Playing with light.

Today was a day for learning. A few days ago I routed the TV surround. I've been itching to do more work on the piece but things were just too busy until today. The first puzzle was the green liquid in the tube beside the TV. I wanted it translucent so I could light it from the bottom but was stumped as to what to use. I mentioned my dilemma to my friend, Shawn Cherewick of Protowerx Design Inc ( www.protowerx.com ) who is working on the very cool lighting for the board room table (more on that soon). He mentioned that his daughter had created a candle using Jell Wax. The wax was clear and formed bubbles when you poured it.  I rushed to our local craft store and purchased the needed supplies.  It took a couple of tries to get the color right. I wanted translucent but not clear. The LED at the bottom of the tube needed to throw light but not be visible through the liquid. In the end I filled the tube, let it harden a little and then poured it out. I then filled the center of the tube with clear wax. The top portion of the tube is a little dark but the light shines the way I wanted near the bottom. I decided it would pass muster.

Then it was on to the TV frame. I hogged out enough space for the Heico LED's in the bottom of the gages and drilled them through to the back. Then I hollowed out a raceway to thread a hidden wire to all the lights, angling them up at a 45 degree angle. I strung the wire through the frame, threading on the Heico LED lights for the lighted tube and the gages. It looked pretty cool when I fired it up for the first time.

I'll let the epoxy harden overnight before the next steps. I'll design and print up the faces of the gages tomorrow and glue them in along with the acrylic lenses. Finally everything will get a coat of paint and aging patina. 

One more thing I have to learn is how to photograph the bright LED's. They look so much better in real life.

-dan

Down to the details

As we wrap up the painting in the MultiCam board room I am turning my attention to the details which will abound in the room. Last week I whipped up the door trim which instantly turned the doors from ordinary to something befitting this room.

On the inside I used the MultiCam to cut some MDF in a shape mirroring the white board door. I fasted this to the plain door and then used the circular hole in it as a template to cut the portholes in the door. Another simple shape I had routed formed the inside and outside trim with the plexiglass sandwiched in between. A few dozen rivets cut from 30 lb Precision Board finished things off. The doors will be painted a copper color with lots of weathered patina to age it appropriately.  The outside of the door is relatively pain with only the portholes sneaking into the hallway. I suspect a colorful starfish will slither out into the hallway too - much to the chagrin of the interior designer.

Yesterday the owner brought in the large LED TV which will be mounted to the end wall opposite the white board. I measured the big TV carefully and took notes too. It simply can't be left stock as it has to fit into the theme of the room. Over the next days I will be building a frame which will surround it. The key is to not block any venting or disrupt the operation of the TV controls. Here's the concept drawing.

 Since the gages and the liquid tube will be lit with Heico LED's I had to figure everything in as I designed. The vector and routing files were created in EnRoute. There will be an 'M' embossed into the face of the gages just to continue the theme to the max. I'll print some faces for the gages and glue them in as we assemble the TV surround, along with some plexiglass.

I'll let the file run on the MultiCam as we go to spend one last day at the site before the cork floor goes in on Monday. There is an extra gage for the white board in the same routing file.

The room is gaining notoriety locally as word spreads from the trades working on site. Each day we get more and more folks visiting to get a first hand look. The owner is bringing every prospective client by to look things over and show them the amazing things that can be done with a MultiCam. 

It is working beyond expectations already - just as I figured it would. Build it and they will come!

-dan

Let there be light!

Yesterday as we discussed new color options for the board room walls I insisted that all concerned take a look at the submarine centerpiece before final opinions were formed. We jumped in the car and travelled thirty minutes back to our shop to see what I was excited about. The magic happened the instant I plugged in the sign. Everyone fell in love with the brilliant blue reflections the LED lights formed on the sign. The metallic pearl paints of the background bounced the light around in a spectacular fashion.

Now we will seek to duplicate that same look in the big room with blue LED lighting around the tiny valance under the large pipes. I can hardly wait to throw the switch when they are done!

LED lighting is now going to be a big part in future routed dimensional signs we do...  imagine the cool effects we can achieve!

-dan

Hang ups

One question I often get asked is 'How do I hang our signs?'  The answer of course is varied depending on the nature of the project but often I will use what I know as a french cleat. Basically, a board is ripped at a 45 degree angle and one side is mounted securely to the wall - the other to the sign. When the sign is hung the 45 degree angle of the boards keeps the sign securely in place, tight against the wall and also level without worry.

In this case the engineer and building inspector wants everything twice as secure as what I would consider normal. The sign is heavy (about a hundred pounds) and it is being mounted to a drywall surface. When I designed the sign I put a recesses surface into the back to allow for the bracket and wiring. I cut two pieces of half inch plywood to shape and two french cleats (four pieces) at a 45 degree angle. One piece of plywood was glued and screwed to the sign, the other will be mounted to the wall in similar fashion. Then I leveled my sign on the workbench and mounted the cleats to the sign using a level. I fastened the cleats to the wall plywood, making sure they fit into the sign properly.

