Speaking from Experience: A box with a whole lot of 'space'

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

Sunday, October 25, 2015

A box with a whole lot of 'space'

Today I fired up EnRoute to build the files for the sides of the box. Building files for the Plasma cutter is so much simpler than the CNC router. I only have to think in two dimensions. I imported the sketch I had drawn of the four sides and then used the vector drawing tools to accurately recreate the files. Because all of the lines were the same width I simply drew all of the single lines and then used the offset tool to create thickness. I neglected to grab a screen shot of the vector lines. Sorry.

Once I had the vectors I sent the CNC files to the MultiCam plasma cutter and watched the magic happen...

The plasma cutter sliced through the 3/16" thick mild steel plate like butter and in only a few minutes per piece the cutting was done. They all turned out perfect and require only a teeny bot of sanding to get rid of minimal dross. I suspect it will be a whole lot more work to grind the paint off the two pieces and also smooth out the welds on the corners.

I decided that the corners of the box are to be rounded which I'll accomplish by welding in a quarter section of pipe This meant I needed to make the sides a little thinner on the edges. While I had the plasma cutter all warmed up I also cut the ODYSSEY lettering.