Blogs
One two three glaze
With Christmas fast approaching it’s a great time to do up some name plaques for those you love. They make great presents and you can practice your painting and glazing techniques at the same time. I’ll show three name plaques in this post – all different colours to better demonstrate our techniques. The first is Elsie’s name plaque. We started by painting it an off white colour
Attention getting driveway sign
Janis loves chickens but there are no roosters allowed. (they tend to crow early in the morning and wake her up!) I believed we needed a rooster somewhere on the property and so I designed a fun fellow to perch on top of a sign Janis had been asking for in our yard to warn visitors to slow down as they passed through the the shop. As with all of our projects we would use a variety of mediums and methods to build it. The sign portion was done on our MultiCam of course, routed from there layers of 30 lb Precision Board.
Using EnRoute Software’s “Rapid Texture” on Signage
Are you up against the clock and need to deliver a quality sign on time and within budget? Consider using the Rapid Texture process available with EnRoute Software. Jim Dawson with Synergy Sign and Graphics recently applied this process to some 30 lb. Precision...
Monument sign start to finish – part 1
I often get asked to talk about a ‘typical sign’ and how we build them. The answer is most signs we build aren’t typical. But they do follow a pattern.
University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project – Eos II
The University of Minnesota Solar Vehicle Project (UMNSVP) recently completed the 2017 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge using a vehicle they designed and created from start to finish. Coastal Enterprises was honored to donate Precision Board HDU to the team for use...
Mounting HDU Signs – Did You Know?
Did you know that Precision Board HDU is very effective for creating dimensional signs due to its long exterior life and ease of use? Due to its closed-cell structure, high density urethane must be treated differently than wood. Unlike wood, Precision Board has no...
Building a mine car
I find it a great deal of fun to design rather complex designs and then figure out a way to fabricate what I have imagined. We are currently working on a good sized theme project called the Cloud Buster. It is a drop tower ride.
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.
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...