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Home made wood burning tool. pyrography

Started by Kbeitz, December 18, 2017, 01:04:49 AM

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Kbeitz

Started making a high powered pyrography tool today.
Anyone else into wood burning?



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

WLC

You making the one where you can do the lictenburg( i know my spelling is way wrong on that) figures?  Using a neon sign transformer?
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

shinnlinger

I used an oil burner transformer for mine.  Works well and relatively safe.

 
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Kbeitz

Quote from: WLC on December 18, 2017, 04:20:26 AM
You making the one where you can do the lictenburg( i know my spelling is way wrong on that) figures?  Using a neon sign transformer?

? Tell me more....  A neon sign transformer is high voltage.
The transformer I'm using is from 1 to 5 volts.

I have made Jacobs ladders using sign transformers.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

samandothers

Quote from: shinnlinger on December 18, 2017, 05:50:58 AM
I used an oil burner transformer for mine.  Works well and relatively safe.

 
Shinnlinger,
I think this answers my question in your post related to axes your class made.

bucknwfl

Quote from: Kbeitz on December 18, 2017, 07:17:17 AM
Quote from: WLC on December 18, 2017, 04:20:26 AM
You making the one where you can do the lictenburg( i know my spelling is way wrong on that) figures?  Using a neon sign transformer?

? Tell me more....  A neon sign transformer is high voltage.
The transformer I'm using is from 1 to 5 volts.

I have made Jacobs ladders using sign transformers.




Kevin you can also use microwave transformers.  Pretty cool stuff. Just google you will see the end product

Thanks

Buxk
If it was easy everybody would be doing it

shinnlinger

As I stated above, I used an oil burner transformer.  Cheap to free in northern regions but most importantly only have 20miliamps or so which is a relatively harmless amount.  Not saying it can't throw your heart out of rhythm so try to avoid being shocked, but in most situations you will be fine.

Microwave transformers are another matter.  They typically have amperage levels that will kill you dead and for that reason I wouldn't go near one for this application.  Stick with neon sign or oil burner units.

Dave
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Weekend_Sawyer

Do a google search on Lichtenberg art.
Really cool stuff.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Jeff

Yes, a microwave transformer probably will kill you with one slip up. To many amps.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

Kbeitz

Ok... This in what I'm using. I think I got real lucky with my junkyard find.
I'm always bringing home thing to take apart just to play with. When i got this
I wasn't sure what it was. It was a wire stripper. From what I can find the
transformer inside is 115 volts primary and from 1 to 5 volts secondary.
Somewhere around 10KVA. I'm using a carbon arc torch for my pen. This is
going to be one BIG wood burning toy. With the low voltage I have no worry
about getting shocked.

My power supply.



 



 

My pen.



 

This is 6 inches of #12 ga. wire on setting #2. I'm adding a variac in line with the
power supply for fine voltage adjustment.



 

Amp draw from the primary side when turning the wire red is 6.5 amps.



 

Power supply weighs almost 46 lbs.



 


Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Larry

AAW (wood turning association) banned lichtenberg anything cause somebody died.  I think their was more than one.

I made a wood burner from a 12v battery charger.  Used nichrome 16 & 18 gauge wire for my pen.  My battery charger doesn't have enough power for any heavier of wire.  I mostly use it to sign my work, sometimes when I turn a boring bowl I use it to add interest.  Bend the wire to make little designs.  My work is more like hieroglyphics as I don't have the talent for anything else.

I teach informal shop class to several kids.  They really like the wood burning part and give the burner a work out.

I bought one of those carbon arc torches about 30 years ago.  I thought I could braze with it.  One use and it rests in a drawer....ready for the next project. :D
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

We need to insure our customers understand the importance of our craft.

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

YellowHammer

Looked at doing this a while ago, but didn't follow through.  I had a friend do some boards for me, and other random pieces and they looked cool but didn't sell well. A little too abstract.

I did get a call from a guy who wanted me to burn some pieces of maple sticks to make a lightning pattern and sell to him as Harry Potter wands so he could sell them at Cosplay type events.  I never spooled up to do it. 
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

shinnlinger

THAT GUY IS USING A MICROWAVE TRANSFORMER THAT CAN KILL YOU QUITE EASILY!!!  That said, I do like his setup  with the clamps and it appears he gets away from the work when it it is energized.  Moving the contact points before the burns connect is a good way to get a large design that you have some control over, but  I don't like the look of the finished product if it goes overboard.  A little goes a long way in my opinion.  To increase conductivity, I use baking soda, about a teaspoon per 16oz of water as my solution.  Let it soak in a bit and not stand on the surface.  The more it soaks or the higher the concentration of baking soda, the deeper the burns. I like the lighter more detailed burns so tend to wipe on wipe off.   DO NOT use salt water as that creates chlorine gas like used in the trenches of WWI.

A neon sign transformer or oil burner ignition transformer puts out sufficient voltage but without the amps, so that is the way I would go.  I have personally been jolted many times over the years by them in a variety of situations and witnessed countless others do the same thing and never any ill effects. That said, whenever you are shocked, tuning  up your snowmobile, electric fence or otherwise, there is always a risk of arrhythmia.  So use caution when working with electricity (duh)
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Kbeitz

Electrical toys is one of my winter time hobbies.



 



 



 



 



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

shinnlinger

if you attach the legs of that transformer of yours to two leads you will be in the lichtenburg biz...
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

samandothers

Spent hour or better yesterday watching utubes of this practice. Very interesting!  Saw some neat stuff being created.  One person used a microwave transformer to burn deeper and wider due to higher current.  Then used an oil burner igniter for more veining. 
The creation was a tree.  The trunk and branches were with the microwave.  Then the oil burner was used to create small branches / leaves off the main structure.
Interesting watching the the creation.

Weekend_Sawyer

A guy I work with does this in his garage using the microwave transformer.
High voltage and open leads. Very dangerous.
Please be careful with this stuff guys.

Jon
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Kbeitz

I might try this neon sign transformer. It only weights 80lbs.
If I put a variac transformer on the input line I can control the burn.
So it looks like I'm building two machines.



 



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

WLC

Quote from: shinnlinger on December 18, 2017, 05:50:58 AM
I used an oil burner transformer for mine.  Works well and relatively safe.

 

Mind sharing what your set-up looks like?  Got an old burner gun in a shed, might be an interesting thing to do later this winter when I get caught up with my other projects.
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

shinnlinger

The only concern I have with that 80lber is that it says it puts out 100 milliamps.  Thats the threshold of "safe" amperage in my mind.   I'm not saying don't do it, but obviously be careful.  Cutting down a tree is dangerous too, but there are more safe ways to do it than others.

I will try to snap a pic today, but all it is is a black box that I added a computer plug to for AC input with a lead attached to each of the two poles.   The video above shows two jumper cable style clips with finish nails or something for probes that he rests on wood blocks.  I soldered some big brass wood screws to the wire leads on mine to use as probes and insulated them with some plastic tubing with the idea you could hold the leads and change the contact points for different burns wearing thick rubber gloves.   I don't do it like that anymore however.  I clamp the leads to the wood and step back and turn it on and then off when I happy with the burn and then reposition as necessary.  Very similar to the video.
Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Kbeitz

I got the probes built today... waiting for my sparkplug wire to come.



 



 



 
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Weekend_Sawyer

Oh I see, you are making an electrified Ouija board.

... wrong answer, BZZZZZZ!
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

YellowHammer

Are you holding the probes to get the design?
YellowHammerisms:

Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

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