Whistle Punk Hollow Adventure Golf project finished

Yesterday, we put the finishing touches to Whistle Punk Hollow Adventure Golf. It was a good sized project that kept us busy for a little better than five months. Many of the components were designed in EnRoute, and machined from 30lb Precision Board on our MultiCam. This allowed us to produce a better product, and much faster than if we had done it all by hand.

Here's a virtual tour of the finished project.

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our crew, the project turned out fabulous, on time and on budget.

Now it is on to the next! Stay tuned...

-dan

Rail plates

The rails for the train require plates and spikes to make them look authentic. These will be glued into place but once finished with the rust paint will look pretty convincing.

 The vectors were pretty easy and all created inside EnRoute.

I created a flat relief with a bevelled edge using the bevel tool by limiting the height.

Then the spike was added using the dome tool. Once again I limited the height to give it a little flat top.

I needed enough pieces to fill a 4'x8' sheet of 1" thick 30 lb Precision Board and EnRoute makes this easy with the duplication tool. I set the spacing to suit the tool size I was using.

There wasn't much detail so I got away with using a 3/8" ball nose bit and an 80% overlap. Some minor tool marks are visible but it's no big deal in this application. Once the tool paths were done I sent it off to the MultiCam.

The two halves of the rails will be glued up and painted. The rail plates will be added on top of each wooden rail tie.

I'll post some pics of the finished product when we are done. Stay tuned...

dan

Riding the rails

One of the last items we need to design and create for the WhistlePunk Hollow project are the train rails that will be up on the trestle. The train actually sits on some sturdy angle iron and the rails will be just for show. It made perfect sense to machine them from Precision Board rather than source and purchase the real thing. For the end closest to the public I decided to use 40 lb HDU and for the rest we'll stick to our usual 30 lb board. The rails are to be machined in halves from 1.5" thick Precision Board. We'll then glue the two halves together and finish with the Modern Masters rust paint that will make the rails impossible to tell from the real thing.

I started with the half rail profile and two straight lines three inches apart.

The rails would be created with the SWEEP TWO RAILS function in EnRoute. I like to create these kinds of files as a mesh file , tweak it as necessary and then merge it with a relief to get a routing file. Mesh files can't be routed until they are merged with a relief. The command prompts take us thropugh the process of creating a relief. First it asks me to select the first rail...

Then the second rail...

And then the profile is selected twice - once for each end.

I then created a vector box around the mesh and created a zero height relief. 

I then selected both the mesh and the zero height relief which allowed me to open the combine mesh and relief function. I made sure it was set to MERGE HIGHEST function.

I then used the slice function to create a rail profile relief without the flat background.

I routed twenty two rails for our project - eleven from each sheet of 1.5" thick Precision Board. We'll glue these up and then trim them up to get them ready for the rust paint which is on order.

Next up are the rail plates complete with spikes to 'fasten' the rails to the wooden ties. Stay tuned...

-dan

Onsite work

I absolutely love designing in EnRoute on the computer and then routing our pieces on the MultiCam but the truth is that this most often gets us about 50% of where we are going. It's a good thing I also love to do the hand work and finishing.

The WhistlePunk Hollow Adventure Golf project is now in it's final stages after more than six months of production. All of the features except the small signs we built with the help of the software and machine are now installed. We just got back from three days onsite, working long hours to tidy the job up. A few things simply had to be built in place because of their size and complexity. As we worked out in the weather the last three days I was reminded of how much more efficient it is to work in the comfort of our shop/studio where everything is where all the tools and materials are handy and the conditions perfect.

In the last three days we welded/lathed mudded and carved three bridges and a giant rock waterfall feature which is part of the logging train feature we built in our shop.

The sign over the gate which was completed some time ago also was installed.

While I was with the small crew in Squamish the ladies were busy in the shop putting the final glazes and paint on the small signs.

I'll be heading back to Squamish for a few more days next week to tidy things up there. I'll grab a bunch of shots of the finished project then. Stay tuned...

