Assembly of the Hazelnut Inn main sign – part one

The center portion of the sign would be a giant oval but we didn’t need the whole thing as the bottom would be tucked into a themed base and the top would be in the canopy of the tree. By cutting these off we would save a lot of Precision Board, an important consideration as this portion of the sign would be a whopping fourteen inches thick. 
The centre oval would be a concave dome and routed from 4″ thick precision Board. Because we were cutting the top and bottom off the oval we could get both pieces out of the same sheet. 
We would build the reliefs in four pieces. First we created a four inch flat relief, the thickness of our board.
We then hollowed out the middle of the flat relief using the dome tool and the subtract command.
we added texture to the inside dome in two ways. The first was done using a custom made bitmap.
To add a subtle randomness to the texture Peter used a parametric texture called ‘cellular texture.’
It ended up that we would cut much of it off but Peter added a base to the sign. This was done as a separate relief.

  He then created a lower height relief around the oval which would effectively cut the shape out in a fashion. Our bit was only 2.5″ long so it wouldn’t cut all the way through but it would give us a guideline and a head start.

We then merged the pieces to the outside ‘bowl’ one at a time using the replace command. (Please not that merge highest is shown in the picture below. The Replace command s the one on the fair right.

   

The outside of the oval would have another layer added. This would be undercut so we could place a ring of LED lights there to create a glow on the domed background behind the tree. This would be routed upside down. We first created a relief that was 2″ thick.

This relief was then modified by using the subtract command.

Lastly we created a 2″ filler layer. This was done as a simple offset cut file. We cut this in sections which would allow for the welded structural steel frame to be put inside the outer layers.

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

Hazelnut Inn main sign – part three

The center portion of the sign would be a giant oval but we didn’t need the whole thing as the bottom would be tucked into a themed base and the top would be in the canopy of the tree. By cutting these off we would save a lot of Precision Board, an important consideration as this portion of the sign would be a whopping fourteen inches thick. 
The centre oval would be a concave dome and routed from 4″ thick precision Board. Because we were cutting the top and bottom off the oval we could get both pieces out of the same sheet. 
We would build the reliefs in four pieces. First we created a four inch flat relief, the thickness of our board.
We then hollowed out the middle of the flat relief using the dome tool and the subtract command.
we added texture to the inside dome in two ways. The first was done using a custom made bitmap.
To add a subtle randomness to the texture Peter used a parametric texture called ‘cellular texture.’
It ended up that we would cut much of it off but Peter added a base to the sign. This was done as a separate relief.

  He then created a lower height relief around the oval which would effectively cut the shape out in a fashion. Our bit was only 2.5″ long so it wouldn’t cut all the way through but it would give us a guideline and a head start.

We then merged the pieces to the outside ‘bowl’ one at a time using the replace command. (Please not that merge highest is shown in the picture below. The Replace command s the one on the fair right.

   

The outside of the oval would have another layer added. This would be undercut so we could place a ring of LED lights there to create a glow on the domed background behind the tree. This would be routed upside down. We first created a relief that was 2″ thick.

This relief was then modified by using the subtract command.

Lastly we created a 2″ filler layer. This was done as a simple offset cut file. We cut this in sections which would allow for the welded structural steel frame to be put inside the outer layers.

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

Hazelnut Inn main sign – part two

With the design for the Hazelnut Inn finally in hand we set to work in EnRoute. I had done the design using Adobe Photoshop using my iPad as an interface. I based the lettering on an actual font but modified it a fair amount. Now that needed to be done using vectors. So Peter imported the jpg image of the sign and tweaked the lettering vectors using the image as reference.

Since we were going to add a fairly high bevel to the letters we knew they would be very thin and fragile. To change that we needed to thicken up the tapered ends of the letters. To do this Peter first did an inside offset of .05″ .

He then did an offset using the rounded selection. This made the letter ends rounded instead of pointed and therefore much stronger when it was routed.

Hw then created a second offset around the letters to create a shaped background.

Peter started with the lettering outline background. To add just a little more interest he used the bevel tool but limited the height of the relief. This created a bevel around the edge of the relief.
The lettering was created using the bevel tool with a base (vertical rise on the sides of the letters) before the bevel)

As always we check the 3D view to make sure we achieved the results that we were looking for.

