Speaking from Experience: Darts anyone? Part two

WELCOME!

It is hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one of these machines - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Along with the CNC router I discovered the wonderful material called Precision Board and the glues, primers and other companion products they offer. Since then we have gone through many tons of the material using it in most signs and projects we tackle. This journal will chronicle our many adventures both past, present and future. I'll talk from the perspective of someone who pushes these products to the creative limit on a daily basis. I'll be adding to the stories two or three times each week. -dan

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Darts anyone? Part two

The second part of the project was the frame that would go around the dart board. Yesterday's project fit perfectly in the center to take full advantage of the material. The vectors were created in Illustrator and then imported into EnRoute.

The circle frame was domed slightly upwards. with a raised rim, inside and out.

I would put two textures in the donut, The first is one I call klingon chicken. It is a great random pattern.When I applied the bitmap I also selected the raised lettering to exclude it from these areas.

The second bitmap texture was one I use a lot called splotches. This randomized things just a little more. I also applied this texture to the British flag that is on the top.

I had built the British flag as a separate relief which I now merged highest with the base relief.

The relief was not ready to be tool pathed and sent to the MultiCam.

The file was ran with a 3/8" bit at a 50% overlap as a rough pass and a 1/8" ball nose bit with an 80% overlap for the final pass. As you can see in the photo below I tucked the crown into the corner to use up the small bit of wasted material there.

Tomorrow I'll be gluing it all together and gestating in on the painting process.

-dan