A 30″ x 240′ Replica of The Hong Kong Skyline

Wolfpack Sign Group in Vista, CA is working on a very exciting project for a cultural center located in Hong Kong.  Once complete, it will be 30″ tall  x 240′ in length.

Joseph Parrish, Director of Operations, explained that the customer wanted to reproduce the city skyline, which is quite extensive, in a bronze casting. However, after looking into the cost and weight of casting so much solid bronze, they reached out to their vendors for a creative solution.

Utilizing Precision Board Plus PBLT-30 HDU, in sections of 30” x48” and hours of CNC time, they machined a 2” sheet to give it the appearance of much more depth, so it would better replicate the skyline. Once machining was completed, the entire piece was coated in LuminOre, sprayable metal coating, and polished.

“We were very pleased with how easy the Precision Board was to machine, and the tremendous customer service in working with us and LuminOre to get the process methods worked out.” Says Joseph.

“We are very glad to have had such a solid partner on this exciting, creative project!”

To see additional work that Wolfpack Sign Group offers, please see their web site or give Joseph a call at (760) 736-4500 ext. 206.

Built to last

Then it was time to take the routered pieces of Precision Board off the MultiCam and make them into a sign.
 I used the center pieces of the sign as a jig to hold things nice and steady I cut short lengths of 1″ x 1″ steel tubing to length, approximating the angles by eye. The beauty of welding is that small gaps are easily remedied with a MIG welder.
 The welding only took a few minutes. It created an extremely strong frame that will be laminated inside the 30 lb Precision Board sign.
A few seconds of grinding on each side flattened the welds to make the welded metal pieces fit nice and flush into the sign.
I also bent up an welded some 5/8″ solid steel rods on each side. these would form the armature for the trees. I cut a small slot in each side of the sign with my air powered die grinder to make room for them.
Then I used Coastal Enterprises  PB BOND-240 one part glue to hold everything together. I clamped things up tight as the glue expands as it cures. I left it clamped overnight.
The net morning it was time for a little more welding. I used up a bunch of short pieces of 1.5″ x 1.5″ square tubing which I save for this kind of job. THe triangle tubing which sticks out of the bottom of the sign was leveled up and welded into the top of the new steel. I then used some 1/4″ steel pencil rod to form the hammock, tree branches and also to create a framework for the thicker bottom of the support branch. the Abracadabra Sculpt will be formed around these sturdy supports.
Now we are on to the sculpting phase of the project. My two helpers are in the next couple of days and it should go pretty quick. Stay tuned…
-dan

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

A change is as good as a rest.

We don’t do a lot of residential and cabin signs but when we do I enjoy them. In this case the owner’s wanted something playful that reflected their relaxed time at their cottage. After some discussion we decided a fellow asleep in his hammock was the perfect image. The trees leaning inward under the weight of the sleeping fellow was a humorous twist. The chicken was added as an afterthought. After the drawing was done he was changed to a bunny. I never bothered changing the drawing but the final sculpt will include a rabbit.  This project would be a combination of routed 30 lb Precision Board, welded steel (to make it good and strong) and some Abracadabra Sculpt.
The entire project routing file was designed in EnRoute. The first step was the vectors. The font called ‘Quickdraw’ is one I made some time ago, available at Letterhead Fonts  I bounced the letters around a bit to make it fun.
I added an outline around the letters and then duplicated the file. Only the outline was flipped to make it a double sided sign. The two sides of the sign were from 1.5″ HDU. I made up one more copy of the outline to be routed as an extra layer to make the sign extra thick. This would be cut from 1″ thick Precision Board.
I I then made up a triangle of 1.1″ thick rectangles. This would be routed out to allow a welded steel frame to be embedded into the sign as a holder and reinforcement.
I positioned the merged triangle and then used the jigsaw tool to create new vectors which I would use as a cutting guide.
Then it was time to start in on building the relief. I built a flat relief and then added the raised lettering outline.
Then I modified the relief one more time by adding slightly domed letters.
On looking at the file I decided the holes or the steel were too close together to I went back a couple of steps and redid the triangle, making it larger. This allowed more of the triangle to hang out of the bottom of the sign..
Then I used the jigsaw tool once more to create the vectors I needed to make the outline I wanted, deleting the old ones.
The sign was now ready for tool pathing and ready to send to the MultiCam.
 Next time I’ll show how I welded up the frame and made the sun ready for sculpting and paint. Stay tuned…
-dan

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

Workshops coming fast!

Our next Sign Magic Workshop is now less than eight weeks away – March 9-11, 2012.  In these workshops we talk about, show and practice, hands-on, all the things I write about here in the blog. We cover many other subjects as well including marketing and selling of three dimensional signs. There are no secrets, nothing is held back as we do our best to cram 45 years of experience into three days of learning.
We have a few seats left for this workshop. If you wish more information you can go to our website 
Or you can drop me an email  dan@imaginationcorporation.com
The three day workshop is to be held in our studio/workshop
Sawatzky’s Imagination Corporation
42392 Yarrow Central Road
Yarrow (Chilliwack) British Columbia
Canada   V2R 5E2
604 823 2216

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

Terps Racing – 2012 Racecar Design

The University of Maryland’s Formula SAE team is a world ranked collegiate design group. Every year they design, build and compete an open-wheeled racecar. Competition includes almost 1000 different schools from all around the world, the University of Maryland is currently ranked 8th.

The focus of this year is an aerodynamic design featuring a complex undertray. The advanced design will add downforce to the car, which will allow it to turn at higher speeds without losing traction. This will lead to faster lap times.

High-density Precision Board Plus was donated by Coastal Enterprises and used to create a 3D model of the undertray. did the CNC machining, cutting machining time down from last year’s ten weeks to just several days. Once finished, the team applied an overlay of carbon fiber and Nomex to add stiffness and flame resistance to the design.

For more info about the UMD racing program check out: www.terpsracing.com/.