Out in the sunshine

Today, it was time at last to pull Dayna’s tree from the shop and get a first look at it in natural light. We’ve taken great care in selecting the lights in the shop to properly paint but even so things always look different in the light of day. I was pleased with the result as everything reads as we planned. We know once it is set in it’s final home with landscaping tucked around it the tree will look even better.

A special thanks goes to the entire crew who put a lot of extra effort into this special project.

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

Progress on Dayna’s tree

Since the last post on the progress of Dayna’s tree we’ve made great progress. The top portion of the structure was completed and the galvanized lath applied. A few small details were added at the request of the family like a small fairy door, tucked into the roots.

We then did the sculpted concrete which was done over a period of three days. The first day we did the branch tips and large knotholes in the lower sections. By doing smaller areas it afforded us the luxury of taking our time and adding lots of detail. This was especially important in the heat of the summer when concrete kicks fast.


On the second concrete day we did the bulk of the tree area.  Since the bark has less detail we could be more ambitious. On the third day we did the roots which were tricky as it was hard to reach the back side and underneath.



The sculpted concrete was allowed to cure for a few workdays and through the weekend. Much of our staff is on holidays and so it was just Grant and Jeff who began the painting process. They managed to get a first coat of base colours on by the end of the first day. From here on the process will speed up as each successive coat of paint becomes easier. Stay tuned for more progress…


 

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

Dayna’s tree

We received a request for a very special sign recently. A family had lost their four year old daughter to cancer and wanted a sign for a park they were dedicating to Dayna. We came up with the idea of a tree. Dayna loved ladybugs and so four ladybugs will be hiding on the tree for other children to find. A small fairy door will be tucked between the roots.

With the design approved we started in on the build. As with many of our projects there will be a variety of materials used. The base is cut from a sheet of half inch thick steel. The file was designed in EnRoute and the MultiCam CNC Plasma made short work of this part of the project.
Then it was time for some sturdy structural steel. The tree frame will get a sturdy lifting point to handle the loading and placing on site. It has to be plenty strong as the tree will travel about two thousand miles by truck.

Once the basic structural frame was donee started welding up the pencil rod armature and tying on the galvanized lath. The double sided sign was designed in EnRoute a d routed on our MultiCam from three layers of 30 lb Precision Board. The steel structure is embedded in the centre layer of the sign. Once I had located the sign we can now continue building the top portion of the tree armature.

Today I designed the cutting files (in EnRoute) for the steel leaves. I then formed them and welded in half in steel rods for the stems. Once we finish grinding them we will send them off to the powder coaters.

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