First sign

[guitarwes]

This is my first "real" sign I've done since getting my Bot
in May of this year. Used 1" Signfoam for the Vcarved portions and
1-1/2 pine for the background. I was happy as the customer was happy on the way it turned out. Took a lot longer to finish it than I initially figured it would but was a great learning experience all the way around.

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[chiloquinruss]

Yep finishing is always a little longer than we remember from the last time we did a job! I like the layout it balances well. Congrats. Russ

[guitarwes]

I did the inserts separately because I thought it would be easier to handle/paint them and touch up the letters later. I painted the signfoam inserts black and let dry. I then spread out and taped down a piece of plastic dropcloth to my work table and painted it with a coat of white then I pressed the face of each insert down into it. It worked ok but not like I thought, still had a good bit of touch up to do. The little squirrely doodad in the middle was a pain in the butt to trace because it was so shallow and the white filled up the carving when I dipped it.

I left about 60thousanths clearance around the inserts for movement. Glued them into place with Liquid nail Max. The larger part of the sign is made from 2X8" pine that I joined and pocketed out. All painted with premium exterior latex.

[Bob Eustace]

Very nice work for a first attempt.

[dmidkiff]

Good looking sign.

[joe]

Wes,

Good first start.

Isn't this a real challenge! Wondering what you used for the Vcarve program. From here it doesn't give the effects of a V bit.

The technique is a rather delicate one. I always make my first pass a little too shallow and come back a second time, or two, to get the delicate effects. If I make a mistake by going too deep sometimes I solve the problem by pulling our my belt sander, taking off ever so lightly, the top surface.

Keep up the good work.

Joe
www.normansignco.com

[guitarwes]

I was hoping Joe would reply (gulp!). Thanks for the comments. I always enjoy looking at your work and learn lots from it.

I carved this with Vcarve Pro using a .5" 60deg vbit in Lobster font 3ips move and plunge. Cut really smooth. I guess it's my camera angles and small letter size coupled with the fact that it's painted jet black that it's not showing the effects of the vbit. The deepest parts of the letters are about .3" deep probably.

[joe]

Wes,

Seeing what your doing reminds me how I started routing. These skills requires plain old hard work. At one point I set a half dozen letters on my screen and Vcarved them all at once. Amoung this group I had fat wide letters along with delicate thick and thin fonts. It was an eye opener. The major lesson was which bit gave the best results. I ended up with a 110 degree bit. Even today that's my favorite. On broad letters I'm fond of the 150. Both the 60 and 90 cut too deep on wide letters but most important was they didn't read at distance.

Let us know how you're doing.