Whether you’ve been plasma cutting for twenty years or you’re simply wondering if this hobby is right for you, welcome.
CNC plasma cutting is one of those hobbies—and businesses—that never stops teaching you something new. Every project presents a different challenge. Every design teaches a new lesson. And every mistake becomes another opportunity to improve.
That’s exactly why we started this blog.
Our goal isn’t simply to sell DXF files or finished metal products. We want Jurassic Plasma to become a place where people come to learn, find inspiration, discover new ideas, and hopefully avoid a few of the mistakes we’ve already made along the way.
If that sounds like something you’d enjoy, then you’re in the right place.
Welcome to Our Shop
We’re Don and Sandra Frankish, the owners of Jurassic Plasma.
Unlike many businesses where one person designs and another manufactures, we do every step ourselves.
From creating artwork and designing custom parts to plasma cutting, industrial sanding, powder coating, and final assembly, we’ve spent years learning what works—and just as importantly, what doesn’t.
That hands-on experience shapes everything we create.
When we recommend a technique, it’s because we’ve tested it ourselves.
When we sell a file, it’s because we’d be happy using it in our own shop.
It All Started with Monster Trucks
Most people assume we got into plasma cutting because we wanted to make decorative metal art. Actually…
It started with monster trucks.
We needed a reliable way to manufacture parts for our monster truck building projects, so investing in CNC plasma equipment made perfect sense.
Then something unexpected happened.
People started seeing the artwork we were creating for ourselves and began asking, “Can you make one for me?”
Before long, one project turned into another, and what began as building functional parts grew into creating wildlife scenes, farm signs, automotive artwork, aviation pieces, home décor, business logos, personalized gifts, industrial components, and just about everything in between.
One of the things we love most about this business is that no two days are ever the same. We Don’t Chase Ordinary
One thing you’ll notice as you browse our store is that we don’t design many “ordinary” files. There are already thousands of simple line-art designs available online.
We’d rather spend extra time creating artwork with more depth, more realism, and more personality. Sometimes that means designing incredibly detailed wildlife scenes.
Sometimes it’s a classic car.
Sometimes it’s a funny sign.
And sometimes it’s something completely unexpected.
One of our favourite examples is our Swinging Bigfoot.
Instead of another Bigfoot quietly walking through the woods like everyone else had created, we pictured him happily swinging from a tree.
It made us smile.
Apparently it made a lot of other people smile too.
That’s really become part of our philosophy.
Don’t copy what already exists.
Think outside the box.
Create something people haven’t seen before.
We Design More Than Files
One of the services we’re especially proud of is creating custom artwork from your own photographs.
Whether it’s your dog, your favourite hunting companion, a restored classic car, a tractor that’s been in the family for generations, an aircraft, wildlife, or a special family memory, we can transform your photo into a detailed, plasma-ready DXF or SVG file.
The difference is that we don’t simply click an “Auto Trace” button and call it finished.
Every custom design is individually refined to improve the detail, strengthen bridges, eliminate problem areas, and produce a cleaner finished cut.
The process takes considerably longer than automatic tracing software.
That’s why our custom designs cost more.
But we believe the extra design time is exactly what produces results worth hanging on a wall instead of wondering why they don’t quite look right.
To make the decision easier, we’re always happy to provide a free quick trace preview before you commit to the completed artwork.
That gives you a chance to see the potential of your project and discuss any changes before moving forward.
Every File Earns Its Place
Anyone can draw a picture.
Designing artwork that actually cuts cleanly is another story.
Whenever possible, we test-cut our designs before adding them to our online library.
That lets us find tiny floating islands, weak bridges, unnecessary pierces, and other little problems that often don’t become obvious until steel meets plasma.
It’s extra work.
But we’d rather spend the time fixing a design ourselves than have one of our customers discover the problem halfway through a project.
More Than an Online Store
Of course, you’ll find plenty of downloadable products in our store.
We’re continually adding new DXF files, SVG files, and vector artwork covering everything from wildlife and farm life to automotive, aviation, novelty designs, home décor, and personalized projects.
If you’re purchasing several files, send us an email. We’d be happy to discuss bundle discounts.
We also create finished custom metal products, production runs, industrial parts, and personalized projects for customers who would rather have us build the finished piece.
If you’ve got an idea, we’d love to hear it.
Why This Blog Exists
When we first started learning CNC plasma cutting, we quickly realized something. There were plenty of videos showing machines cutting metal.
There weren’t nearly as many resources explaining why certain designs worked, why others failed, or the little shop tricks that make the entire process easier.
Those little details can save hours of frustration—and sometimes hundreds or even thousands of dollars. That’s exactly what we want to share here.
Over time we’ll be publishing regular articles covering topics like:
- Getting started in CNC plasma cutting
- Learning Inkscape from scratch
- Setting up Inkscape specifically for plasma design
- Designing custom signs
- Creating parts without extensive CAD experience
- Shop tours and equipment reviews
- Time-saving shop hacks
- Industrial sanding techniques
- Powder coating basics
- Air dryers and why they’re one of the smartest investments you can make
- Copyrights and protecting your work
- Pricing your products realistically
- Building passive income through custom design files
- Common beginner mistakes—and how to avoid them
We’ll also be launching a new YouTube channel where we’ll walk through many of these topics step by step.
One series we’re especially excited about will show exactly how we use Inkscape to create plasma-ready artwork. We’ll cover the settings we recommend, our workflow, and the little tricks that make the software much more enjoyable to use for this type of design.
Another series will follow the complete process of getting into CNC plasma cutting—from choosing equipment and designing your first project to cutting, finishing, powder coating, and everything in between.
If you’re thinking about getting into this hobby or business, we hope these resources help shorten the learning curve.
One Piece of Advice
Before we wrap up our first blog, here’s one piece of advice that’s served us well over the years. Don’t be afraid to try something different.
Some of our favourite projects—and some of our best sellers—started as ideas that almost seemed too unusual to work.
Sometimes they did.
Sometimes they didn’t.
But every experiment taught us something.
Creativity is one of the few things that can’t be copied by a machine.
Keep exploring.
Keep learning.
Keep creating.
Thanks for Stopping By
Whether you’re here to download your next DXF file, order a custom design, have us transform a favourite photograph into plasma-ready artwork, or simply learn something new, we’re genuinely glad you found us.
This is just the beginning.
We’re looking forward to sharing our projects, our successes, our failures, and everything we’ve learned along the way.
If you enjoy what we’re building, we’d love to have you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and our upcoming YouTube channel. Better yet, bookmark JurassicPlasma.com and stop back often—there will always be something new to explore.
Until next time…
Keep creating. Keep experimenting. Keep thinking outside the box.
We’ll see you again soon.