When Adam Campos of Graphics MFG was first contacted by a design agency about creating a textured wall for a corporate artwork display, there was a lot of skepticism about whether or not it could be done. The wall was for an exhibit at the Western Municipal Water District, WMWD, in honor of their board member Donald D. Galleano who had recently passed away.
The design agency had a concept, but their idea of using MDF was shot down by the building engineer. The proposed installation location wasn’t a load-bearing wall and it wouldn’t be able to handle the weight of MDF. The project was nearly scrapped, but then Adam suggested Precision Board HDU, since it is only about a third as heavy as MDF.
With a new plan in place, Adam got to work designing the wall. They would use four sheets of 5’x10′ 1” 25lb Precision Board (PBLT-25) to make the final 20’ x 9’ piece. He drew the texture in Rhino 3D software to map out where the panels would need to be cut so there wouldn’t be any noticeable breaks or inconsistencies in the texture. Once this process was completed, the 3D files were ready to be imported into Vectrics Aspire and the CNC tool pathing began. Graphics MFG spent 1 1/2 days CNC-routing the HDU with a 3/4” Amana bull mill from Tools of Today #46387, running at a speed of 800 IPM with a plunge of 400 IPM. The rapid Z gaps were set to 1/8” to achieve lower run times per sheet, which was followed by a 3-stage sanding process to remove the tooling marks. The next step was priming with multiple layers of Kilz primer to seal the surface and prepare for paint. They finished it off with a coat of Sherwin Williams acrylic paint in a satin finish.
Due to the intended final location of the wall in a corporate setting, Graphics MFG thought it best to complete the entire project at their facility as a “plug and play” piece. The routed Precision Board was attached to a 1”x1” welded aluminum structure that was fabricated in house. Strategically placed 3/4” plywood panels were then attached to the back of the HDU so that barrel stand-offs for the acrylic artwork frames, as well as the studs on the back of the wall, could be securely fastened into place.
After strengthening the intended installation location at WMWD, Graphics MFG delivered the textured wall and dropped it in with a boom crane and began the installation process.
Each element on the wall was manufactured and installed by Graphics MFG, including the lettering and acrylic displays for the artwork, which can be changed out. The total project took about six to seven weeks to complete, and everyone was very happy with the results.
If you’d like to learn more about Graphics MFG and their capabilities, visit their website at www.graphicsmfg.com or take a look at some of their work on Instagram: @graphics_mfg.
If you have any questions regarding Precision Board, please call Coastal Enterprises at (800) 845-0745 or send an email to hdu@precisionboard.com.