Sawatzky Guest Blog: A Hazelnut Inn Update

Coastal Enterprises, manufacturers of Precision Board HDU, is proud to announce a series of guest blogs written by Dan Sawatzky of Imagination Corporation, which will be posted on the Precision Board Blog each month. This month Dan Sawatzky gives us an update on his passion project – The Hazelnut Inn, and points out all the different places that PBLT-30 Precision Board HDU is used to make this themed bed & breakfast look so fantastical!

In Dan’s own words…

Many of our projects are very large and it is not unusual for them to be in our shop for a year or more before they are installed and complete. The Hazelnut Inn is a personal project and has to fit around our customer’s projects. It is also very large and the most detailed we have ever taken, so it will take a long time to complete. We’ve been at it four years so far and it will be at least another year before the first suite is open to guests. But we are making great progress and it is looking spectacular!

While much of the project is fabricated using hand sculpted fibreglass reinforced concrete, we are also using a lot of Precision Board HDU where it is applicable.

From the road things are looking pretty colourful. The building certainly catches everyone’s eye as they drive by!

We used precision Board on many of the details including the roof caps, finales and the primary sign in this picture.

The stature of our heroine is also sculpted from 30 lb Precision Board.

hazelnut inn

The North Star suite is the most complete thus far. It is the unit closest and most visible from the road. We are currently doing the sculpting of the lower section where guests will enter the garden. The North Star sign was fabricated almost four years ago (one of the first projects while we were waiting for our building permit).  We finally installed it on the rudder of the ship in the last couple of weeks.

Adjacent to the North Star entry is the maintenance room for the Inn. This area is where the cleaning supplies, storage and laundry will be for the staff. It is probably the fanciest entry to a staff area in the whole world!

The faux shutters are fabricated from PBLT-30 Precision Board HDU to match the adjacent wood doors.

hazelnut inn

Adjacent to the service area is the Under Hill suite. We are now beginning the theme work on this area. It will have a private 600 square foot garden in front of the unit. The hand crafted gate is soon to be installed.

Today we did the faux brick work around the pocket in the wall which allowed us to install the Under Hill sign at last!

hazelnut inn

While we were at it we installed the Copper Crown sign on the castle suite. It won’t be until later this summer that we do the theme work on this portion of the building.

Inside the building, the North star suite is further along. Inside the ship the sleeping area is almost complete. The headboard, figureheads and clamshell light fixtures are all 30 lb Precision Board.

hazelnut inn

There are many other prefabricated pieces already finished, tucked away for safekeeping for now. As we get into more finishing we will be using more 30 lb Precision Board for fabrication as it is easy to work and holds detail extremely well.

I’ll provide another update on The Hazelnut Inn as we get a little further along. Stay tuned…

Sawatzky’s Imagination Corporation is a small family company that specializes in the design and creation of dimensional signs and environments. They tackle projects of any size from small signs to entire theme parks. Their work has garnered numerous national and international awards.

Dan Sawatzky is best described as a creative force and visual storyteller extraordinaire. His art career spans almost fifty years of magic. Dan’s passion is to design and create imaginative places that take people from the normal world to a setting of delight and wonder.

Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly urethane sign material that is particularly effective for making professional-looking indoor and outdoor dimensional signs.  It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack.  You can request free samplesget a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.

Coastal Enterprises finds Opportunities amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Coastal Enterprises, Manufacturers of Precision Board HDU, was recently featured in the pages of Composites World, a leading magazine in the composites and tooling industry.  They talked to Chip Going, Sales Manager, and Tai Freligh, Marketing Manager, about how the company’s U.S.-integrated supply chain and custom services have helped them to overcome situational challenges for their customers.  Read some excerpts below and then head over to their website for the full article.

composites world

Here are some quotes from the article:

“The positive side of it is that through adversity, oftentimes, it’s the fuel we need to find a better way,” says Chip Going, sales manager for Coastal Enterprises. Going uses the word “nimble” to describe the company’s adaptability over the past few months. Coastal Enterprises’ relatively small size and private ownership, for example, have allowed it to quickly make high-level decisions, from adding new densities to its product lineup, to adding more custom bonding and cutting services, to slipping new, accelerated projects into the schedule. “Right now, things are changing so fast that for us to be able to react to people’s needs in real time is a huge advantage for us,” Going adds.

