This is topic Oval Layout? in forum Tips & Tricks at The Letterville BullBoard.


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Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
 
I once read an article or tip in SignCraft that described a way to position four pins and tie a string around them to draw an oval.

Through the years of doing small ovals, and doing them on the computer I have forgotten the formula, and lost the article.

I would really appreciate if someone could refresh my memory on this one.

Thanks in advance,
Don

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Don Hulsey
Strokes by DON signs
Utica, KY
sbdsigns@aol.com


 

Posted by Terry Teague (Member # 796) on :
 

Hi Don
Let me see if I can explain it....
(1) Pre-determine the size of the oval to be drawn, for the sake of this explaination lets say it is 2'x4'
(2) Draw a horizontal line at 1 foot and a vertical line at 2 foot to divide the shape equally.
(3) Since half of the horizontal shape is 2' take a yardstick and place one end of it on the line at the top of the vertical line, move the yardstick until the 24" mark intersects the horizontal line, mark this intersection and measure the distance from the center to this mark and repeat the mark on the other side of center on the horizontal line.
(4) Place a push point or a small nail on the center top line at your 12" mark and on each of your horizontal marks, tie a string that doesn't stretch or a small wire around these three points, remove the top nail and place a pencil inside the wire and holding firmly draw your oval. Sounds hard but is very easy to do if you always remember to measure diagonally with half of your horizontal dimension.

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Terry Teague
James River Signs
Reeds Spring, MO
tlteague@tri-lakes.net
 

Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
 
Good explanation, Terry.
A picture is found on page 58 of Bill Stewart's Signwork, A Craftsman's Manual. Also illustrated is a connect-the-dots method using two sticks, a 'trammel'.

Another method: Fold a piece of pattern paper twice, so that it is a quarter of its size (the way greeting cards are often folded). Draw a one fourth segment of an oval on the folded paper, pounce through all four layers (press hard), then unfold.

I think the string method is also illustrated in Fitzgerald's Practical Sign Shop Operation, and may be shown in other sign books still in print.

Brad in Arkansas
My paint's gonna shine today: It's cloudy and cool

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Brad Ferguson
4782 West Highway 22
Paris AR 72855
501-963-2642
signbrad@cswnet.com


 

Posted by Mike Metherd (Member # 322) on :
 
The string method is also illustrated in "Atkinson".

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Mike Metherd
Red Bluff, California



 

Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
 
Once again... good job Terry! "he's the man"

Are you and Bob gettin ready for Fred's?

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Monte Jumper
SIGNLanguage/Norman.Okla.
 

Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Terry, once I read your post, it all came back to me. There were just a few points I had forgotten. Now I know I can do it.

Brad, I have used the folded paper before. The only thing, I guess I failed to mention, this particular oval will be 18' tall and 27' long so patterns are pretty much out of the question. It will also be 43' off the ground, so I don't want to try using an overhead projector, but now that I know the string method it will be up by christmas, no problem.

By the way, for anyone wondering... My pins will be on 75# magnets, and my string will be 1/8" aircraft cable. The distance of pins and length of cable will be pre determined in the shop. the cable will be connected with a 3/8" flat washer to insert a sharpie pen.

Thanks again for all of the replies,
Don

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Don Hulsey
Strokes by DON signs
Utica, KY
sbdsigns@aol.com


 

Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
 
Would you like to view a graphic version of those instructions?
http://www.c4.net/jrdesign/html/oval.htm

[ October 02, 2001: Message edited by: Steve Shortreed ]


 
Posted by Brad Ferguson (Member # 33) on :
 
quote:
this particular oval will be 18' tall and 27' long so patterns are pretty much out of the question. It will also be 43' off the ground

This smells like a grain elevator job. Or a large fuel tank?
I have a love/hate relationship with jobs like this. I love the money (I charge by the acre). But the climbing kills my legs. I always need a good sit-down job the day after. Something I can do from, say, a wheel chair.

Live long and prosper, Don.

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Brad Ferguson
4782 West Highway 22
Paris AR 72855
501-963-2642
signbrad@cswnet.com


 

Posted by Mark Matyjakowski (Member # 294) on :
 
Another visual version I found in a gold leaf book by Raymond LeBlanche (hope I spelled that right)


http://members.aol.com/slamgrafyx/elipse.gif

[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Steve Shortreed ]


 
Posted by Kent Smith (Member # 251) on :
 
I also kept it in the current editions of Gold Leaf Techniques.

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Kent Smith
Smith Sign Studio
Greeley, Colorado, USA
oldgilt@aol.com



 

Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
 
For ovals of that proportion, screw lag eyes into the wall at the two locations along the major axis, and ues wire instead of string. String has too much stretch and the eyes, the advantage is obvious!

------------------

"The codfish lays ten thousand eggs,
the homely hen lays one
the codfish never cackles to tell you
what she's done
And so we shun the codfish while
the lowly hen we prize
Which only goes to show you
that it pays to advertise!"
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ Ogden Nash

The Sign Shop
Mendocino, CA.


 

Posted by Dave Draper (Member # 102) on :
 
Hi Don,

Sometimes we have handled a big oval, or elipse, by making a pattern of only 1/4 of the elipse. (instead of making it on the wall of the job site, we make it on the ground ( floor ), but we just make one section, instead of the whole thing.

By flipping the pattern over, and upside down and over, you can make a very large oval that is perfect. I used to make them out of heavy sheets of corregated box material we could obtain locally here in 5 x 10 foot sheets. That size alone would make a 20 foot oval by 10 foot. But even if it had to be bigger we would again divide that 1/4 section into 2 sections, a two piece pattern....(but actually never had to make one that big, (but we had a plan! hahahah

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Go Get 'Em..... :)
AKA Raptorman on #Letterheads mIRC Chat
Draper The Signmaker
Bloomington Illinois USA

Proud 2-yr. $upporter of this Web Site (May 1999-May 2001)


 



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