Scrollsawn?

Bill Arnold

1974
Staff member
Messages
8,622
Location
Thomasville, GA
Seeing the scrollsawn art of Paul Douglass and knowing I don't have the patience to even start a piece like his, I ran a test this afternoon. I downloaded a scrollsaw pattern, processed it in VCarve Desktop and set up a toolpath. The results are as you see here:

Raccoon_1b.jpg

To keep my test simple, I sprayed some white acrylic paint on a piece of 1/4" tempered hardboard a few days ago and let it cure. I made a pocket carve using a 1/32" 2-flute stub end mill at 50ipm and 20000rpm. The carve took about 3hrs and 20mins.

For a final run, I'm thinking of getting some 1/8" birch plywood and cutting all the way through as one would with a real scrollsawn piece. Another option might be a piece of maple veneer (0.025" thick) on walnut and carve it about 0.03" deep.
 
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I played with scroll saw patterns a pile of years ago.

Something interesting about CNC and scroll saw patterns..... You can make pockets.

Not every cut needs to go through.

In fact - painting inside some of those pockets is really pretty cool too.

I like your approach with the wood lamination too.

I have thought about that a lot - there are so many cool variations.

There can be multiple levels too and cutting at different depths could reveal some interesting results.

It's a bucket list item for me.

You have a great creative mind, I can't wait to see the stuff you do.
 
Now you talking Bill, multilayer and as Leo said pockets. Mind boggles at what one can do with this cnc.

Strikes me that doing that on a scroll saw would take a lot longer than three hours and some broken blades and breaks in wood along the way.

You and Leo mentioning layering reminds me of a picture I purchased for a long standing distributor on retirement. It was what i believe is called a shadow box painting (dont know where the shadow part came in) it was kinda 3 D on several layers. Incredible work. I think given registration ability you could do something similar with the cnc scrolling effect.
 
... Something interesting about CNC and scroll saw patterns..... You can make pockets.

Not every cut needs to go through. ...

Thank you for your comments!

I edited my post to clarify that I used a pocket cut on this test. The cut was about 1/32" deep.

I was pleased my 1/32" bit held up through the cut, but that's why I had bought stub bits that have 1/8" shank, then taper near the business end.
 
... You and Leo mentioning layering reminds me of a picture I purchased for a long standing distributor on retirement. It was what i believe is called a shadow box painting (dont know where the shadow part came in) it was kinda 3 D on several layers. ...

I've seen some work where people have cut different items for different layers of a piece. They use 3-4 layers with each spaced a bit behind the other. It's mindful of a diorama in some ways. One thing I want to do (in my spare time?) is marquetry using some of the veneers I have on hand.
 
And don't forget the lots and lots of skill, talent, & patience required for doing it on the scroll saw;):D


YES it does - take a ton of talent.

CNC does not replace that talent, and I hope there are no thought anywhere that the CNC is in any way better.

It's always a little uneasy to come out of the corner with CNC and try to not offend those that have the talent with their hands.

CNC is no more than another area of interest that overlaps other areas of interest.

I will always stand in awe when I see the talent that some people have with their hands.
 
And don't forget the lots and lots of skill, talent, & patience required for doing it on the scroll saw;):D

The biggest issue for me is patience by a long shot!!! If not for power tools in general I would have had real struggles with making almost anything. There's no way I would say cutting scroll saw patterns on a CNC is the same as someone cutting one entirely by hand. A CNC is another tool in our arsenal that works for some things. One thing it does for me is take care of the patience factor. I set up the job, press the button and go about other things while it does the carving. And, that could be applied to virtually anything we create using a CNC.

Like any other tool we have in our shops, a CNC requires skill and talent to use. In some ways, it might even require a bit more because of all of the things that have to come together. When I decided to get a CNC kit, I considered my ability to build it, wire it, create drawings, and make it do things. Well, I got an awakening as to many of the intricacies in dealing with the right way to "make it work" along the way! And I'm still learning every day.
 
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