“You hear the word ‘pivot’ a lot,” adds Tai Freligh, marketing manager at Coastal Enterprises. “That’s another opportunity for us. I think people are discovering just how versatile Precision Board is.” For example, the company has seen several of its customers pivot their usual manufacturing capabilities to help alleviate shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE), or to build products to help with social distancing such as sanitized wall panels or partitions.

composites world

If you want to read the entire article, you can find it at the Composites World website HERE.  You can also check out our Composites World page here on the website for previous articles in the magazine over the past few years.

Coastal Enterprises is a 30-year old privately-owned company, located in California.  Our manufacturing producst and processes are fully integrated in the United States, which has allowed us to avoid supply chain disruptions and maintain unparalleled market stability. For thirty years we have manufactured Precision Board, a high-density urethane tooling board used in many different applications including composite tooling, prototyping, thermoform tooling, pattern making, theming, dimensional signage and more. It is currently being used in many essential industries including aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and healthcare. You can get pricingfree samplessign up for newsletters or contact us.

Sawatzky Guest Blog: A New Tool to Cut 3″ Thick Precision Board

Coastal Enterprises, manufacturers of Precision Board HDU, is proud to announce a series of guest blogs written by Dan Sawatzky of Imagination Corporation, which will be posted on the Precision Board Blog each month. This month Dan Sawatzky talks about working with X-Edge Tools, a router bit manufacturer, to develop a bit that would cut through 3″ thick Precision Board.  Dan lays out his process step-by-step of working with Jay at X-Edge to get just the right router bit for the job!

In Dan’s own words…

In our shop we are always on the hunt for new materials, tools and methods to do our work better and more efficiently. While we discover a few things on our own, most often others in the business are our teachers. Even after more than fifty years in the sign business I find there is so much new to learn! You can teach an old dog new tricks it seems.  🙂

I was talking to our good friend Jay at X-EDGE Tools a while back about a few challenges we were having as we fabricated our signs using Precision Board. Because we use primarily PBLT-30 Precision Board of thicker dimensions than most, we run into difficulties from time to time. There are always workarounds that can get us by, but with the help of others we can often figure out a better way of doing things.

Jay is a master at all things to do with CNC routers and especially routing bits. He also loves a challenge. I mentioned to him that we had been using a 3/8” cutter with a 1.5” cutting edge to cut our 2” thick Precision Board HDU. By chucking it up in the collet a bit shallow (not enough bit in the collet) I could squeeze enough depth out of the bit to go through 2” of material without rubbing the collet. It wasn’t an ideal solution but it got us by for many years.

Jay asked me what I needed. I asked for a 4” long 3/8” bit with a 2.5” cutting edge. Jay had a prototype made and sent me out a 4” long 3/8” RAZOR end mill to try. I designed a file and gave it a spin. While it did the job I wasn’t satisfied. The bit was extremely noisy – a definite sign we were getting too much vibration. I let Jay know and he immediately went back to the drawing board.

A short time later I was delighted to receive a package in the mail with two 4” long – 1/2” Razor end mills. One had a tighter helix than the other. Jay asked me to put them through their paces and let him know my thoughts.

precision board

I designed a file that had straight, curved and angle cuts.  It measured about 8” x 16” by 2” thick. Then I threw some 2” thick 30lb Precision Board HDU on the router and fired it up.

Generally we do our cutting of 30lb Precision Board in 1/2” increments but since I was doing a test I ran double that with 1” deep cuts. I started at 300 inches per minute at 14,000 rpm (our normal cutting speed) for PBLT-30 Precision Board.  The first bit was noisier than I liked which I knew would translate into some roughness. I fiddled with the speeds and feeds through the cut but the results didn’t remarkably improve from my initial settings. On inspection after the cut was finished, the bit did its job and the cut quality was adequate. With a cleanup pass I’m sure it would have been fine. But since we have neighbours close by I wasn’t happy with the noise.

precision board

The second bit performed much better. The noise was much less and the cut quality was much improved as well. And I am sure a cleanup pass would make things perfect.