I mounted the wall bracket securely to a stack of Precision Board in order to mount my sign while I worked on it. Rather than work on a sign flat I prefer to do it with the sign sitting as it will when it is done. In this fashion I can see how the lighting and shadows affect the coloring and shading we are doing. When we are ready to mount the sign I'll remove the bracket from its temporary home and glue and screw it to the wall before mounting the sign permanently.

The sign is now base coated, waiting for the glazes which come next.

-dan

Side details and other stuff

I finally had some time to return to the little submarine project which will be the centerpiece for the board room. With EnRoute and our MultiCam we had created all the surface texture in fine style. With a little planning I could have created files for the top, bottom and sides and then routed them. This would have meant it would only need a little handwork to blend them. I've done this in the past with good results. On this project I wasn't sure how deep I was going to go with the sub on it and all. So I decided to do it by hand this time. The sign had been laminated up from many layers of one inch material. I had used up scraps saved for this purpose.

To bring the texture around I like to use an air powered die grinder. Like the router it vaporizes even the 30lb Precision Board in a hurry. I used a tapered bit with a round end so I could mimic the grain on the front.  I did the top first, keeping things relatively flat. The sub has to sit there. Then I started bringing the grain over the end and around to the front - matching both grains. Diagonally works well and adds interest.

I kept things a little bumpy and rough to match the front. The object is to not be able to see where the router left off and the hand work began.

Even the bottom got the treatment. It's not likely that anyone will see it, but if they make the effort to bend over and look there they won't be disappointed. I spent about an hour adding hand texture to the piece in total.

Then it was time to add some sea life. For our sculpting we use an epoxy sculpting medium. Its a two part putty - not unlike plasticene which I played with as a kid. Only this stuff gets rock hard in a few hours. I did the biggest element first. the star fish is simple - five legs with little balls of sculpt for decoration. 

Then I pressed on little balls of sculpt in random clumps. These would become our barnacles.

To sculpt the barnacles I use a custom made tool...  simple really. I break off the end of a stir stick and then sharpen it like a pencil with a little flat point on the end. This is pushed into the center of each ball of sculpt and then used to push the edges down a little to create a rough texture.

And as simple as that the sculpture part is done. I let everything harden overnight and then applied a coat of Coastal Enterprises water based primer. I used my brush to apply a simple stipple pattern to the starfish.

Now the piece is ready for final paint at last. The heavy grains and textures will make it easy to add lots of rich color and aging. When we are done it will look like we brought this up from the deep and hung it on the wall. I can hardly wait!

-dan

VIDEO!!!

I've been getting lots of requests for video lately as some things simply don't translate well in the written word. My good friend Donna came over to my shop today with her little camera and we did a quick video session. Then I opened my iMac movie editor for the first time ever and gave it a whirl. I'm learning lots and it will get better with time, but here goes the first one in regard to the LED's for this project.

The LED's I'm using are called VIRGOlites from Heico Lighting www.heicolighting.com. They were purchased online from their distributor   www.futureelectronics.com  

-dan

More progress...

I couldn't resist one more shot tonight as I put a few more pieces together late today. There are still plenty more details to come but it is coming together quickly now. After tomorrow it should be pretty much down to final paint and assembly. 

As the many, many pieces are built for the board room the excitement builds both here in my shop and for everyone watching the process.  I can hardly wait to get onto the worksite and begin putting it all together. 

-dan 

I love it when a plan comes together!

While the MultiCam continues to churn out the last of the pieces for this sign/display piece I continue to make progress on the sub itself. The outside molding is well underway and it is now looking more like a submarine all the time - or at least how I would build a sub. At each stage of the construction I like to assemble all the pieces and see how they are working in relation to the whole project. Since the inside of the sub is so visual I decided to keep more glass clear. The side fins will now be to the rear portion of the sub. The electric blue LED lighting does exactly as I envisioned with the lighting being well hidden. The warm reds play against the cool blues in a dramatic fashion. 

I can hardly wait to continue with the project but first I have to do some organizing in the shop. It's getting hard to get from one end to the other with all the projects on the go. Stay tuned for more progress soon...

-dan

We have ignition...

This morning I delivered and installed a sign. The temps are well above what we normally enjoy in these parts and I got plenty warm in the sunshine. I decided I would reward myself by working in the cool shop and finish the interior of the submarine. I was anxious for the LED lights had arrived yesterday - days ahead of my planned schedule. I used sculpting epoxy to create the details. For the little rivets around the front and rear bulkheads I used little googly eyes from a dollar store. They were pressed into the wet primer. With the warm temps and a good fan the primer dried pretty fast - as did the coats of gold colored paint.

