silver wire - about 6mm wide. Border designs work best on those. I can't think of any other way to hold a 1/4" wide, 6" long strip for engraving.
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