The reality is that in fifteen years of routing I’ve never done a cleanup pass on our work. There was no need, as we always add texture by hand to the edges of our work after we do our assembly.

precision board

I of course shared my findings (with pictures) with Jay at X-EDGE Tools. He suggested I try the bit at a higher speed (18,000 RPM) which I immediately did. To my surprise, although it ran quieter,  the bit left more tool marks at this higher speed.

So we now have a great solution to a long standing challenge. We can safely cut material that is up to 3” thick with the new bit from X-EDGE Tools. To keep the noise down I would do it in half inch passes in the 30lb Precision Board HDU. If I needed a super clean edge I would do a cleanup pass.

We will keep experimenting with various speeds and feeds to see what is optimal on our machine.

Thanks to Jay at X-EDGE Tools!  If you have a particular challenge in your CNC cutting I’d bet Jay already has (or will invent) a solution that will fill your needs. I recommend them most highly!
precision board

Sawatzky’s Imagination Corporation is a small family company that specializes in the design and creation of dimensional signs and environments. They tackle projects of any size from small signs to entire theme parks. Their work has garnered numerous national and international awards.

Dan Sawatzky is best described as a creative force and visual storyteller extraordinaire. His art career spans almost fifty years of magic. Dan’s passion is to design and create imaginative places that take people from the normal world to a setting of delight and wonder.

Coastal Enterprises manufactures Precision Board HDU, a versatile, cost-effective and eco-friendly urethane sign material that is particularly effective for making professional-looking indoor and outdoor dimensional signs.  It is a closed-cell rigid substrate that does not rot, warp or crack.  You can request free samplesget a quote or sign up for periodic newsletters packed with helpful information.

Primal Speedbike Fairing Construction Using Precision Board

Coastal Enterprises, manufacturers of Precision Board HDU, is proud to host guest blogs written by some of the industry’s biggest movers and shakers, posted to the Precision Board Blog.  This guest blog is written by George Leone, a long-time member of the Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) racing scene, and Team Captain for Team Primal.  In this guest blog (part 1 of 3), George elaborates on the team’s progress towards fabricating Primal 3 using Precision Board and competing at the Human Powered Vehicle Speed Challenge near Battle Mountain, Nevada in September 2021 (this year’s event was cancelled).

fairing

Tom Robinson who helped me drive the truck and trailer, Matt Beccue does CNC work for Safran Aerospace & coordinated the project there, and Judy Lantaca, one of my favorite former Student Technicians at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

In George Leone’s own words…

After almost 5 years of chassis design and construction, precise aerodynamic design and computer simulation, we are poised to create the fairing for Primal 3, a streamlined, enclosed bicycle using 15 lb./cu./ft. Precision Board in the manufacturing process. This muscle-powered vehicle is designed for extreme speeds, far faster than you can legally drive on the freeway. A previous blog years ago featured Primal 2 which exceeded 70 mph three times using muscle power alone, on the flat road at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge held annually near Battle Mountain, Nevada.

We chose Precision Board not only for it’s great workability and consistency, but also for it’s high recyclables content. Our speedbike (also known as a Human-Powered Vehicle or HPV) is not only raced for records, but acts as a demonstration of what the future of transportation holds for us. Lightweight, extremely aerodynamic, structurally safe vehicles that use a minimum of effort to achieve energy efficiency. The recyclables content of the Precision Board used in its manufacture fits our futuristic agenda perfectly.

Pickup and transport to Safran Aerospace for CNC work.

We picked up two custom bonded blocks of foam for the right and left sides of the fairing in early March 2020. It was great seeing the clean, state of the art manufacturing facility that Coastal Enterprises runs. I used to run the Student Projects Shop at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and always look at shops with a critical eye for cleanliness and safety.

