In downtown Minneapolis, there is a vibrant local theater called Roxy’s Cabaret with a giant red stiletto on the roof. Their logo uses two red high-heeled shoes to make the “X” in Roxy, so they were interested in some eye-catching shoe signage to go along with it. And how did they get such a fabulous sculpture? Precision Board, of course!

Marty Orensten was called to help bring this unique creation to life. His long experience with sign company In-Signity made him the perfect person to work on this spectacular piece. After doing a bit of research for the shape and some initial drawings that everyone was happy with, Marty needed to come up with the foundation for the shoe. “I had to draw the framework since it had to be structurally sound,” he says. For something this large, the foundation has to be rock solid.

After the framework was built, Marty started attaching pieces of PBLT-10, 3-inch thick Precision Board to build up the shape of the shoe. For the heel area, Marty used 1-1/2-inch PBLT-15 and added multiple layers until he had a solid base to work with. “I used West Systems epoxy to glue the layers together, until I built up enough to start carving.”

Marty and his employee, Ryan (as seen above sitting in the shoe), both sat and carved to get the right shape for the piece. “The whole thing was carved using a reciprocating saw and a small chainsaw, and then with hand rasps and a lot of sanding!”

The shoe was then primed with 2–3 coats of Coastal Enterprise’s FSC-88 WB HDU Primer. Afterwards, Marty carefully double checked the shape and surface of the shoe. He used Bondo in some spots and built up primer in other areas to smooth everything out. “I probably did this at least four times so I could see any places that needed more work,” says Marty.

The final paint for the shoe was a Matthews red, topped with three coats of high-gloss clear with metal flakes and lots of sparkle. The perfect finish for advertising a cabaret!

To learn more about Marty Orensten, and to see additional examples of his work, visit his website at www.in-signity.com.

If you have any questions regarding Precision Board, please call Coastal Enterprises at (800) 845-0745 or via email at hdu@precisionboard.com.

Sculptor and carver Jayce Fox used Precision Board to create this beautiful decorative piece that fits within the gable end of a client’s home. “The Art Deco format was inspired by the time period the home was built [1915]. The abstract sun rays symbolize well-being and the open surrounding countryside, while the carved apples, leaves and birds represent the surrounding orchards,” says Jayce.

The main body of the sign is 2” thick and the panels and trim range from 1” to 2”. They were applied after the carving was complete. Four inches of HDU were laminated on top of the sign face for the birds and apples, and then carved from a single piece of PBLT-20.

The carving of this sign took 114 hours to complete and everything else required approximately 20 hours. Jayce tells us that he “used 20 lb. density, it’s a nice balanced weight for quick removal of material and structural strength.”

Rotary tools (foredom, dremels), chisels, gouges and rifflers were used to carve the frieze and letters. The trim and edges were shaped by hand and a hand-held router, while the main sign panel and sunray pieces were cut on a CNC.

The sign’s single light color allowed the piece to visually integrate with the house’s architecture and lets the features be naturally defined with light and shadow. The sign was primed with two coats of Benjamin Moore’s Fresh Start, which allows effective coverage while having low viscosity for ease of application. The piece was finished with two coats of Benjamin Moore acrylic eggshell paint.

“Carving is a process of shaping light and shadow,” says Jayce, “The contrast of shadow against the angled surface to gather maximum height creates more of an illusion of depth.”

To learn more about Jayce Fox, and to see additional examples of his work, visit his website at www.jaycefox.ca.

If you have any questions regarding Precision Board, please call Coastal Enterprises at (800) 845-0745 or via email at hdu@precisionboard.com.

Art Sign Works Inc., founded in 2005, has been making 3-D bas-relief plaques from Precision Board since 2009. Previously, our team utilized HDU from two U.S. manufacturers but we determined that Precision Board was the highest quality material and was the best for carving. Here at ASW, we create about 10,000 signs and plaques each year; efficiency and quality are key to completing orders in a timely manner.

