so we took the kids to the Barnes foundation last weekend.
That is an art gallery in Philadelphia and it is pretty special.
The Barnes Foundation Website
One of the things I was NOT prepared for,
amidst the many many many Renoir,
was that on every wall there was metalwork, from antiquity, all of it quite amazing…
You can see some of it in this picture from the website:
http://www.barnesfoundation.org/assets/public/images/Homepage/home-membership-595x456.jpg
if you go to the website, you can search for these metalworks: there are photos available for all of them.
so for instance, if you search on Keyhole Escutcheon, you might find this:
http://www.barnesfoundation.org/assets/collectionImgResize/0/01/529_600_01-12-02_i2r.jpg
This made me think that maybe it would be possible to make a replica, because that’s how I think.
so, I printed the image above, and colored it in, and re-scanned it:
I then used this in easel by importing the image and doing an image trace on it, which came out very clean.
I set this up so I could cut it out of a flat piece of Aluminum I picked up at Lowes;
it is dimensioned 2" Wide x 36" Long x 1/8" Thick.
If it works I might tile it and make a bunch…
but to do that I need to get rid of the box which is around the actual piece I want to cut out.
I know I have holiday brain, and maybe I have missed it,
but other than simply covering these lines, how do I get rid of that box around the graphic trace?
I can’t figure it out… Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I ordered some bits to cut this with;
will update when I get to do the work… which should hopefully be next week…
In Easel, select the box around the art and click on edit points then you can delete the points around the outside or you could drop that into Inkscape and do the editing there, it’s slot easier because you can zoom in and select a bunch of points and delete them.
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That did it, thank you.
My only question now is why it puts a box there in the first place?
I think it’s because you are tracing a picture and the background. If you trace the bitmap in Inkscape (see Phils tutorial or search remove background Inkscape in YouTube) you can get rid of the background and have just the image. Inkscape is a pretty powerful tool.
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I dropped this into Inkscape and removed the background. You can see there is still more editing to do inside the piece but the border is gone. ( I call it blasting asteroids)
http://easel.inventables.com/projects/vsGdHkuHvDlLskDh1-2i1w
Thanks Bill.
I think I’m in pretty good shape now…
So tonight I finally had a chance to cut that:
I used this bit:
seemed to cut very cleanly, but I did have trouble with my Dremel after cutting the tabs out so I need a better tool to do that. Also, I need a grinder or something so I can round the edges, which are typically sharpish Aluminum and a bit prickly.
I think next time I would make it twice the size, and half the thickness Aluminum, so i will need to dig around for some suitable stock…
As a first test, not bad tho…
When I cut aluminum with holes through the piece, I cut the holes first then used screws to hold the piece down and cut the profile without tabs, it save a bunch on cleanup.
You might want to try a single flute spiral up-cutting bit. I think you’ll see a better overall finish. Also try double sided tape as a hold-down to avoid using tabs.
When I search on Inventables it takes me to
https://www.inventables.com/technologies/solid-carbide-upcut-fish-tail-spiral-bits
but it says I should only use the 1/8th for cutting Aluminum.
I need a 1/16th any least, and wanted to try with a 1/32nd to get more detail.
Any ideas for good sources for bits to cut Aluminum in those sizes?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0020B0NPE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_MB5QybPEZ2K8F
Any of the Onsrud 625- series work well. I know there a little pricey but I can say they’re top quality. If you get your feeds and speeds dialed in they’ll last.
I was looking at that one a couple of hours ago, and I will admit the price did give me pause.
Thank you for the validation: I will order a couple and see how they work…
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