Topped out

Today it was time for some more router work on the MultiCam. The upper arms were first and routed from two pieces of 1″ thick 30 lb Precision Board. I routed a slot into them to fit around the 1″ X 2″structural steel.
I routed the table top in four pieces. The main part of the top was built as a lower and upper section. I routed a cross slot in the top to accept a welded 1″ X 1″ square tubing frame. I applied some PB Bond fast set glue to the two halves and then served them together. Two more pieces for the front and back of the table top were then fastened to the top. These two pieces had the words ‘Precision Board’ routed into them. 
Tomorrow I’ll sculpt a layer of sculpting epoxy over them to add detail and add the figures and thumb to each arm. I’ll also texture the top on all sides with the die grinder. That leaves only a little sculpting on the upper body and head to go before the painting begins.

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

Details – just for fun

I managed a couple of hours in the shop this afternoon. In that time I finished the bottom of the back of the robot. As an extra little feature I added a window hatch which some small details in side using short lengths of wire, a spare air pressure gauge and some bits of hose. The small viewing window fogged up as the fresh paint inside dried but it should clear up overnight. The detail will be a reward for the few who take the time to look at the back of the robot table. I’ll also be adding an on/off switch above it as well – just for fun.

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

Building the body

I’ve stated many times the we use 30 lb Precision Board exclusively in our shop. This is true when it pertains to CNC routing… but when we are hand sculpting high density urethane that will be coated with sculpting epoxy we sometimes use four pound foam. It is so soft I can practically carve it with my hands.

The rough armature for the robot body was a great place to use this less dense foam. It needed to be fit around the welded steel armature and then roughed into shape. I used there layers of 3″ four pound foam. Since I was going to coat it in sculpting epoxy I wasn’t concerned with gaps or rough edges. I used PB Bond fat set which cures in only one hour. I glued it up before I went to lunch and when I returned I was able to remove the clamps and get busy sculpting over the new form.

I used crumpled tinfoil to fill the gaps and holes and then pressed on a layer of sculpting epoxy. Once this had set I did another layer that was detailed. In a few hours I did the legs and the bulk of the front of the robot body. Rather than my usual rivets I opted to sculpt flat head screws for more of a retro feel. Tomorrow the bulk of the sculpt should be done. Stay tuned…

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

A fun little table

As per usual the shop is quiet between Christmas and the New Year. The crew is taking some deserved time off to be with their families. With Christmas falling on a Monday it meant we had a couple of days to do our final shopping and ready the house for two days of company. Then it was time to kick back and enjoy family and lots of good eating. By the time Wednesday rolled around I needed to burn off some energy and get active.

Last night I designed the display piece for our friends at Coastal Enterprises’ booth at the International Sign Association EXPO in Orlando in March. I just knew that as soon as we got going again after the New Year we’ll be busy until our big projects are finished in May. I enjoy getting my hands dirty in the shop and without crew and other interruptions I can get a lot done in a hurry.

As always space in a trade show booth is in short supply. I decided a small 24″ x 24″ table to display samples of their products would be just the ticket. Coastal Enterprises makes Precision Board, glues and primers which we use in our shop exclusively.

The project is made of there pieces… a base pedestal with their logo routed into each side, the strongman robot, and the tabletop.

I designed the routing files in Enroute. The sides had the Coastal enterprises logo routed into them. I’ll be hand texturing the faces and top and adding rivets. For the feet of the robot I drew the vectors of the few on top of the base top to get the scale right and to make sure it didn’t overlap our company ID.
Then I used the dome tool to round the tops.


I then went to the front view as I knew they were a little shallow. It was a simple matter of grabbing the center top node and pulling it vertical until I had the profile I needed.


I then created a couple of zero height reliefs which were merged lowest with the feet reliefs to drill holes in the center. This allowed the few to slip over the structural steel which protruded from the base plate. This steel structure provides the armature for the robot sculpture.
I tool pathed the files and sent them off to the MultiCam router. The sides and top of the box were routed from 1″ thick 30 lb Precision Board.

The sides of the base were screwed to a plywood box which I had previously built.. It was fastened to a 1/4″ stem plate which I cut on the MultiCam CNC plasma cutter, The few were done as two pieces which stacked on top of each other to give me the 1.5″ depth I wanted. These were fastened to the base top. I then hand sculpted the detail over these forms using Sculpting Epoxy.
Since we were going out to see the Star Wars movie this is as far as I got today. Tomorrow I’ll do a little more on the project. Stay tuned…

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

Architectural Ceiling Design for American Girl New York

When American Girl wanted a unique architectural ceiling design for their new store in New York, they got in touch with Moss Retail and Environments who, in turn, contacted Jim Dawson at Synergy Sign and Graphics.  He consulted on the design and mounting for about six months and once the designs were approved, Jim got the go ahead to make this creation a reality.  Dawson fabricated the design out of large sheets of Precision Board HDU at his shop in Ohio, which were then broken down into smaller, shippable pieces that were sent to New York and then reassembled.  We talked to Jim to get some tips on the architectural applications of Precision Board as well as how they mounted the intricate designs on the ceiling.

architectural

“We used PBLT-18 in both 2 inch and 3 inch thicknesses,” said Dawson. “These shapes were cut from several large sheets of Precision Board from 4′ x 8′ up to 5′ x 10′,” he added.

Synergy was sent auto cad drawings of the ceiling and the individual profiles. They used Enroute Pro and nested everything to cut out the individual pieces. There was a “Part A” and “Part B” which resulted in the fabrication of a lot of small pieces- 60 of one part for example.

Dawson said, “For the large complicated petals, we cut the 10′ by 10’ designs in half so the pieces were smaller for shipping and then reassembled. Installers used Bondo to reattach them after shipping and then touched up the seams.

It was at this point that the individual pieces of Precision Board HDU had to be mounted to the ceiling.

When Moss and Synergy designed the pieces, they wanted an install method that would be completely hidden and wouldn’t need a ton of touch up in the field.  PBLT-30 Precision Board pucks were created that were attached to the ceiling via screws and zip toggles.  They routed corresponding pockets in the backs of the petals so the pucks could drop inside.  The petals were then glued to the ceiling using fast set epoxy.   It made for a completely hidden mounting system.

One small issue that Dawson had was finding a bit that they could use to cut the material. “We did a lot of testing because it’s hard to find bits long enough to cut 3 inch material. We did speeds and feeds calculations and it turned out that one of the cheapest bits we bought worked the best.”  Jim used a ½ inch diameter x 5” long four flute low-helix spiral bit from Hartlauer that was classified an end-mill. He spent $25 on it.

The entire project took three days of routing and 4 days of finishing / packing and was shipped in just short of 1 week.

We think that Jim Dawson and his team do some really excellent work. Synergy Sign & Graphics has a highly experienced staff whose backgrounds include graphic design, marketing, trade-show design, print media, branding, point of purchase design, fulfillment, and more. Check out their website or give them a call at (330) 878-7646 to see about your next project!

Chuck Miller, the President of Coastal Enterprises, was recently in New York and stopped in to the American Girl store to snap a photo of how the ceiling looks with a store full of happy customers.  Check it out!

Check out our Precision Board architectural ceiling design at the 1:27 mark in this video released by American Girl about their NYC grand opening.

You can get large sheet sizes of Precision Board HDU up to 5′ x 10′ in any increment from 1/2″ up to 24″.  Get a quote or request free samples today to see if Precision Board is right for you.  We’d love to hear from you!