putrdude opened this issue on Sep 28, 2016 · 48 posts
mrsparky posted Sat, 01 October 2016 at 5:36 PM
Nice idea there Sam!
Another thing thats fun to try is do a line only render, reverse that image, print and trace it. Now apply that trace to a piece of timber, and use a cheap pyrography (wood burning) pen.
A variation of this is to a dedicated engraving tool or dremel style multi-tool. Lidl's (a UK/european supermarket) sometimes does these for around £9-10 each. Or theres amazon or ebay.
Just remember using these tools can be like trying to draw with a hammer, so keep your render line nice and thick. Also to get a good solid line you'll probably need to go over your burn/engraved line more than once, which means slippage will happen.
Most important if using MDF or marine ply to wear a facemask as this material contains horrible chemical stuff.
You can also trace and burn into thin (3mm) sheets of acrylic "glass". Engraving doesn't work so well as this stuff is designed to be scratch resistant. Again wear a decent mask and safety googles if burning acrylic "glass" as the fumes ARE really nasty.
On very small pieces lighting the edge of the "glass" with lectroluminescent (EL) wire or hi-intensity LED's can give an extra cool effect. A good source of cheap hi-intensity LED's is poundstore USB powered lightbulbs.