Replies

1. 
   DCarr10760 | Sep 16, 2005 04:53am | #1

   Patternmakers make wooden patterns for sandcasting iron and other metals.  If you know about how cast iron is made, then forgive me.

   Fine sand, dampened with an oil is forced around a pattern that is to be cast, forming a mold.  The mold is broken into halves and gates and vents are added (openings to allow molten iron in and air out).  The pattern is removed and the metal poured making a casting.  The sand is broken away leaving the rough casting.

   Patternmaking was a very precise specialized form of woodworking, and some specialized tools evolved out of the trade.  We still see patternmakers vises and chisels around.

   Nowadays, this trade as a woodworking specialty is nearly extinct.  Patterns are still used for casting, but they are most often some plastic, formed in a number of ways, notably digitally in a process called stereolithography, where layers of polymer resin are shot .001-inch thick in multiple passes by a kind of a printer forming a very accurate 3D pattern directly from a 3D CAD file.

   David C.

2. 
   Patto | Sep 16, 2005 04:58am | #2

   Patternmakers made the models from which castings were produced.

   precision of work was important, but what really distinguished them was understanding how a part was to be cast and then finished (where they had to allow material for a machined surface such as the plane sole and where you got the cast surface; where the material was poured and where/how big were the relieving vents). Critical was understanding the shrinking behavoiur of the metal - they used special rulers that were scaled to represent the shrinkage of different metals.

   It seems an almost extinct trade, Patrick Leach, somewhere on his web site, has a lovely descrition about uncovering and purchasing a paternmakers tools set.

3. 
   Steinmetz | Sep 16, 2005 05:12am | #3

   bald, in the strictest sense, a pattern maker crafts and builds the pattern (Or mold)to the correct specifications neccessary to cast many identical metal or plastic parts in a mold. Due to factors such as metal shrinkage, draft and complex shaping, the original pattern is crafted slightly oversize and possibly made with take apart components.

   Most work is with wood of the best quality and the pattern maker should have many years of experience. Their tools are similar to our's but impecably honed and cared for
   Just about every thing manufactured today has to have prototypes.( hence patternmakers.)

   With modern CNC machines, many parts can be machined directly from a block of steel/brass/whatever and the machine is computer programed to mill out hundreds of identical parts without patterns.

   Pattern makers have incorporated C N C machining in their 'bag of tricks' nowadays. Steinmetz.

   
   

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   Edited 9/16/2005 2:33 am ET by Steinmetz

4. 
   trialnut | Sep 16, 2005 06:55am | #4

   There's still a few of us around. Check out our site http://www.austinpattern.com

   The large core boxes on the sample page are some I built. Can't remember what else is on there.

   Rich

   The Professional Termite

1. 
   AlanTurner | Sep 16, 2005 12:15pm | #5

   Rich,
   I did not know that a patternmaker was among us. So many pattern shops have gone out of business due to foreign outsourcing.I have been the sad but lucky beneficiary of several shops that closed, buying used tools, large and small. One thing about buying tools from a pattern shop is that you can bet that the tools were of high quality, were well cared for, and were not over used to the point of worthless for close work. One of my recent acquisitions was a Zimmermann 800mm bandsaw, with 25" under the guides. A 1977 model. Most people have never heard of Zimmermann tools, but patternmakers were their main customers, I suspect. Rich -- Does your shop run some Zimmermanns? Disk or porfile sanders, or overarm routers? I also have an old "Fritzie" overarm router, but have not yet played with it.Alan

   http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com

1. 
   trialnut | Sep 16, 2005 08:03pm | #7

   Alan

   If you go to the website I posted, some of the pictures there show the machinery in the shop. Most of it is homemade by the father of the present owner. This machinery is very well built and far better than most. Homemade stuff includes 2 30" bandsaws that the table will raise and lower about 10" and tilt both ways to 45°, a 20" jointer, a 24x24 verticle belt sander, a 12" table saw, a large drill press that is designed to do milling on(it can also be set up as an overhead oscelating spindle sander), and a huge lathe that can handle 8' dia and 8' long. The headstock of the lathe rotates 7 1/2° each way for turning draft and can be offset about 6" forward and 20" back for various operations. Some very clever designs in some of this equiptment. The shop also has a 4'x8'  iron surface plate with a overhead router set up on it. The router reaches just past the center of the table and will accept stock up to about 3' thick. Makes for one large planer. The router can also be inverted and mounted in the center of the table to make a large shaper. Many other clever devises all around the shop along with some commercial made machines. A cool place to work.The Professional Termite

1. 
   AlanTurner | Sep 19, 2005 05:39pm | #8

   Wonderful stuff. Thanks for sharing.Alan

   http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com

2. 
   baldmountain | Sep 20, 2005 04:42am | #9

   A cool place to work.

   I bet it is a cool place to work because of what you are learning rather than the neat tools. I find it wonderful to work with someone who is far better at what we are working on than I am. I learn SO much. At my last job I learned a huge amount about managing and leading people. I was lucky enough to work closely with the president of the company.

   But most times I am the person everyone is learning from rather than the one doing the learning. Teaching is fun too, but learning new stuff is better.

   Oh, in case I forgot. Thanks for teaching me something new. :)

   geoff

   Edited 9/19/2005 9:43 pm ET by baldmountain

5. 
   hammer1 | Sep 16, 2005 04:29pm | #6

   A friend of mine was a patternmaker for a shoe manufacturer. If you look at a typical shoe, there are a number of different pieces of leather that go together to make the style and size. His job was to make patterns out of metal for all these various pieces. Once a pattern was made, a die would be made to cut the leather in consistent, repeatable pieces. In some cases, a wooden last would also be made in the shape of a foot. The shoe would often be formed and stitched around the last. The pattermakers have to be good at precise measurements of three dimensional shapes. They don't necessarily work in wood or even work with joinery. It's more about establishing a precise shape that will set the standard from which many identical shapes can be made. I don't know of any patternmakers that work in the furniture industry but they would be involved in the manufacture of hardware. A lot of this type work can be done with computers, today, making a patternmakers work obsolete.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match