Plasma Cutter Fun!

Thanks to Robin MacIntosh and LeAnne Doljac for their riveting demonstrations of plasma cutting and connecting metals.

Robin brought the plasma cutter - her's is a small one, but was still the size of a shop compressor - plus a small shop table, heavy duty clamps, leather aprons and gauntlets, protective eye-wear and a bag of tins to cut. Everyone got a chance to try out cutting thin tin (the type used to package cookies or popcorn ).

The cutting produces sparks but was really pretty easy to cut various rough shapes. Fine control of the cutter obviously takes practice! as seen by these rough shapes.

LeAnne uses a much larger plasma cutter and cuts heavier metal salvaged from old cars! From this, she creates pieces with amazing detail, requiring a practiced hand to control cutting small details.
She brought some dog portraits - made from layering cut metal with pop rivets.

Her dog portraits looked so amazingly real it was hard to believe they were once car hoods.


 You can view more of LeAnne's work here. She demonstrated using riveting tools and pop-rivets as well as eyelets and other types of cold connections.

Robin uses smaller pieces of cut tin for making jewelry and wall art. This angel's wings were cut with the plasma cutter...

What fun we had! Thanks again to LeAnne and Robin.

March 2011 - Plasma Cutters!

Get ready for some fun - at the March meeting Robin and LeAnne are bringing the plasma cutter! What's that??? Actually, so far I've not seen one, but plasma is a physics term referring to a physical state of mater. (solid, liquid, gas or plasma). Somehow, in a plasma cutter an inert gas is turned into plasma, and can be used to quickly and cleanly cut metal. and we're going to do it.

We'll also have some riveting tools available to try - from a demo done a couple years ago by Robin - you can cut pieces and rivet them together.

Bring something to cut (old cookie or cracker tins, metal kitchenware, etc.) and shape ideas (ovals, teardrops, circles, flowers, etc). The plasma cutter must be used outside, so we will have a cutting station outside and a riveting station inside. 

Be sure to wear cotton - long  pants, close-toed shoes, and no flying scarves etc. Safety first!

Upcoming KC PMC Guild Meeting topics

Summer at KC PMC Guild is fun! We had a blast last night, sanding, carving and experimenting with Robert Dancik's Faux Bone. Photos to be posted soon!

Coming up:

July: Make your own texture plates for use with PMC

Janie and Jennifer will help you make plates 2 ways:

• carving in eraser rubber (using carving tools)
• using photo polymer plates (uses UV light and light-sensitive materials)

August
Janie will share what she's learning in Chicago about using paste PMC painted onto leaves or organic matter

September
Leanne and Robin will bring a plasma cutter! You'll have a chance to use the cutter to make shapes and rivet them together using a variety of riveting tools and techinques. Here's what they have told us about the evening:

For plasma cutting you need to wear long pants (preferably nothing polyester), closed toed shoes and socks. If you have long hair, it needs to be pulled back...LeAnne and Robin will bring leather gauntlets, protective aprons and eye gear.  We need to do it outside, close to a three prong electrical outlet...I have an extension cord.  It will take a while for everyone to try it.  Riveting can be done inside.  Bring an old tin (decorative tin boxes or tin cans) to cut up. Also bring riveting hammer, bench block, etc. for riveting.