The custom bonded blocks the we received had bond lines that were flawless, and the PB Bond 240 used as an adhesive that guaranteed there would be no “chunking out” of a hard adhesive, damaging the foam during the machining process. I’ve bonded a lot of foam in the last 40+ years and I was very impressed with the quality of the bond lines. From now on, I will definitely have Coastal Enterprises make custom bonded blocks for me. Not only does this save “gluing” time, it also saves re-work time to repair chunks of hard adhesive torn out by the CNC router or by the hand tools that I use.

My neighbor Jim McEntire, who restores tractors and vintage Ford cars, graciously loaned his pickup truck and a heavy duty trailer to bring the foam blocks to Safran Aerospace in Santa Maria, CA and from there home to my barn 4 hours North of Los Angeles, near Atascadero, CA.

We left Orange, California, the home of Coastal Enterprises, at almost rush hour and had to drive through Los Angeles. Somewhere in traffic in LA,  I received a text from my friend and Cal Poly SLO Shop Manager, Eric Pulse, who I worked with for years. “So I see you’ve got the foam and are driving it North” !!!   I replied “What the heck, how could you know this?” (I had not mentioned to anyone that I was getting the foam at that time.)  Eric came back “Oh, a former student saw a truck towing a trailer with foam on it, and figured it was you. He thinks he saw you as a passenger.” (My old friend  Tom Robinson was driving at the time).  I swear, I could never rob a bank, someone would recognize me right away!

We delivered the Precision Board HDU three hours later to Safran Aerospace in Santa Maria, CA, as they had generously offered to CNC machine the aerodynamic body shape into the foam. Matt Beccue, the CNC supervisor, met us and we offloaded the foam and then drove the truck and empty trailer home.

fairing

The blue “Dychem” lines on the foam were done to verify the location of the surface as the project progressed.

Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3!

George Leone has a long history with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is a fount of knowledge when it comes to both composites and Human Powered Vehicle Racing.  He volunteered sporadically helping Cal Poly’s HPV teams from 1980 to 1989, and then continuously from 1989 to the present.  George also ran the Cal Poly Projects Shop from 2001 to 2017.  This shop includes facilities for machining, student welding, woodworking, sheet metal work, advanced composites and design space for senior projects, as well as nine engineering clubs that compete at a national level.  He has also built and raced his own HPVs since 1988.

ABOUT TEAM PRIMAL

Team Primal consists of a group of friends, current Cal Poly Professors and former students.  It is privately funded and is not sponsored by Cal Poly in any way.

ABOUT COASTAL ENTERPRISES

At Coastal Enterprises, we like to look at the composites industry as a fully collaborative effort. Every fresh new development by an individual is really a contribution to a collective knowledge base. Like any scientific pursuit, the most potent advancements are made when information is shared freely between likeminded groups of people. For this reason, we feel obliged to do everything we can to enlighten and empower the future community of composites professionals.  That’s why we support school programs with donations of Precision Board HDU.  Click HERE to find out more about the program or give us a call with your questions at 800-845-0745.

Precision Board Now Shipping in 1-2 Days!

To understand how we can ship this fast, check out the one minute video below.

precision board

Coastal Enterprises is fully stocked with Precision Board HDU and even better, our turnaround time is 1-2 working days for most orders.

At our manufacturing facility in Orange, California, blocks are organized by density and size for easy cutting and shipping.

We have all 16 densities of Precision Board in stock with shipping times of 1-2 days.  Give us a call at 800-845-0745 or email us at hdu@precisionboard.com to place your Precision Board HDU order today.

Coastal Enterprises is a 30 year old, privately-owned company, located in California.  Our manufacturing products and processes are fully integrated in the United States, which has allowed us to avoid supply chain disruptions and maintain unparalleled market stability. For thirty years we have manufactured Precision Board, a high-density urethane tooling board used in many different applications including: composite layup tooling, prototyping, thermoform tooling, pattern making, theming parks, dimensional signage and more. It is currently being used in many essential industries including aerospace, defense, transportation, energy and healthcare.  Contact us for pricingfree samples, or to sign up for newsletters.