Sparks A Flyin

[joe]

The photo attachment (P&W)is a sign I completed last Friday for a couple of attornery made from Extira.

I had pre-painted the top surface with two coats of expoxy and that kept a very sharp edge on the V Carve area's. Really Sharp edges.

One concern I have was the sparks I would see coming from the materials. There must be something in Extira other than wood.

Has enyone else seen this happen?

Joe

[Brady Watson]

Joe,
What color were the sparks? If they were blue, chances are it could just be static. (Sounds like an odd ?, I know...) How well is the Bot grounded to earth?

-Brady

[bjenkins]

Joe,

I'd love to see the photo...

[harold_weber]

I've often seen sparks while sawing particle board. I believe the source is sand. The sand is part of the dirt that is not removed when the tree is "de-barked" at the mill. If you have ever watched the process, you can see that not all the bark is removed.

[joe]

Bud,

Me too.

I feel sostupid when it comes to getting my photo's on this forum. Spent a good hour last nigh but can't get them small enougn. I promise I will keep trying.

Here is a real eye opener.

Terry, my assistant, prepaired a couple of Extira panels with Ronan, block out last week. That proved to be a real mistake.

Today we began the final finishing on a couple of panels that had been shaped and carved, and painted. I was laying down some cut vinyl, with premask. When removing the mask up came all the paint. I mean 80 percent. That paint just rolled off of the Extira, like it never belonged there.

I call the manufacture and they confessed that they didn't know exactly how to prep Extira. They thought some sort of sealer was necessary. Now I was taling to Tom who was the expert. He expalained that they use a heat treating in their process, but was not sure about the raw sheets sold.

Go Fish, now I think this can be solved, but for us folks in the trenches, it is like sending us aimo with no powder in it.

Will keep on trying to post photo's

J

[Brady Watson]

Joe,
You might want to try the white pigmented shellac that Zinser makes. I have nothing but good things to say about the stuff. It adheres to darn near anything, and I frequently use it to prime bare steel. It dries quickly and after about 30 minutes, you cannot scrape it off with your finger nail. I also like it because it is alky based, and not laquer or some other nasty solvent. You might want to give that a try on a sample piece. If it works on steel that had grease on it...I'd be willing to bet it would be a winner in your situation.

-Brady

[joe]

Brady,

I received the priming information yesterday and it confirms that there is a need for a sealer prior to priming.

The dust left behind from the router feels oily and I bet, resists priming.

I know this is a very narrow subject, that not too many SBers are interested in, but hope it will save someone the failure I have had.

J

[jay_p]

Joe,
This may not be a topic directly connected to the ShopBot, but I am picking up a lot of useful information from you sign guys. I run a shop for art and architecture students, and we like to try new materials, techniques, finishes,etc. I appreciate your attention to detail when it comes to materials and processes.

Jay

[johnny_s]

Jay - you will find that this board has many posts that don't relate to the bot itself - just botters helping eachother out. One of the perks of ownig a bot i guess.

[kerrazy]

Hey Joe,
I feel your pain, I had very similar results recently when i was using Jay cooke with it. Ifinished the sign and was pulling back the mask and voila, a nice clean sheet of extira was staring back at me.....Uggghh.

I have been experimenting with some MDF primer, and so far seems to be holding but I have a few more tests to try yet.

Man was it frustrating, I had about 3 hrs into each piece when i realized the final result.

Dale

[joe]

Bud J. and others interested.

Posting Photo's:

I have spent too much time trying to post photo's on this and other forum's and was about to give up, but at last I called ShopBot direct and spoke with Nancy, who's become kind of a friend, with my posting problems.

I'm not totally stupid, and have the credentials to prove that I aint, and she guided me through PhotoShop. Although I use PS all the time, I was mistakenly reducing my photo's in the print editing area. Thanks to Nancy, (the angel) I've put that chore behind me.

Perhaps you'd like to see some of our routed, carved, sandblasted sign combination on our web location. We seldom use only one technique and try to supress the techniques as much as possible to keep the integrity of the image.

j
www.normansignco.com (http://www.normansignco.com)

[dvanr]

Hi guys,

At this stage my main focus is getting a bot up and running and eventually just cutting panels for point of sale displays, at some point I would dearly like to branch out into the signage that is on Joe's site.

Is there a resource or background that helps in working with 3D signage? I do realize it is a mix of media's and I am wondering if the learning curve is even steeper than the bot learning curve that people talk about.

I guess my biggest worry is the sheer combinations of medias and paints. Is there a set of materials that you usually working with or are you constantly dabbling with chemistry and ingredients to make a sign work?

DvanR