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George Elston
01-19-2008, 10:21 PM
Early last year I made a comment to some people at church that something should be done to show appreciation to the people that work the kitchen. Our church has better food than most restraunts. So after a year of fooling with the design this is what came out. The picture just shows the top plaque, there are 2 more underneath for additional names. But there just 2 staffs with notes and names.

The violin was constructed separately and the plaque routed with the laser to inset it. ( long time to cut 1/8"into the oak, but worth it for a tight fit.) The violin is Ash with a MDF back to give it strength. The plaques are red oak. The lettering and staff are laser-foil and the notes are rowmark.

Bob Cole
01-20-2008, 4:17 AM
That is great George.

What process do you use to apply the laser foil?

George Elston
01-20-2008, 8:12 AM
Just lay it down and cut it. The laser-foil was the easiest part. The only tricky thing is getting it absolutely flat, I push with a hard rubber squeegee as I apply it, and peal the backing as I go. Then it's just weeding after it's cut, but if your power is right it comes right out.

A little side note on the whoopsie side, when I weeded the laser-foil I had cut a little deep and I pulled the 6 layers of lacquer off down to the stain in some spots inside the G clef. Had to go back and spot stain and re-spray, but it worked out OK, and the laser-foil was then sealed to the wood with a couple more coats of lacquer.

Ryan Sprole
01-20-2008, 9:38 AM
Nice Job George! You incorporated allot of Lasering disciplines into one piece. Bravo. :)

Frank Corker
01-20-2008, 11:19 AM
Great job George!

Ricky Gore
01-20-2008, 3:32 PM
That looks great, would you be willing to share the Fiddle file?

George Elston
01-20-2008, 6:33 PM
Here's the violin file. It actually started life as the coreldraw violin from clipart. All the parts are there, move them where you like to cut. Unless you've got a 100 W laser that will cut 1/2" wood you will need two bodies to glue together for strength. I used 1/4 ash for the top and 3/8" MDF for the bottom. The rest is straight forward. The strings are music wire, available at RC stores for rudder control etc. I cut each string in 3 pieces and hid the joints under the nut and bridge to get nice straight strings. Have fun. I get a kick out of seeing others build the stuff I design. Post a picture!

Attached is a photo of the finished piece in situ.