Making a pattern.

[Shrug53]

OK, here is something that has not occured to me before. Once I find a shape I like on paper, how do I make it in to a full size pattern?

[mikeschn]

You make a beam compass out of a 1x2 and just draw it on a piece of wood!

Mike...

[Shrug53]

I have no idea what you are talking about, but it must be important since you said it 3 times

[mikeschn]

The web was misbehaving at the time!!!

Anyways, if you can draw your shape on a piece of paper with a compass, you could make a larger beam compass with a 1x2 piece of wood. Put a drwyall screw on one end, and a hole to fit a pencil on the other end, and swing your radius.

If you end up with a profile like the one I just saw you post in another thread, you'll have to map all the grid points to your piece of wood, and then use a flexible piece of wood to connect the dots.

Does that make sense?

Mike...

[tdthinker]

That is how Wayne taught me.

[Grant]

Try this:

Take your 8-1/2" x 11" drawing down to your friendly Office Depot, Kinkos, or full-service copy shop and have them copy your artwork on a transparency ... take the transparancy home and borrow an overhead projector ... project the image on your plywood propped against a wall, or heavy-weight craft paper tacked to the wall, and move the projector closer or further back to get the image to the full-size you desire ... trace the image onto your plywood, or your craft paper, and viola! ... you have your full-size pattern. Works like a charm, and you get an EXACT copy of your original drawing ( at least, if you trace as well as you draw ;-} ;-} ...!). Also works great for those grid-profiles you find in all those vintage trailer plans ...

CHEERS!

Grant

[Shrug53]

Being the clever young lad that I am (or as my wife would say 'the crotchety old cuss") I have figured out an alternative to my pattern problem. Kinkos will print from my photoshop or illustrator files at any size up to 3' wide (and no length limit). So I could do two 3'x10' printouts and have my pattern. The only problem is that I need 1/4" all the way around to fit the printer, but that would be easy enough to handle. All I would have to do is to tape the two sheets down to the wood and trace 1/4" bigger. The cost for this? Only 50 cents per square foot!! So 30 buks for a full size pattern on 20lb paper! How cool is that? Totally worth it if you have an odd shape like mine.

[tdthinker]

I might try that, We have a kinkos 15 mins away!