Game of darts part one, anyone?

We are still working on details at the Fox & Hounds Pub. The to-do list is slowly being whittled down to size. Today I designed and routed a whole load of small signs, NO SMOKING, MECHANICAL ROOM and such. They’ll be given the faux copper treatment, so they are there, but don’t detract from ‘the look’ we have worked so hard to achieve.
I also built a couple of complex files and sent them off to the MultiCam. I’ll be posting one today and one tomorrow, even though they were combined into one routing file.
The first was a small sign that used some pretty useful EnRoute techniques. It is more complex than anything I would have tackled when I was starting, but broken down into small steps it is manageable. So let’s begin with a crown. I first roughed out basic half crown vectors, not worrying about shape or size. We’d tweak things up later.
Then using the vector editing tool I adjusted the nodes and added the curves to the vectors. Once I was happy I duplicated the vector shape, flipped one of the pieces and lined things up before merging.
Then I created the lower and middle rings for the crown starting with simple rectangles and then tweaking them using the vector modification tool. The basis crown relief was created as a zero height relief. The two ribs were dome reliefs with a 0.15″ tall vertical edge. I added the wiener shaped oval around the combined reliefs. This would be used to modify the relief.
The result was a crown that bowed outwards real nice! 
Then it was on to the flag background for the sign. First up was the vectors – all done in EnRoute. Other than the overall size of the sign everything was eyeballed, using EnRoute’s tools to rotate, center and space things so they looked right. I would resize and slightly distort the lettering as needed later.
 The jigsaw tool was the tool of choice for much of the next operation. I worked my way around the flag creating new vectors from the inside profiles of the combined shapes.
The center cross had to wait until last when all but one of the original vectors was gone. Now we are ready to begin the final work at last.
The crown was moved into position and an outline added. Then the lettering was positioned, resized and stretched a little before adding the outline. Now we could begin building the flag background relief.
A .045 “flat relief was first, then this flat relief was modified with the flag vectors, raising them by 0.15”.
I then imported the splotches bitmap from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection. This would add a subtle wavy texture to the colored flag sections of the Union Jack.
I then created separate flat reliefs of the outlines of the lettering and crown. These were raised to clear the flag and textures, then merged highest to create one file.
The last step was to ass the bevelled prismatic lettering.
The file was then ready to tool path and send off to the MultiCam.
Stay tuned for the second half of this project…
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

The Ice Cream Laboratory

Mark Blackford, owner of Signcraft in Santa Maria, CA sent us some excellent in-process pictures of a sign they made for Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab in Orcutt, CA. The sign was hand-carved from Precision Board Plus PBLT-15, except for the border which was cut on their ShopBot CNC Router. It was then painted using 1-Shot Paints. When asked why he prefers working with Precision Board Plus, Mark states: “Signcraft Santa Maria exclusively uses Precision Board Plus HDU due to its ease of carving, variety of densities, and excellent companion products such as PB Bond 240 and FSC-360WB.”

To see more of the amazing work Signcraft does, visit www.signcraftsm.com.

Thanks Mark for sending all of these great pictures!

 


Day of rest

Today, I finished the sculpting on the Shady Rest sign. It was fun to add all the small details such as his wiggly toes, his big belly and the had pulled down low over his eyes. This guy is out for the count. A bunny sneaks up below – not worried by the fellow sleeping overhead. 
The sculpted tree foliage was a first for me and I was pleased with the result.
Now it is on to paint. Stay tuned…
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Time to fly!

Today, being Saturday was sort of a day off. Janis was busy with horse stuff and so I had the time to do what I wanted in the shop. It has to be fun! And what could be more fun than doing the last of the painting on the balloon and then hanging it in it’s permanent home in the studio.
I dragged my tallest step ladder in from outside then drilled some holes in the vaulted ceiling and securely fastened in the strong aircraft cables I had bought for the occasion. Then it was time to ‘fly’ the balloon into position. This balloon was definitely heavier than air! It didn’t take long to secure everything perfectly. A few touchups made it all ready for the photo shoot.
The first four axis routing project is now officially done!
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

Working in the dark

Yesterday, in the early afternoon, when I went up the road to get some small supplies from the local hardware store we noticed some smoke coming from a neighboring building. The fire department was called but before they even arrived the fire was well out of control. The flames were so high they engulfed the power and telephone lines putting all of Yarrow out of commission for the day. Power was restored before long but the internet was out into the night.

This morning things were back to normal but around nine thirty it went black once more. A fire at a local electrical substation knocked power out for thirty thousand homes and businesses in the area. Thankfully I didn’t lose any computer work nor did I have the router running but we did already have a good amount of epoxy mixed so we pressed on with our work in the semi darkness of the shop.
Around noon we headed into the Fox & Hounds Pub to do the last of the touchup painting there. Tomorrow things will hopefully go smoother in the shop. Stay tuned…
-dan

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.