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

Monday, January 20, 2014

Flip side

Generally most sign shops don't worry much about the back side of signs that they make. At most the back side might get a coat of primer and occasionally a matching color to the front. We take a different approach. We finish the backs of our signs with as much care as the front. In our shop frames and mounting brackets are laminated inside the sign between layers of Precision Board. This reduced clutter in a hurry. If the sign is single sided we will at least texture the back and paint it the border or face color as applicable. Many times we do even more than that. Signs almost always show from the back at some angle on the property. One of our current signs is a good example. Everyone will undoubtably notice the sign from the front as they approach the theme park attraction.


While we could have probably gotten way with doing a flat back side on the sign I knew it would look ten times better finished all the way around. There was no need to put the lettering on the rear of the sign and in fact lining up the two sides of the lettering wouldn't have worked out without a panel behind the lettering. But a little extra work on texturing and painting along with some fun details like the hollow hub and prairie dog tail add a whole lot of interest in a hurry.


This extra effort instantly takes the sign over the top and in fact is the type of thing that separates our work from what most other shops might make. This extra attention to detail also allows us to charge premium prices for our work. That is simply good business.

-dan