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 13, 2015

Looking forward to a great year!

As the New Year rolls in we like to look back at what we've done and also to the future, hoping we can do things even better. This blog is the same. I look forward to hearing comments and suggestions from our readers. The comments on this blog have been turned off because of all the spam that we were getting but feel free to email me with your comments.  dan@imaginationcroporation.com

From feedback I have in hand I have already planned a few things.

I'll write a series of articles about how we picked the router and software we continue to use to this day.

It has been a little over eight years since we got our first MultiCam. I still remember how daunting the purchase was. It was a LOT of money and there were so many choices. I wanted to make sure I did it right the first time! The specs and options of the machine were numerous and the machine part terms almost like a foreign language. Every machine salesman of every brand I looked at had the perfect machine for me even though it was plain to me the rookie that they were very different. It took us months to sort it all out. In terms of software everyone recommended what they were using, mainly because they were familiar with it. A series of blogs on these subjects will give you my perspective as a user based on what I found out then and what I know now.

I'll also write a few articles about the high density urethane we love to use along with the glues and primers. How-to's are great but sometimes the why's are just as important.

I'll also go back to basics with the creation of router files using the software.  I sometimes forget how daunting it can feel when you first open EnRoute. But believe me I know for prior to owning a router I never used vectors, never even fired up a plotting machine of any kind.  And trust me when I say that if I can do this kind of work anybody can.  But we first have to learn to walk, then work up to a run before we fly to the heavens.

I've had some requests to show some of the other things that EnRoute does so well like rapid texture and the parametrics. These are things we don't use too often in our shop so I just may recruit some help to show these to their best advantage.

I'll probably do a series of posts on other things too, never before covered on this blog. How I come up with ideas and designs, how we market our work and how to build a business doing dimensional work are all important - just as important as learning to do the work in the first place. We need to earn the money to pay for all this fancy equipment that is so fun to use!

Each time we post a video the response is always very positive so I'll do my best to put together more of those.

Again I ask for feedback from the readers to help shape the direction the blog goes from here.

-dan

dan@imaginationcroporation.com