Then it was time for the moment of truth... how would it look with the LED's, new territory for me. The LED's I am using are contact-less miniature units. I just slide them over the wire and position them as needed. I can use as many or as few as I need. Each unit has two bright bulbs and I used three on this project... one underneath between the frame rails, one behind the seat and one behind the gages in the dash. When I fired them up I was DELIGHTED!!!!

I'll let things cure good and hard overnight and then begin final assembly tomorrow...  

-dan

Amazing stuff!

It's amazing! I'm not talking about the stuff I create, but rather the tools I get to use. I've met many of the folks who make MultiCam routers. The brilliant fellows who wrote the EnRoute program are good friends of mine. They've done their best to explain how these things work. And yet each time I fire up my CNC router I find myself amazed as it jigs and jogs through Precision Board leaving a perfect part behind each and every time. Today the MultiCam is whittling the last of the sub parts as I type. It runs just fine - I don't need to watch it. It will run all day on various projects while I do other things.

Last night I created the files for the last bits of the submarine. I did it all in EnRoute starting by tracing the shapes over a digital photograph. I did a screen capture of the vectors when I was done.

I used the profile I had created with vectors to revolve to create the shapes on the top hatch and the nose cone. I like to use meshes rather than simply add to a relief as they can be manipulated (which I didn't have to do this time)

Once I was happy I created two zero reliefs and merged the meshes to them. These were higher than my 1" substrate but I would simply slice them later. In EnRoute 4 pro it is a simple operation - so simple even I can easily handle it.

To do a project like this I like to build each shape individually and then merge them when I'm happy. The hinge for the rudder was a simple rectangle domed at a 90 degree angle. I then created four zero height rectangles and merged lowest to get rid of the bits I didn't want.

I built each piece, sliced and then arranged the cones then merged them to a large zero height relief. In a few minutes I had all the pieces I needed for the sub. Before I applied the tool paths I checked a top view and the 3D view. Everything looked like it should. Then I sent them to the MultiCam for production. 

Then of course as I kicked the machine in gear I couldn't resist watching for a bit as it did the magic thing.... all without any help from me of course... 

I'm still amazed in Yarrow...

-dan

Sub in a bottle...

As I travelled last week I built this thing in my head over and over, each time getting more detailed than the last. When it came time to actually begin doing the work I knew pretty much what I wanted. The file was created entirely in EnRoute. The bulk of it was vectors although I did throw a bitmap texture on the bulkhead behind the seat. The cone piece was sliced to fit inside the 1" material. I carefully left spots for the LED lighting modules which I ordered today.

The pieces were roughed out with a 3/8" ball nose bit on the MultiCam, then followed with a fine pass and my 1/8" ball nose bit. The files were relatively small and went very quickly.

Before I cleaned the edges I test fit everything. I knew it was accurate, but I wanted to see if the ideas which I had in my head proved practical in real life. Things were coming together pretty quickly and looking like I had dreamed them.

Once the edges were cleaned up and the dust blown off I glued everything up with a quick set epoxy. Then it was time for the moment of truth...  would it all fit inside the glass bowl? I needn't have worried for everything fit perfectly - just as I had planned. Model making has never been so much fun!

Now it's time to craft and install all the detail as well as paint the inner pieces. With the LED's on the way I should have just enough time to get it finished before the next step. Stay tuned...

-dan

How to build a submersible...

Many years ago, back when I first got a lathe I decided to build a model of a submersible vessel. I started with a fishing float I had found. I used wood, paper, paint, bits of wire and a bunch of other things to craft it. The rivets were those little plastic, googly eyes I found in a craft store. Its been on my shelf ever since. The model has inspired a number of projects through the years for theme parks.

When I got our MultiCam router, one of the first projects I tackled was a submarine model. Its a half model and hangs in our shop bathroom. I explored the limits of what I was capable of at the time. 

Now with the debut of this new project and a submarine theme room it is time to explore the subject one more time. Only this time there are far fewer limitations. It's time for some real fun!As always I started with some sketches. These were done at 30,000 feet as I flew to Illinois last week. The first is the entire sign as it will be seen from the front. I've noted where we will insert some LED's and sculpt some sea life. We'll be going all out this time.

The sub itself will be somewhat similar to the previous models. But this time the glass will be kept clear and I will sculpt a full interior which will be lit for full effect. I established the proportions with this sketch.

The interior, like the rest of the submarine will be  combination of CNC work and a little hand sculpting.

I scratched my head for a little bit as to how best sculpt the project, specifically the interior. I decided I would first buy a fishbowl and then insert the interior into it (after it was finished). The sub would then be formed around the bowl. After some searching I located a suitable glass bowl. I've measured things up carefully and next I will build the files I need to do the routing. I'll be covering that task in the next installments.

Stay tuned...

-dan