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

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