Mounting the Flutterbye sign

Assembling and mounting the Flutterbye sign proved to be easier than designing it. When we built the control booth and tree we left one piece of structural steel about 24" long. The slot I designed into the middle piece of the Flutterbye sign fit right over this piece of steel. I positioned the center piece of the sign over the back piece and glued and screwed the two pieces together using PB Bond 240 (one part) glue. We then hoisted this piece of the sign into position. 

I then spread the same glue on the back of the sign face, spritzed some water onto it (to activate it) and aligned it with the back pieces and then screwed them together. The glue in the slot will expand and fasten the sign permanently to the structural steel. We'll let it dry until tomorrow. Then I'll use my die grinder to even out the sides, top and bottom of the sign and add some subtle texture to the back as well. Once the screw holes are filled with the little sculpting epoxy it will be ready for paint.

Creating the Flutterbye sign

Like all of our signs the Flutterbye sign began with an idea and a sketch. At this point I'm not concerned very much about scale or details. The concept drawing helps me work out how we will build the project and also helps the customer visualize what they are getting. And as always the concept drawing is a way to up sell the project. Once the customer falls in love with the concept we can get down to brass tacks.

With the project and budget approved and the deposit in hand it is time to get to work. I used the original sketch as a starting point to trace out the vectors. The customer also needed to use this artwork in the creation of the rule signs and advertising for the project. These vectors were imported into EnRoute to create the routing files.

There were to be three layers to the sign. The front layer would have raised dome lettering. The middle layer would be a simple cutout with a slot machined into the piece to accommodate the structural steel support. The back piece was a simple flat cutout.

To build the file I first created a flat relief.

Then I modified this relief by adding the domed lettering.

As simple as that the sign was ready to be tool pathed and sent to the MultiCam.

We cut the sign from 30 lb Precision Board. It took about an hour and a half to cut. All three pieces were cut from 1.5" thick board.

Mounting the Flutterbye sign

Assembling and mounting the Flutterbye sign proved to be easier than designing it. When we built the control booth and tree we left one piece of structural steel about 24" long. The slot I designed into the middle piece of the Flutterbye sign fit right over this piece of steel. I positioned the center piece of the sign over the back piece and glued and screwed the two pieces together using PB Bond 240 (one part) glue. We then hoisted this piece of the sign into position. 

I then spread the same glue on the back of the sign face, spritzed some water onto it (to activate it) and aligned it with the back pieces and then screwed them together. The glue in the slot will expand and fasten the sign permanently to the structural steel. We'll let it dry until tomorrow. Then I'll use my die grinder to even out the sides, top and bottom of the sign and add some subtle texture to the back as well. Once the screw holes are filled with the little sculpting epoxy it will be ready for paint.

Making 3D features from 2D files

The plasma cutter will only cut 2D shapes. It is what the machine is designed for. But we love creating 3D shapes. To do that we have to put on our thinking caps and get creative. The answer is to combine different shaped flat pieces of steel to form 3D objects. These pieces we cut don't have to remain flat.

For the Flutterbye feature we needed some oversize leaves. They were to be made of plasma cut steel and then powder coated.

I designed the leaf shapes in EnRoute with an 'S' shaped slot in the middle. The slot was 1/2" wide to allow me to weld in a half inch steel rod. Two of the leaves have 'bug bites out of them.

I first bent the rods to match the 'S' curve. Then I bent the leaves with a gentle curse. The steel rod was then bent (in a second axis) to match the curved leaves. Then I tack welded the rod between the two haves of the leaves and once aligned fully welded both sides.Each leaf was bent and welded a little differently to make them all unique. A little grinding with a sanding disk made them ready to sent to the powder coaters.

The bug has landed.

Today, after completing the grinding and polishing of the flutterbye we housed it into position on the tree branch. We will attach the expanded lath around the bottom and then apply and sculpt the concrete before removing it once more. The giant bug will then be powder coated. After it comes back fro the powder coater we'll sculpt the body and finish the paint work.

With the fluttery perched on top the scale of the piece was truly evident. Once we complete the sculpting and painting of the tree this piece will be truly memorable. Tomorrow we will route and assemble the sign.

Combining many techniques for the best result

While we love to use our MultiCam CNC plasma cutter and router as much as we possibly can, there are still a lot of things we need to do the old fashioned way - by hand. The large sculptures are created by welding up a structural frame and then a sub frame (armature) of pencil rod. We'll hand tie lath to this subframe and then trowel on the concrete and carve it by hand too. The globe for the Bug Whirled sign is a good example of these procedures. We bent the steel on our shop built hydraulic bender and then welded it securely together. This in turn was welded to a supporting structure which was welded onto the heavy CNC plasma cut steel base.

A more complex example of this same procedure is the tree structure for the Flutterbye ride control booth. It has many hundreds of feet of welded steel. The base plate was plasma cut. Many components of the mechanical fluttery were also CNC plasma cut as well. This afternoon I designed the dimensional sign this which will be routed from 30 lb Precision Board.

One level done and starting the next

The concrete was cured enough this week to begin the painting process. The crew dug right in and first applied a primer coat. Once that had dried they started in on the first of two base coats. The last base coat will be blended. Then a series of glazes will make it come alive in a hurry.

While the painting crew did their magic to the sculpted portion we began work on the next section of the sculpture. We measured up our model to determine the size of the globe.

Then, using these measurements we bent up some square tubing and began building the frame for the globe.

This was lifted over the steam base plate with the chain fall and then a heavy duty armature for the bugs was welded onto place. This will be welded back into the structure of the globe. Once the structure is done we'll weld up the pencil rod armature and then begin applying the galvanized mesh which will reinforce the sculpted concrete. It is coming together quickly. Stay tuned for more...