A majority of the signs and plaques we create are carved in 2.5-D, raised multi-level or engraved (incised) relief from Precision Board. We also design and fabricate over 1,500 3-D bas-relief plaques and signs. A large number of our 3-D orders are wall plaques that are for federal, state and local governments, law enforcement, and universities as well as businesses, churches and homes. Additionally, our plaques hang on walls in the White House, Air Force One, Congress, the Supreme Court, the Pentagon, and many state capitals. A few of our 3-D signs and plaques are shown below.

3-D bas-relief plaques require considerably more machine time, along with additional hours of labor for carving and painting, than artwork carved in 2.5-D. About 1/3 of the products we make are carved in 3-D, and are very popular with government agencies, as well as police and sheriff’s departments. When plated with bronze, brass or aluminum, these carved HDU products are favored over solid metals because they cost only about one-third and weigh only a tenth as much. Plated products also make the installation of large plaques on walls much simpler.

Most of our 3-D plaques and signs are made out of PBLT-20 Precision Board HDU, due to its high quality and ease of carving. We also make about 20% of them from solid Mahogany, Maple, Cedar, Redwood and Oak woods. We paint or metal-plate the HDU plaques and signs, and typically stain the wood. 3-D HDU plaques and signs are typically half the price of 3-D wood plaques, and they are cleaner and last longer, making them more popular with our customers.

Let’s take a look into the process of creating 3-D signs & plaques. We start off by developing a 2-D Adobe Illustrator vector rendering, similar to what we would make if it were 2.5-D. This defines the areas that need to be raised and lowered. One of our graphic designers then develops a custom 3-D geometric model from the 2-D rendering using 3-D graphic software such as Maya, Z-Brush, or Rhino. This then generates an STL file that we can incorporate into our 3-D CNC router tool path control program called ASPIRE. The 3-D software modeling process can take anywhere from eight (8?) to 20 hours. To speed up the process, occasionally we’ll purchase off-the-shelf STL files of animals, trees and man-made objects from commercial companies.

Next, we put a sheet of Precision Board, usually 5’ x 8’ x2” thick, on one of our six 5’ x 12’ Shopbot CNC routers. The 3-D geometry model artwork file can be reused and scaled to any size.

In order to ensure accuracy and attention to detail, the 3-D CNC routing requires ball-nose router bits as small as 1/16 inch in diameter (1/32 inch in diameter for very detailed artwork) to carve smooth routed surfaces. It can take from six to 36 hours to carve a single 3-D sign or plaque, depending on its size and detail. For a 3-D version, it takes 6-to-10 times as long as a 2.5-D, multi-level raised relief sign or plaque. We run our six CNC routers up to 16 hours a day, six days a week to keep up with our orders.

After routing, our craftsmen perform fine hand sanding of all of the front surfaces to remove any tool marks and, if background areas need to be sandblasted, this is when we’ll do that as well. It is then painted with a thick HDU primer to further smooth the surfaces, and the background color is added in our paint spray booth.

Next, the piece is moved to our finishing and fine paint shop, where our artists use brushes to paint the plaques in long-lasting vibrant colors. We exclusively use Matthews acrylic polyurethane automotive-grade (MAP) for background areas and 1-Shot paint for artwork, text and borders. It takes longer to paint a 3-D sign or plaque than one carved in 2.5-D relief because 3-D artwork must be painted with an artist brush due to its curved and rounded surfaces, whereas 2.5-D artwork has flat surfaces and can be painted with a mini-roller. All plaques and signs, both indoor and outdoor use, are then coated with two Matthews MAP semi-gloss or satin clear coats to protect against weather, UV radiation, oxidation, scratches and graffiti.

To learn more about Art Sign Works, including additional samples of our work, FAQs, pricing and ordering information, please visit our website at www.artsignworks.com or give us a call at (951) 698-8484

If you have any questions regarding Precision Board, please call Coastal Enterprises at (800) 845-0745 or via email at hdu@precisionboard.com.

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.