Lastly Peter applied a texture to the letters. He used a parametric texture called cellar texture and tweaked the parameters to suit the sign.
Because of he thin portions of the letters we were a little concerned with the fragile nature of the sign. But we knew the perfect solution. We had a sheet of 2″ thick 48 lb Precision Board handy. Our routing speeds were the same as normal but the results were even more spectacular than normal. I love the denser version of Precision Board!

The sign looked great right off the router! 

As with many of our sign projects we opted for three layers. A welded steel 1″x1″ tube frame was laminated into a pocket which had been routed into the centre layer of 1″ thick Precision Board. A 33/4″ sheet would be laminated to the back effectively encasing the step structure. 

Two legs protruded out of the back of the sign for mounting.

We glue our signs using Coastal Enterprises PB Bond 240 glue – a one part urethane glue which is activated by a spritz of water mist.

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

Hazelnut Inn main sign – part one

The main sign for the Hazelnut Inn is undoubtably the most important as it will set the tone and be the first taste of the experience guest will have in this place. The final design came about after much discussion and many tries. It is said that designing for yourself is the hardest thing I’m a believer! But the end result is well worth the struggle.
From the first concept two things remained the same – the tree and the lettering. The challenge was how to make the sign read well, stay in balance with the tree and have it look good as a double sided sign.
For a while we played with the idea of including a scroll to fit in with the other signs for the inn. But our thoughts were that it made the lettering far too small for such an important sign.
So it was back to the original design and experimentation with different colours.

At this point we considered placing the tree inside a barrel with the lettering across both ends… 

We were then back to the oval shape but extended up a fair amount. The tree got a little more detail at this point and went from a plasma cut silhouette to a full 3d sculpt. We were getting closer.

Then we pulled the whole name of the sign to the bottom of the sign. Everyone liked this idea much better but all felt the sign still needed something to take it over the top.

In the end it was a project I did twelve years ago that inspired the solution. That was the door to my studio. We decided to still start the tree inside an oval but have the leaf canopy extend over the top of the sign.
So I redrew the design one last time and this time everyone in our family immediately said YES! In the next post in this series we’ll begin the work of designing the routing file. Stay tuned…

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

Under Hill delight

As is most often the case we started off with a concept drawing. I brought this into EnRoute and traced over it to create the vectors needed to make the reliefs and for the plasma cut parts as well.

The lettering was curved to the shape of the scroll using the warp tool. The only thing not settled was the ornamentation on the scroll as the debate had not yet been decided.

I handed the vectors over to Peter at this stage. He created a second and ultimately a third version of the lock vectors and built the reliefs for two of these versions before they settled on the second one. The lock was built in three layers with structural steel through the middle. The loop of the lock was welded 2″ pipe – very much overkill but in scale for this lock. The top layer of the lock was built as a flat relief and then modified using an oval. A custom bitmap was used to generate the inlay texture on the front of the lock.

The scroll centre was created as a flat relief and then modified using a large oval The top of it is cut off in this screen shot. In this screen shot the ovals used to modify the end poses of the scroll are shown.

The folded ends of the scroll were created in the same fashion, as flat reliefs which were then modified using an oval vector and the dome tool. One further thing Peter did was to create a pocket for the upper piece in each segment so they fit together.  He did this by creating a flat relief and then merging lowest with the piece that needed to be modified.

The pieces for together perfectly on the screen and also after they were routed from 30 lb Precision Board.
While the router was working Peter was busy with the plasma cutter making the pieces for the key.
 Once they were cut from 1/8″ plate he shaped the leaf pieces by first running them through a roller and then pounding on them judiciously with a hammer. Once they were formed he welded them into place on the end of a pipe. Various other bits and a small steel ball completed this assembly.
The key was then welded to the top of a 5/8″ rod and this was inserted through the layers of the routed piece of Precision Board which was laminated around it. The scrollwork was then inserted into the slots cut into the sides of the banner and welded into place.
We used a little Abracadabra Sculpting Epoxy to form some details on the key and to also gill any holes or gaps we created while we were working on the metalwork. The lock was welded to the bottom and everything was checked over and final grinding was done. Two 5/8″ steel rods were welded to the back side for mounting and these were temporarily welded to a stand. We were then ready for the painting to begin.

First off we applied a primer to the metal. Then we used Coastal Enter

prises FSC-88 primer to add a little more texture to the sign. This makes glazing much easier later.

As always we applied a minimum of three base coats of paint before going on to our blends and glazing. The result was a very nice little sign for the centre inn.

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