Halftoner Gadget

[mikeacg]

Finally got a chance to try out the halftoner gadget for a project. Local TMX track is dedicating their flat track to one of the guys who has passed away so asked me to make a carved plaque for the clubhouse. I wanted to include a picture of him on his bike racing.

This is in pine just to see how it would turn out. The actual sign will be in Cherry so the detail will be more precise and the contrast will be lower but for a first time project I'm liking the effect. I'll be cutting the sign tomorrow so should be able to post something by next week.

[dwilli9013]

No criticism just an observation.
Maybe mirror your picture over to the left side and the verbage moved to the right. That way it would more resemble him actually flattracking it around the board in the right direction.
Nice carve. The detail seemed to come out very well.

[mikeacg]

Criticism always welcomed, however they run counter-clockwise at this track as I have it shown.

[martin54]

Never actually tried the halftoner but looks like you did a good job with it Mike, sure the club will be very happy with that

[mikeacg]

Martin,

The dots seemed a bit big to me (You have to specify them in the program and I didn't really know what I needed so I said 0.03) but it worked pretty good on this project. I tried it again and specified a smaller dot (0.025) but I don't think my 60 degree bit has a perfectly pointed tip as the dots seem to overlap somewhat. Another issue is that the surface needs to be very flat for this to work properly. I was cutting on a customer supplied piece and while he did a great job matching the grain and biscuiting it together, I can't be sure just how level the surface was. I'm going to play a bit over the next couple of weeks on little boards (I'm thinking coasters might be a great way to test the concept, especially if I surface them on the machine before I cut) and see if I can improve on it in the future in case I get another project like this.

We have all these gadgets that someone spent a lot of time creating and I feel bad that I haven't tried them all. I don't get a lot of time for my own pieces so I'm trying to cut back on how many jobs I will accept in the future. Also I have a new machine that I'm still learning to use as well so time is very valuable these days. (Don't tell Michael Tyler that I haven't done every one of his wonderful projects either ... I will one day - Promise!!!)

[Creation in Wood]

Mike, that looks good to me. I need to try the Halftoner Gadget

[martin54]

Mike if the smaller dots seem to be overlapping are you sure that is because the bit doesn't come to a point ? Have you checked the angle of the bit because if it were more than 60 degree the same thing would happen

I generally run a very light surfacing cut on customer supplied material, as you say you can never be sure just how flat it is.

I wouldn't feel bad that you haven't tried all the gadgets, there are plenty of other people out there that will be using the ones you haven't used
We all have limited time so there is only so much you can do, I would love to have made all of Michael's monthly projects but I have so many other things that I need/want to do that I am unlikely to ever manage them all, doesn't help when you already have a long list of projects you would like to complete & a new one appears every month