OVER 2 YOU 211 (21/12/04)

SCROLL WARE

I have recently retired though ill health and now occupy much of my time making various items on my Scroll Saw.  It would like to create my own profiles/images from photographs etc. and wondered if anyone knows of any software that might be suitable to this purpose?

Alan Martin Huntingdon

I can thoroughly recommend a book called Scroll Saw Portraits by Gary Browning (Fox Chapel Publishing, ISBN: 1565232518); it is available from Amazon.co.uk for around £7.00 and contains plenty of useful info for PC users.

Harold Symes, via email

You can download a fully operational version of a program called Rapid Resizer from

http://scrollsawpatterns.net/. This should do most of what you require. It will take any image on your PC, downloaded from the web or captured using a scanner, in .bmp or .jpeg format, and let you remove background and light parts of the image to create a sharp outline, or you can tint the image to make it easier to see. You can then resize the picture to print it out and if it is larger than a single sheet of A4, it will print it out on several sheets, which you can tape together. The trial version will run for 3 hours (that’s 3 hours of actual use, not from when you first installed it) and the registered version of the program costs $30, or you can order it on CD for another $7.00.

Reg Hayes, via email

Since I acquired my scroll saw six months ago I have been a regular visitor to Leldon Maxcy’s web site at: http://leldonscrollsawing.homestead.com/. This young man has built up an impressive portfolio or patterns, which he sells on the site, and there is a good selection of articles, tips and advice for newcomers to this absorbing hobby.

P. Freeman, via email

Your correspondent should visit the Scrollsaw Pattern Club at: http://scrollsawyer.vstore.ca/. They have a good selection of patterns, with a free one every published every month for members (membership is free).

John Cutter, via email

Here in the US we have a dedicated magazine for scroll saw enthusiasts called Scroll Saw Workshop. It is full of tips and articles, including how to use your PC to create patterns. I’m not sure if it is available in the UK but I am pretty sure you could get sent it on subscription. Try the web site at: www.scrollsawer.com/

Mark Whalley, Daytona, Florida

HEAVYWEIGHT LASER

Is it possible to get hold of a straight-path laser printer or powder copier, which will take heavyweight stock (anything over 300 gsm)? The object is to print in foil over the impression, with the foil adhering to the laser print or toner. Invitations and cards will not pass through a conventional wrap-round printer or photocopier. The major manufacturers cannot offer anything unless I go up to a £6k+ professional digital printing press. I feel sure that someone, somewhere, makes a suitable printer?

R. Kissack, via email

I suggest that Mr Kissack tries to obtain a Brother HL-1440 laser printer. This has a manual single sheet feed facility that can handle card stock. I’m not sure of the maximum weight but I suspect it will handle 300gsm without any problems. I am writing from New Zealand so I cannot say if this model is available in the UK but I’m sure that your local Brother dealer will have details of this machine or its equivalent, which is very reasonably priced at less than 500 NZ Dollars (around £180).

Kerry Stevens, via email

I think your correspondent is correct and affordable laser printers capable of handling card up to 300gsm are rarer than hen’s teeth, but I am fairly sure that he will be able to pick up a suitable second-hand machine at a reasonable price from a refurbishment company, or by looking through the hundreds of ex-office laser printers on sale on the auction site ebay. The prices are generally very low, circa £100 to £200 for a model that originally cost thousands, so he should be able to find a bargain, but he needs to be careful about the condition as I expect many of them are well used ‘workhorses’ that will be in need of a thorough service.

Chris Peters, via email

FELINE DETERRENT

Whenever I sit down at the computer my cat insists on jumping on the table and plonking herself down in front of me, resting her backside on the keyboard, with predictable results. Has anyone any advice or suggestions for a humane deterrent, perhaps something that smells bad to cats (but not to humans, or damaging to computer keyboards) that will keep her away?

Violet Keys, via email

My suggestion is for Violet Keys to purchase a gadget known as a ‘Door’ if the room in question does not already have one, then, when installed, to set it to the ‘Closed’ mode - with offending moggie on the other side of it! 

Francis Gottesman, Grayshott, Surrey

Try static electricity. I have used many video monitors without noticing anything odd, but when my wife sat in front of my PC she had to leave the room within two minutes. I eventually bought an anti-static screen guard (around £45) and she sits in front of it for hours now.

L. E. Haworth, via email

CAN YOU HELP?

I am a final year student at university and yes I have to do my dissertation, oh joy!  I was wondering whether I could get decent (and easy to use) Bibliographic software off the net (and if it cost nothing that would be even better!)? At University they have Endnote but only on their networked PC's and if I am honest it's a long walk to library. Any help would be fantastic!

Lizzie Tait, via email

I wish to publish as an e-book something I have worked on for very many months. I have used Lotus Word Pro for my work, as in the past I have found MS Word to be somewhat unstable with very large files, and then converting to PDF using Adobe Writer as up until now the "book" has been given away. I wish to use the advantages of e-book publishing, namely password protection, blocking of printing, copy and paste etc when it appears on the Internet. However I do not relish the prospect of either transferring to MS Word as a precursor or HTML as this seems to trash all my layouts and far from looking "better" it looks horrid. Does anyone know of any e-book publishing software, with the utilities I have mentioned, that will work quite happily with a PDF file?

Bob Kimber, via email