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

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Sign Invitational Challenge 2017 - Part six

We spent the first part of the day attaching the expanded metal lath to the frame we welded up yesterday. The display piece was relatively shall compared to most of what we build but the detail was also smaller making the wiring job a bit tricky. Once the mesh was in place it was time to begin the sculpting process. The rock work and bill board face will get a thin first coat of sculpting epoxy and then a second coat which will have the details. But the wooden trestle bits will be sculpted in one go. I started with the trestle beams, pushing on a coat of epoxy over the 1" x 2" tube steel. I then used a sharpened popsicle stick to carve in the woodgrain.

The railroad ties were cut from 30 lb Precision Board using the bandsaw. I then pressed on a thin coat of sculpting epoxy over these and sculpted in the woodgrain using my trusty sharpened popsicle stick once more.

Tomorrow I'll glue on the track rails and mount the train engine. Stay tuned...