Carving pumpkins by hand is hot, sweaty, messy work, and a great way to slice your way into a critical artery. Why not let a water jet do it for you? It’ll be cleaner and more precise to boot, and [Jo_Journey] is here to show us how.
Obviously, you’ll need a water jet machine, there’s no getting around that. You’ll also still have to do the basic preparation of the pumpkin yourself—cutting a porthole into the top and mucking it out is your job. With that done, you must then mount the pumpkin on two metal rods which will be used to mount it in the water jet machine’s working area.
You can then create a vector file of your design, and use your chosen software to generate the G-code to run the water jet. [Jo_Journey] uses Scribe, and recommends cutting at a speed of around 200 in/min at low pressure. Remember, it’s pumpkin you’re cutting, not high-strength steel.
There is some inaccuracy, of course—your pumpkin’s surface is not a flat plane, after all—but the results are good enough for most Halloween-related purposes. Even despite the geometrical issues, though, [Jo_Journey] shows us that you can get pleasantly sharp edges on your design. That’s very hard to achieve by hand!
We do love a good holiday hack around these parts, even if it’s out of season. If you’ve been cooking up your own pumpkinous plans, don’t hesitate to let us know! Earlier is sometimes better—after all, who has time to hack together a project if you’ve just read about it on October 29?
xmas is early this year
LOL, you said it.
I wonder if you could do something similar with a pressure washer and a straight nozzle?
That can take the skin off your fingers so I’m pretty sure it’ll carve a pumpkin clean.
Back in the day I had access to a KUKA at the Science Center where I worked. My method was rather ham-fisted, using the pendant to teach each stroke of the saw.
https://youtu.be/s46-KNH5f3Q?si=lZ826uYZD5n60ff_
Might want to move quick for the 0 degree nozzle for your pressure washers.
Consumer Reports magazine crew have been pushing hard to get them banned.
If they get banned just buy em off ebay, same as male-to-male extension cords and propane bottle refill adapters.
I love my propane bottle refill adapter, and the male-male cords are great stocking stuffers. You know they work properly when the lights go out!