Assembling the sign planet

It’s not often we do simple cutouts with a fair amount of assembly in our shop but because this is a detailed display piece that will live out it’s life indoors I tackled things a little different this time.  The ‘sign’ portion of the sign will be fastened to the top of the lid, and then turned upside down and slipped inside for transport. The lid has a raised oval which will house the transformer for the LED lights. The plasma cut ‘steel ODYSSEY’ letters were positioned and welded to this raised oval.

The letters are simple cutouts with a dropped center. The center portion is layered vertically with the letters glued on. All pieces are cut from 30 lb Precision Board. Because of the structure for the top portion goes through the ‘planet’ base I can’t put the lid (top layer) on until it is all fastened in place.

I temporarily screwed on the top portion to shape it with valleys going down between the letters.

Once the rough shaping was done I used the die grinder to do some more shaping. There will be a rocket landed on top of the letters and I wanted to simulate the texture of a rocket blast radiating out from the center, taking off a layer of the earth and tops of the letters with it. I added rocks and small stones to the edges of the letters and areas between with sculpting epoxy.  One side is now ready for paint and gilding. In the next days I’ll show that process and then move on to the upper reaches of the piece.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

That’s a box!

With all the pieces perfectly cut on the MultiCam CNC plasma it was a snap to fit them together, tack everything in place to align all the pieces and then weld things up solid.

Once everything was welded it was time for some serious grinding and polishing. It is now a serious and heavy duty box.

Once the grinding was done and the lid was fit I sprayed on the reacting acid and watched the rust begin to form instantly. A few hours later the whole piece had a beautiful patina. Now it is time to begin the fun stuff that fits inside!

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.

2016 Sign Challenge

I absolutely love a challenge and when this arrived in my inbox I jumped at the chance!  Of the twenty invited sign makers there have been twelve of the world’s best respond already. The competition is going to be incredibly intense and fun! Best of all of the entrants will be gathered in Orlando at the International Sign Show for everyone to talk to and perhaps garner some great tips. I look forward to seeing the entries all lined up in a row. 

MultiCam has stepped up as a sponsor of the display space for the entries. Precision Board (Coastal Enterprises)  has also signed on as a sponsor. And everyone’s favourite sign magazine SignCraft has agreed to publish a series of articles on the contest. There will soon be a website with a blog to follow the many entries. I’ll also be posting progress on my entry here as well. Stay tuned…

2016 Sign Invitational

The purpose of this contest is to showcase the talents of the participating sign makers. We all can benefit from a little friendly competition. Each participant is to create a showpiece to the best of their ability and in the process raise their own personal bar. In doing so they become better and benefit from the effort.

Contest Details:  

Contest date: April 20-23, 2016 ISA Expo Orlando, Florida

Registration: Invitation Only. Invitations will be sent out in Early October. The contest will be limited to 20 sign makers. Sign makers who wish to participate must RSVP by OCTOBER 30th 2015 to be included.  The contest lineup will be completed and announced  by October, 31, 2015

RULES:

1) Each sign maker is responsible for shipping their creation to and from the ISA show. Deadline for shipping and arrival to ISA Expo is TBD. Creations may be hand delivered to the show as long as they arrive by the deadline.

2) Each sign maker who enters the contest is required to attend the show. The great part in this contest is getting to know and learn from each other. Competition is a great motivator. 

3) Each creation when assembled has to fit inside a specific envelope. The piece on it’s display stand (the crate) must measure no more than six feet tall by two feet wide by two feet deep. This build envelope includes a shipping crate which your creation must fit inside (for transport) and be displayed on top for the show. Please refer to diagram A.

4) Electric (120 volt) or battery power may be integrated into the creation. Lighting of all types is allowed. All types of motorization/mechanical movement are prohibited.

5) Each piece must have the word ‘SIGNS’ integrated into the design in some fashion.

6) Judging will take place at the 2016 ISA Sign Expo and will be voted on by show attendees in a blind judging fashion. The creations are not to be visibly identified by shop, artist name or logo.

THEME

Rube Goldberg  – A contraption , invention, device or apparatus that is deliberately over-engineered to perform a simple task in a complicated fashion.

These machines usually have many moving parts. Because our contest allows no motorization or movement of the display piece(s) it presents a formidable design challenge to capture the feeling of movement. The further constraints of maximum size and theme also make the design that much more difficult. It is our hope that the more challenging the competition the more creative the entries will be. This is a chance to have some real fun!

All creations will be displayed for judging in MultiCam’s booth at the 2016 International Sign Expo in Orlando, Florida

Results of the blind voting will be announced at the ISA show on April 23, 2016. Time TBD.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.