The contractor and his team of carpenters are making great progress on the new house. Our crew has been busy assembling all the pieces we cut so they could install them on the house. Today they started building our cut and laminated pieces into the dormer walls and then hand cut rafters to form the curved roofs. I bought it might be a good idea to post it here so everyone could see how things are fitting together. 

We cut the six layers of 3/4″ plywood to form the header over the window. The eyebrow facia is formed with two layers of 3/4 plywood. 

The back dormer is similar but with a much more spectacular view!

Tomorrow the balance of the framing should be done and the window assembly should be sheeted as well.

Stay tuned for more pictures as we finish,

-dan

It isn’t often in our shop that we use our router as a jigsaw or cut plywood rather than Precision Board, but when we do it churns out a mountain of parts in a hurry. Today we were cutting curved headers, eyebrows and beams. We whipped through a pallet of 3/4 plywood in no time. Now comes the arduous task of putting the many pieces together! The router room is in desperate need of cleaning too when we get a spare minute.

After a day of building cut files I’m eager to do some 3D work once more!

-dan

Six dimensional signs are now up in front of the new house. These signs proudly advertise our contractor’s and supplier’s involvement in our house project. Typical flat coroplast signs simply aren’t allowed.and more signs are being made all the time. The sign that went up today was for the great folks that are doing the spray foam in the ceiling. I posted a how to a few days ago.

Our electrician asked for a sign yesterday. As with most of the signs we have made, he had an existing logo to work with. We will translate this flat design into a three dimensional sign. This one will be a fun one!

I first recreated the vectors in Illustrator and then imported them into EnRoute. The electrical cords would be created in EnRoute with the ends of the cords being hand sculpted and coming away from the sign.

I first manipulated the cord vetoers to give them the right curves.

Using the offset tool I created a second parallel line.

The parallel lines were then joined. The rectangular relief was created first.

I added a texture to the whole surface using a bitmap called splotches from the TEXTURE MAGIC collection.

The letter outlines ampersand were created as separate flat reliefs of different heights. I then nudged them into position vertically in the front view and merged highest with the background relief. The electrical cords were created as separate reliefs using the dome tool.

Once the separate reliefs were merged with the background I modified the relief by adding the domed letters.

Lastly I created the bottom lettering as separate reliefs, nudged them into place vertically and then merged them highest with the background relief. 

The sign was ready for tool pathing and then to be sent to the MultiCam. It like all the others will be routed from 30 lb Precision Board. This one is a little different however as I will have the armature for the electrical cord welded back into the sign support structure. It is going to be fun! 

Stay tuned to see how it comes together…

-grampa dan

One of the great things about using a program like EnRoute with a CNC router is how fast we can produce something and then modify it if necessary. Changes are simple and quick. Today I designed the first sample eyebrow for over the house windows. Thee process was relatively easy. Routing was a simple offset cut using a 3/8″ cutter.

I started with a window file I had created some weeks ago when we were creating the window bucks or forms. I used a rectangle as a point of reference to get the curves right. The first step was to create a segmented vector line that would become the curve of the facia board.

I used the point editing tool to curve the vectors to the shape I wanted. I would create one half of the eyebrow and then duplicate and flip it to make the other side.

The offset tool created a second line eight inches from the first. I then joined the ends to complete one half of the facia board.

The facia board half was then duplicated, flipped and aligned.

The two halves of the facia were then joined making them ready for the next step.

I created a new rectangle that was ninety-five inches wide. I positioned it over the facia board and then used the jigsaw tool to cut the facia in pieces so it could be routed from a 4’x8′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood.

I created enough pieces for two layers with staggered joints so they could be laminated together to form a strong facia board.

It took almost as long to warm up the MultiCam as it did to cut all the pieces. As always everything fir perfectly.

I could hardly wait to see how they looked up on the roof. We fastened them into position to see how it looked.

After some discussion it was decided that the eyebrows needed to be a little wider with a slightly shallower curve. It was back to the drawing board with EnRoute. It was a simple matter to recreate the vector curve and then stretch it out as needed. I went through the same steps to create a new routing file.

Tomorrow I’ll route the new version of the eyebrow facia and fasten it into place, confident we get it right this time. Practice makes perfect and a router makes it EASY!

 -dan