WELCOME!


It is hard to believe that it was only seven 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 - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Through extensive research I quickly found out that with the relative simplicity of EnRoute, CNC routers were capable of just about anything imaginable. This journal will chronicle that journey to date and continue each week with two or three entries as we continue to explore just what is possible with this wonderful software... -dan

Friday, June 18, 2010

Progress and fixes

Progress on the doctor's sign has been somewhat sporadic as I've been busy with outside projects in the nice weather. With the approaching Sign Magic Workshop it's time to get it out of the way. It will be great eye candy for our guests. The doctor popped by today for a progress report and was delighted with the sign - even in its unfinished state.
I had worked last week to apply the primer and then the base coats of color. The dark green color was exactly matched to his building. I painted the woodgrain area a lighter, custom mixed shade of the green. Over this I would add two layers of glaze to highlight the grain to its best effect.
While the layers of paint cured I sculpted the rock work from fiberglass-reinforced-concrete. This will dry for three days before I paint it to look like real rock.
While the concrete cured I painted the pinstripes and ornaments using the light green color I had mixed for the base color of the woodgrain. For those with real sharp eyes you will see a slight modification in the sign. I had mistakenly routed an early version of the design. We had changed the bottom line from 'Inc.' to 'Since 1986' but I had grabbed the wrong vector file when I was creating the router file in EnRoute. The fix was simple and the file only took a few minutes to create... I used the die grinder to take off the incorrect lettering and then glued on a freshly routed panel in its place. The router makes such revisions relatively painless and very quick.
Next up is the GOLD!
-dan