A busy 2 weeks.

After collecting my award for Best Novelty Sign at the EnRoute summit and meeting some super amazing people, it was time to return home and get ready for our first Sign Alchemy class.

 People started arriving for the class on Wednesday night and we spent some time hanging out at the shop and preparing for the days to come.  Everyone arrived Thursday morning eager to get started learning how we do what we do. Doug Haffner and Myself ( Jim Dawson ) spent time lecturing, demonstrating, and helping our attendees learn as much as possible over the 3 day class time. Each evening, we took the class out to dinner and then came back to the shop for more 1 on 1 instruction and sharing. The funny thing about teaching is that typically the teacher will learn as much as the student by trying things different ways.

I think I can speak for everyone in saying that we all learned a lot and never strayed too far from the spirit of fun that makes us who we are.

Here are some highlights from the class.

30lb Coastal Enterprises Precision Board Plus name plaques were carved for all attendees to customize and learn on.

Smooth-On is our official supplier for Mold Rubbers, Casting Resins, and Epoxy Clay materials. Here you see a mold we made at the class using Smooth-On Platinum cure silicone.

 

We also provided everyone with some awesome sample boxes filled with Smooth-On products and Coastal Enterprises coatings and Precision Board Samples to take home and play with.

Carved concrete demo panel.

 

   

Everyone finished out the 3 day workshop with some amazing pieces to take home. We are already busy planning workshops for next year.

Drop us a line if you are interested in attending one or both of our 2018 workshops we are planning.

Special thanks to the following sponsors who made this year’s workshop and overwhelming success!

-Jim

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.

Lost and Foundry: Restoring a WWII Era 16″ Lathe

Tom Utley is doing a detailed restoration of a WWII-era South Bend 16″ x 60″ metal lathe, which is about 9 feet long and weighs 2,700 pounds fully loaded. It was originally delivered to the US Army in June of 1943 with the Crossed Cannons logo of the Army Ordnance Corp stamped into the bed. Tom bought the lathe a few years ago and has been working on a complete factory quality restoration ever since. These parts are his attempt at packaging modern electrical controls inside original Art Deco design cues found elsewhere on the machine. He used Precision Board HDU to make detailed foundry patterns for cast iron parts.

metal lathe

Tom used PBLT-48 for his casting patterns, but you can also use higher densities like PBLT-70 and PBLT-75.  Precision Board is easy to work with and cost effective.  It has excellent dimensional stability to create accurate casting parts.  If you’re not sure what density of Precision Board to use for your project, take a look at our Material Selection Guide for reference.

In addition to having the machine reground and hand-scraped (a technique to restore precision sliding surfaces to very high tolerances), Utley added a few bells and whistles to make it easier and safer to use for himself and his young son.

“I added modern electronics, including a variable frequency motor drive and safety switches that weren’t commonplace on old machines like this.  I also worked out a means of adding a custom analog (dial face) tachometer that indicates spindle RPM.  It’s actually an aftermarket diesel automotive tach from Speedhut, but with a little custom artwork on the dial it could pass for an original factory option if you don’t look too closely.  A tachometer would have been found on high end machine tools of the day, but was never offered by South Bend back then.”

All these new electrical items needed an enclosure to keep them dry and out of the way of flying hot metal chips.  Tom could have picked up aftermarket electrical enclosures and bolted them on, but after all the work to restore the machine it didn’t feel right to him to get so far away from the Art Deco styling found on War-era machines like this.  So, after lots of hand sketching and cardboard templates, he came up with a design that felt like something South Bend might have offered in the 40s if tachs and safety switches and variable speed knobs had been factory options.

“I decided early on that I wanted these new parts to be made from cast iron just like the rest of the machine'” says Utley.  “Castings require patterns, so I set about learning everything I could about the process, mainly via the Web and YouTube. I received a lot of help from the Maker and YouTube machinist community throughout this project.”

foundry castings / foundry patterns

A few months ago, Tom was fortunate to meet John Saunders who runs the NYC CNC YouTube channel.  John was enthusiastic about the project and offered to cut a casting pattern for him once he had a CAD model.

“I had to teach myself how to use Autodesk Fusion360 for modeling the parts, but after a few weeks I had a usable 3D CAD model of what had been bouncing around in my head,” said Utley.

To compensate for any dimensional and structural changes which will happen during the casting or patterning process, allowances for shrinkage are usually made in the pattern. Talking to Emmanuel King, owner of Cattail Foundry in Pennsylvania, Tom was advised to scale the casting pattern up by 1/8″ per foot of finished part dimension to offset shrinkage in the cooling iron.

“This is a snap to do in Fusion360, all I had to do was tell the software to scale my model by 1% and it was ready for the CNC.  The CAD model was then shared with John directly from my PC and he set about carving the two patterns.”

Being used to cutting metal, John had to go through a bit of a learning curve with feeds and speeds and workholding, but ultimately found Precision Board to be easily machinable.

After a little bit of hand sanding by Tom, the casting patterns went off to the foundry.

Earlier this month, Utley received the castings back and they turned out great.  The foundry owner said the material is great for casting short run parts like this and complimented him for having draft angles in all the right places and for making it so smooth for his foundry team.

