Wood Badge Sign for the Scouts

[Terry Jones]

This is my latest project from the weekend. Troop 16 asked if I would be able to make a sign from an wood badge image designed from one of the scout masters? I said sure, send it over. I was able to place it in my Aspire 2.5 and out popped this sign. This is in 3/4" pink EPS with a 1/2" MDF backer for rigidity and a surface to hang the sign from. It will be hung in the dining hall at Camp Preston Hunt in Texarkana, Arkansas. We have an artist in the troop who paints photo realistic scouting scenes for special events. She will be painting all of the pieces of the sign and gluing it together prior to presentation. I had asked for the photos of the final piece and I will then post them.

[eugene king]

Very good... Where are you located... Would love to be able to do that good of work.

[Terry Jones]

Thank you Eugene. My shop is in Texarkana, Texas

[dan nelson]

Really like the axe

[Mayo Pardo]

Sharp looking sign!

Could you let us know what bit you used, speeds and feeds?
Did you cut full depth in one shot or step down?

The few times I used the pink foam, my bits wanted to pull out chunks
and I found it difficult to get a clean edge.

[Devin Fahie]

Awesome sign. When you are talking about "pink foam" are you referring to the foam you purchase at Home Depot for insulating walls?

[jack jarvis]

Yes...it is the rigid sheet insulation usually in in .25 to 2" thicknesses. Home depot carries one color and lowes carries the blue.

[Terry Jones]

Mayo,
Sorry I have been out of pocket for a couple of days. You asked about bits, feeds and speeds. Here you is what I used.

Pocked tool path .25 upcut 16000 Feed @ 5.0ips Plunge 1.25
Finishing .25 ballnose 12000 Feed @ 3.0ips Plunge 1.5
Letter Profile .125 endmill 16000 Feed @1.5ips Plunge 1.25
V-Carving 60 deg .25" 16000 Feed @2.5ips Plunge 0.5
Cutout .25 Upcut 16000 Feed @5ips Plunge 1.25

I hope this helps. The pink foam came from Home Depot. I then cut out 1/2 MDF circle and glued it to the back of the circle of foam with tight bond III wood glue. this will then have something solid to attach to the wall in the dinning hall. I did some finishing sanding with 220 and a block very lightly on the edges to make it look better after it was mounted to the MDF.

[Mayo Pardo]

Thanks for the feed and speed info.
It's faster than I imagined - especially on the letter profile and the cut out.
In the past when I tried faster router speeds I would get the foam melting to the bit.

I'll have to do some more experimenting because I'm still not happy with my edge quality when I cut using anything other than a roto zip tile cutting bit, and that leaves parallel lines along the edge. It's not objectionable for the work I'm doing but still I would prefer a smoother edge.

[Chuck Keysor]

Hello Mayo. Would you mind contacting me? I live in Elgin, and have a 5' x 12' PRT alpha and Aspire, and have been in low gear getting going. I would like to hear from you if you are so inclined, since you are so close to Elgin. You can phone me at 847-622-1835. Thanks, Chuck