Pattern making.

[Alan Waters]

To make a poster board pattern of a full scale drawing I use the following method. Lay a piece of thin clear plastic over the print. I use notebook inserts, paper sheet protectors from Walmart. Using the finest point magic marker I can find I trace the image onto the plastic using as little pressure as possible. Don't want to damage the print. Take the traced image and lay it on the poster board. I use steel weights to hold it in place. Use a ball point pen to trace the drawing using a lot of pressure. This will emboss the image onto the poster board. Now, use the ball point pen to follow the lines on the embossed poster board. Good light helps. Cut out the image following the embossed lines. Lay the cut out on the material to be cut using weights to hold it in place. Trace around the profile.

[DesertBearhawk]

I make a copy of the full scale part I need. Check the copy against the drawing to make sure it was not enlarged or reduced. I then cut out drawing and spray glue to material that will become the part or tooling pattern. Easy peasy!