-dan

25 dimensional signs in a hurry.

The MultiCam has been kept running plenty of hours as the fronts and backs (and middles too) of the hole markers and rules signs have been cut.  The files were very large with all of the woodgrain detail and were cut overnight while I slept.

While the rule signs were being cut I laminated the hole markers. Each had a piece of 3/4" plywood laminated into the center to ad strength and also provide a secure attachment for the screws.

The next task is to laminate the fronts and backs of the rule signs. They too will have 3/4" plywood glued into the center. 

The next task is to use the die grinder to add woodgrain detail to the edges. Even with 30 lb Precision Board this job goes quickly. And then it is off to paint. Stay tuned for that process.

-dan

Number markers

May has been one of my most frantic months I can remember in some years. At long last I seem to be getting my feet under me once more. After a week of having no time to build files I have at last got back to my desk once more.

The WhistlePunk Adventure Golf signs are the next thing to be done. It is not often we do batch work where multiples of similar signs need doing but a project like the golf needs just that. EnRoute and our MultiCam are good at that sort of thing. With a reliable machine I set the machine in motion and then only check it once in a while to make sure things are going as they should. Best of all the files are large which means once I made the files the router will churn away for many hours. I'll then throw on another sheet of Precision Board and hit the go button one more time.

The hole markers were today's first task. The signs I am routing today are the fronts and backs. The middle layer which has a hole in the center for the plywood for mounting.

The signs are woodgrain with raised lettering.

As always it started with the vectors. I used my own font called 'quickdraw'. For those interested it is available at letterheadfonts.com

I created three different wood backgrounds. I then duplicated, rotated and flipped these backgrounds until I had 17 different plates to start with. I then duplicated and flipped them one more time to create the backs of the signs. I then spaced them out on my board and centered the numbers on the reliefs.

 

 I created the number outlines as flat reliefs. These reliefs were then positioned vertically to clear the woodgrain backgrounds.

The number outlines were then merged highest with the base relief. This had to be done one relief at a time as it can't yet be batched in EnRoute.

Lastly the numbers were added to the reliefs using the dome tool They have an upright edge (base) of 0.15".

Then it was time to send the file to the MultiCam to be routed from 30 lb Precision Board. The file will be routed using two passes. The rough pass was with a 3/8" ball nose bit at a 50% overlap. The final pass was using a 1/8" ball nose bit with an 80% overlap. Here's a pic of the rough pass in progress.

Tomorrow I'll be gluing all these signs up and setting the next batch in progress. Stay tuned...

-dan

Logging truck sign

The Shay Steam train at WhistlePunk Hollow has a companion piece as well. For the seventh hole feature we sculpted a logging truck. Like the log car on the locomotive we fashioned the sign face on our MultiCam with 30 lb Precision Board. The file was created in EnRoute in the very same way as the logging railroad car. This time the wording was a little simpler (no adventure golf) as it is a secondary sign. The balance of the truck was created from welded steel and fiberglass reinforced concrete.

The golf green will go under the giant log and the ruck will also function as a photo opportunity. Who could resist climbing into the cab for a picture?

I'll be delivering this piece on the weekend. The shop parking lot is full of other pieces almost done as well. We still have a lot of routing to do for the project with another 29 secondary signs to come. Stay tuned...

-dan

Train on the trestle!

Yesterday was an exciting day as it was time for the second delivery to the WhistlePunk Hollow project. Each time we make a delivery it is a fun drive with lots of waves, wows and thumbs-up along the way.

The log car was the first piece to be lifted onto the trestle which the client had built. It went up smoothly and without a hitch.

The engine was a little trickier to slide into place. Jeff, running the big excavator confidently and skillfully nudged it into position without a scratch. Our job on the trestle was to simply guide it into place between the marks.

The train looked spectacular in place, perfectly in scale with the trestle. It reads perfectly as you approach the golf from the town. 

It was smiles all around as I drove away.

-dan