jollyred

Nice touch with the burner. Like it, just wish I had the patience to cut something with that many cuts. Tom

Have you thought about using goggles, like swimmers wear? They should do better than safety glasses to keep out saw dust. Tom

Nice job Les. I went a different route on covering my table. I used tempered hardboard, and flat head machine screws to hold it on. I put a couple of coats of thinned polyurethane on it, which soaked into the hardboard and toughened the top even more. Then I waxed the top, and re-wax occasionally. It works real well, one waxing will last for a long time. I did this on my last two scroll saws. The wood will slide over the top like it had been greased, and it cannot harm the back. The material is dark, so it doesn't help with seeing under the wood, but I don't have a problem with that anyway. Tom

It might bend the nail in the nose of the nailer and cause it to jam. They are pretty easy to unjam, so let us know how it works. Tom

I like the little pegs in the puzzles. That should make it a lot less frustrating for little hands to work the puzzle. Don't worry too much about the lettering, they are one of the hardest things to get right. I don't think I have ever done a perfect letter, and I have been using a scroll saw, occasionally, for over 20 years. Tom

Everyone keeps saying that the smallest pin is 1/2", but I regularly use 3/8" pins in my pin nailer. It is an Hitachi, so maybe other brands can't use this size. I noticed several other brands that state the smallest they use is 1/2". If the project is small, I will just tape it, rather than dragging out the pin nailer, but for larger projects I like to pin in the middle to prevent sawdust getting in between the layers, which cause more fuzzies on the back of the upper layer. Tom

Your work looks great. Welcome to the Village, we love questions and pictures. Tom

Have been working on Christmas presents, and thought I would show a few here. The following are tissue boxes, in ash and cherry. Finished with spray shellac. Mostly my own design (don't remember where I got the pattern, memory ain't too good anymore). These go to family members. This is an Alex Fox pattern, one in ash, the other two in cherry. Finished with spray shellac. These go to in-laws. This pattern is from Fine Scrollsaw, sized to use 3/8" ash. Finish is spray shellac. These go to family. The next two are Steve Good patterns, using mdf and spray paint. The gold cross goes to my Granddaughter and her husband. the other goes to my mother-in-law.

I don't have that system, but have the same problem. My solution, that I found on You Tube, is to use short sections of PVC pipe to make adapters. The basic idea is to find a size of pipe slightly smaller than the outlet on the tool, heat one end of the PVC till it is formable, then force it over the outlet and let it cool. Then pipe fittings can be used, if necessary, to fit the adapter to the vacuum hose. If desired, a pipe that is slightly too large can be squeezed to size with a band clamp. I have made a number of these, and they work well. My Metrovac uses 1 1/4" hose, which I find I can force fit into 1 1/4" PVC for an airtight fit. I can also force it over 1" PVC if the 1 1/4" is too big for the tool. I would rather use the 1 1/4" to not have a restriction in the air flow from the 1" pipe. Your hose may be a different size, so find what works for you. The reason I use these is that I am cheap. These cost a lot less than the item from Rockler, and I can make them as needed. I also don't have parts laying around that I won't use (have enough of that already). Tom

IIRC, the full procedure is to convert to a path, ungroup, then combine into one path. Then it the dynamic offset can be use. Tom

Did you convert the text to a path? Tom

My wife is a quilter also. She has a $3,000 computer operated sewing machine and a dozen quilts. She has had the machine for about 15 years. And she no longer quilts. Tom

I would bet that if you go to Steve Good's site, the Scrollsaw Workshop, and look over his pattern library, you would find a project that would be perfect for her. And his patterns are free! Tom

One of the reasons I use pdf to export patterns is that I can use the "print" function, and not worry about all the other stuff with "export". Just print the drawing, and when the print dialog box shows up, select the "Microsoft print to pdf", and save the print where you want. Tom

Like Dan, I save the drawing as a pdf, then I can print it from any computer, not just ones with Inkscape on them. If you would want to email the pattern to someone, it is easy for them to use the pdf. Also, if you modify the Inkscape drawing, you can keep the first pdf to save the original pattern. Tom

Luckily I went to school in America and didn't do math that complicated till I got into differential equations in college. Tom

The Ornaments for Charity ebook on this site has several in it, and a lot more. Tom

Very nice. I made that pattern some years ago, and it has been one of my favorites. Tom

I downloaded the updated version (1.0.1) of Inkscape and do am not happy with it. For one thing, it did not bring in the fonts I had downloaded previously. It only has maybe a dozen fonts, and most are not what I use in my patterns. I could not find any way to bring in other fonts. Also, the "path effects" did not work, and I use those sometimes, also. I did some research and found that there have been posts about this on Inkscape's web site. Apparently there is to be other upgrades that will correct this, but not for a while. So I found where a legacy version of the program can be down loaded for use. That is what I did. Once the program is back up to snuff, I will upgrade. I am wondering if others have upgraded to the new version, and what your reactions to it are. Tom

Why not look up the printer on the manufacturer's site and see what cartridges it will accept? Tom

I had it happen on two posts, then not since. Tom

Ray, what you are wanting to do is called "scaling" the drawing. I will send you a pm on one way to do it, but it is too long to put into a post. Tom

A normal Thanksgiving gives you warm memories, but a disastrous Thanksgiving gives you warm memories and a laugh. Win-win. Tom

I'll give it a try. 1. Use the selection arrow to select the line you wish to change. After selecting, check that it is a path by looking at the sentence near the bottom of the drawing, it should say "Path" and have some other information about the line. If it is not a path, go to the top of the drawing and select "path", then "change to path". 2. Once you are sure it is a path, and with the line still selected, place the selection arrow over one of the colors along the bottom of the drawing. Select whichever you want, in this case the red. Then right click on the mouse. This will bring up a dialog box with some selections of things to do. 3. Place the selection arrow over the command "set stroke" and right click. The line will change color to the one you selected. If you have any problem with this, contact me and I will try to help. Tom

Funny coincidence, I am still working on some projects from last Christmas, and the one before that, and ... Looking good. Tom