Years ago, I used to look at the expensive, large format, plotter-style printers and think: "Boy, someday I'll get one of those and I won't have to hand draw my templates any more!" Well, I failed to anticipate that CNC machines would eventually cut out the whole template process for many carvings, but I still wouldn't mind having a nice printer that could print out a whole template for me. Before our last move, I had a medium format printer that did a great job, but at the moment, it’s stuck somewhere in storage. But I still don't have to go back to hand drawing templates.

    What I finally realized is that my drawing software can print out an entire template on multiple regular size pieces of paper, then I just scotch tape them together and cut off any excess. The largest piece of paper that my printer can use is legal size, but I usually just use letter size. The printer's precision is such that the pages line up quite well, and there are only small gaps in the printing where the pages meet. It sometimes takes a while to print, but I can easily print templates at home in the evening while I do something else. After I tape it together, the template folds up nicely along the taping and I can put it in a folder. Each template usually requires about 10 pieces of paper.

    The software that I use is Adobe Illustrator, a vector drawing program. It's expensive (around $500), but it's powerful. I don't use very many of it's features on a regular basis, but it works very well for what I do so it's definitely worth the money. I've used the program since 1995, and I really haven't used other drawing software aside from Corel and the I-sculpt CNC software. The steps that follow will be in Illustrator then, but I'm sure that other programs can produce similar results. The important feature of the software to look for is the ability to “tile” a larger image into letter size sheets of paper.

    In Illustrator, I just set up a document size that is larger than a block of ice (45" by 25", for example). Then I make a rectangle that's 40" by 20". Then I either import a scanned or saved design or I build it in the program. I resize the design as necessary, save it as a template, then print.

    Printing it out properly involves selecting certain settings in Illustrator. I “do not scale” the image as you see in the partial screenshot of the “General” panel below. Also, you can see on the left how the software breaks the document up into multiple pages.

Below is another partial screenshot of another panel (Setup) Notice the Tiling option is set to “Tile full pages.” This is important because otherwise, it tries to print the entire image and the page margins become extra space inserted into the image. The “Tile full pages” leaves small gaps in the image where the pieces of paper meet, but the proportions of the image aren’t affected.

    If I'm using a photo or colored illustration as a template, I do whatever I can to avoid using lots of ink. I erase unnecessary sections or details, convert it to line art, or whatever else I can do. A heavily inked template messes up the paper and the ink runs a lot more when the template is wet during carving. Line art works better and I also convert it to black and white unless I'm trying to emphasize a certain portion with color.

    The hardware that I use is as follows: An Apple eMac and an Apple MacBook (the MacBooks can run Mac or PC software because they have Intel processors; some special set up is required) I use Epson printers. My regular printers are an Epson C86 and an Epson Photo R340. I also have an Epson R2400, which is my medium format printer, but I can't locate it at the moment. It's lost somewhere in one of our storage spaces. When I find the larger printer, I’ll be able to print a template on 3 pieces of 13” by 19” paper, giving me a 19” by 39” template.

I’ll add more to this entry if I think of any other relevant details. If you have questions, add them to the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

The following comment was on the original blog entry. After some technical difficulties, the blog had to be reconstructed, and this was the only way to keep the original comments.

Anonymous

this is very useful idea!! thank you very much

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - 11:20 PM