Tom is doing final machining on the castings now.  Once that’s done and the castings are painted, he will add custom acid-etched brass legend plates for each switch and get the wiring all buttoned up.  The two year project will finally be to a point Utley can call it done and move on to his next machine tool, which he hopes will be a milling machine.

“Thanks so much for sharing the story of this old machine–she’s 74 years old now with a lot of history, but she’s just about ready to debut as a brand new beautiful girl with at least another 74 years of making chips ahead.  Publicity like this is great because it gives people the confidence to take on bigger restoration projects like this and save good machines from the scrap yard,” he adds.

You can read a more detailed journal of Tom’s restoration efforts, including photos of the lathe in its original condition here.  He can be found on Instagram where he shares photos of this and other projects he’s working on.

If you want to try out Precision Board for yourself, you can request free samples, get a quote, or find a distributor near you with our directory.

UPDATE: You can read an article in the December print issue of Production Machining about Tom Utley and his restoration project or read the online version HERE.

 

Enroute Summit 2017.

A couple of years back, I attended my first EnRoute workshop in Denver Colorado. I had and amazing time with some old friends and made some new friends along the way. When EnRoute announced it was holding a competition leading up to the 2017 Summit in Salt Lake City, I climbed all over it. Up for grabs were cash prizes, advertising opportunities, and free trips to the summit.

I’m happy to say that we placed 1st in the Novelty category with our gear set.

So, for the next 3 days, I get to hang out with the best of the best. I can’t wait to see what new things I learn.

-Jim

Published with permission from Synergy Sign & Graphics. Source.

Priming High Density Urethane – Did You Know?

Did you know Coastal Enterprises manufactures a water-based primer that is high in solids, which is perfect for HDU, but can also be used on wood*, metal and concrete?

*Priming wood? Reduce FSC-88 with water by 25% to increase absorption and improve adhesion.

primerFSC-88 WB is a sprayable, brushable, rollable water based primer/filler that is used on Precision Board Plus HDU or any number of substrates prior to finishing with paints and coatings.

Use FSC-88 WB when a smooth surface is desired or when a seam line or small area needs to be filled.

It can also be used on any type of background, like sandblasted or routed textures as a primer. Make sure to dilute with water as necessary to obtain appropriate spray pattern. It dries quickly and can be sanded easily.

FSC-88 WB Primer/Filler is not just used for signage, but a variety of applications, including modeling and prototyping.

We have some helpful blogs on priming of Precision Board HDU:

There are resources available on our website for priming and filling with FSC-88 WB under the How To/Training Tips section.

Watch the how-to video for using FSC-88 WB Primer/Filler under the Training Videos section.  While there, check out other how-to videos for using the full line of adhesives, primers and coatings available from Coastal Enterprises.

In addition to free samples of Precision Board HDU, you can get free samples of our companion products, including FSC-88 WB to try for yourself.  Try a sample of FSC-360 WB Filler, which works well in conjunction with FSC-88 WB.  FSC-360 WB is a water based crack filling and repair material specifically formulated for use on Precision Board Plus High Density Urethane (HDU). It also works well on wood, metal, and adheres to most plastics. FSC-360 WB Filler dries quickly and sands easily. Use FSC-360 WB Filler for repairing scrapes, holes, or any type of damage.

Ten Tips for Working with Precision Board

1. Carbide cutters are not mandatory when working with Precision Board since it is non-abrasive.  Precision Board can be cut with standard HSS cutting tools.

 Precision Board tips

2. To maximize CNC efficiency and cutting time, and to minimize dust and increase chips, the Onsrud Router Bit Selector Guide provides guidelines for proper router bits, speeds and feeds.

Precision Board tips

3. After you have primed Precision Board Plus using FSC-88WB Primer/Filler, it is best to dry using a large shop fan. Do not place in the sun, as this will cause it to dry too fast (skin over) resulting in blisters. The FSC-88WB Primer/Filler training video can be seen here.

 Precision Board tips

4. Be sure to prime and paint all sides of your HDU sign because of paint tension balance. Because it does not have grain, it has no beam strength and can be pulled in the direction of the drying paint.

 Precision Board tips

5. When sandblasting Precision Board, set your PSI to about 60, at the pot.  To achieve a larger texture, use higher grit. Similarly, a finer grit allows for finer texture. Aluminum oxide is used most often.

 Precision Board tips

6. If something happens to your sign during the build process, it is possible to fix the damaged surface. FSC-360WB Crack Filling & Repair Putty dries quickly and sands easily, and can really save the day in the event of a mistake.

 Precision Board tips

7. Optimize your leftover Precision Board by bonding and laminating the extra pieces.  Use PB Fast Set or PB Bond-240 adhesive.

 Precision Board tips

8. PB Resin is a 2 part epoxy that paint can be added to. Use on flat surfaces to achieve smooth, glossy surface.  No priming, sanding, or painting needed.  Call for free samples of PB Resin or any of our companion products.

Precision Board tips

9. If you do not have time to rout, or sandblast a wood grain texture, TSF-45 or PB Hardcoat are excellent time saving alternatives for simulating wood grain. Apply both directly to raw Precision Board, eliminating the priming step.

 Precision Board tips

10. If you have a question, call us at 800-845-0745! We offer free technical support and are happy to assist in any way we can.  You can also request a sample of Precision Board HDU or get a quote.