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This is definitely not Hand Shaping.

2/6/2014

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I wanted to build a surfboard.

Since having access to the CNC machine, and after a few foam cutting jobs, I really wanted to build a surfboard.  I didn't know anything about building them, just that I certainly had the tools and ability, probably, to make one.

After a year of research in my spare time, I designed a board based on an existing board that was said to be good for the kind of beach break that we get out this way,  Tofino, Westport, Sooke, kind of waves.

In the end it cost me about $300 in materials, really close to the same as I could buy a cheap board for, but, this way I learned how to use fiberglass and got a better understanding of epoxy.  Not free schooling,  but an affordable class on surfboard building, one day soon I hope to get out and try it out and see how my experimental inset concave on the bottom reacts to the water.
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First step of many,   I bought some Cedar from the Home Depot,  I wanted to get it from somewhere a little more interesting, but I couldn't find anything that fit the bill that was kiln dried.  So the depot it had to be.  I planed the piece down to 0.22" and epoxied it into place between the two chunks of 1.8lbs EPS foam.
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Here the cured blank sits on the machine,  all set, zeroed and ready to start cutting!
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The Bottom of the board,  first roughing pass, then finishing, and finally I cut all the holes for the FCS Fusion finboxes.  
This way they are digitally, perfectly positioned, and, I didn't have to buy or rent the expensive Router jig that you are supposed to use to mount them.
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After some small planing passes to square up the blank relative to the bottom face, a similar operation on the top of the deck. Though a little simpler with no tool change and no extra details, Just the shape.  Now, it's all done on the machine and time to bring it to the "Shaping Bay" ie.  my dusty garage workspace..
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And there it is.  After a little bit of time with the sandpaper, working from 60 up to 220 grit. taking out all the tooling marks and fixing a few blemishes.   Then another pass back to 120 grit,  I learned after the fact that 220 could be too smooth to get proper adhesion between the foam and the epoxy.   Now, ready for glass.

here is where you can really see the concave on the bottom,  It's probably considered a "deep concave" as it is 0.6" deep from the starting point, but its inset from the rails by 2.75" or so.  The edge of the concave starting point is also the lowest point in the water.  I can't wait to try it and see if it works.  There is a lot of information online about shaping surfboards,  but not very much at all about specific, if you do A, then B will be the result in the water..  Fluid dynamics are complicated.
Part 2.  Fiberglass Laminations
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FW Cobs Sign

1/27/2014

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Last year I completed a nice solid cedar sign for FW Cobs.  Here is a quick run through the process for it.

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First off we have the Client approved 3D Pre-visualisation of the final sign.   After getting sign off on the design I went ahead and glued up the stock material.  In this case I used Western Red Cedar.  The stock block was then planed down smooth to final thickness.
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Here we can see some of the tooling passes.  Starting off with the roughing pass to remove all the unecessary material and bring out the final shapes,  and second image shows the V-carving pass,  which brings out all the detail and lettering in the sign.
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The final sign turned out really good.  I used Saman brand dyes to get the colors, matching to the clients existing logo. With a few good coats of Defthane to seal it from the elements.

Finally, I brought it to my friends at Pop Bam Vintage to crate the sign up, all safe for shipping.
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Here it is installed in it's new home, on the F.W. Cobs farm in Vermont.
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One6 Bench's new home.

1/14/2014

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One6 Bench now resides at Science World.

As of October 9th 2013, the One6 Bench is in the main exhibition hall lobby upstairs at Science World.  Go check it out!
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Found "Mahogany" Serving Tray

11/4/2012

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In March of 2012, We bought a house and moved to Mission.  

While cleaning up all that the previous owners had left behind, I found a large piece of some kind of wood.    It looked like nice wood.  so I decided that I needed to make a serving tray out of it.
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  I've always liked a particular silver serving tray that a friend of mine has on his coffee table.  So from my memory of his tray, and a little embellishment I came up with this design.

I have made a few bowls before this one, and I must say it's quite the process to get such an item off the machine.  I start by modeling the object in a 3D package, and export that object into the CAM software that generates the cutting code.

This is similar process to the Ruen graffiti piece, but because there are 2 sides that need to line up perfectly, there's a lot more care and planning that needs to happen throughout the process.
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Part of the found piece of "mahogany" laying on the table. 

 I use quotes because I don't know what kind of wood it is. Laying it side by side to a piece of known mahogany,  it's a pretty close match, so let's go with that.





The block that the tray will be cut from, in position, screwed down, and ready to go.

First I drill 4 reference holes into the stock block, these will be used to ensure an exact position match when I flip the block to cut the outside half of the dish.
Using a 1/2" ball endmill, I do a roughing pass, removing as much material as I can in the first pass. It leaves a minimum of 30 thou of material to the surface of the actual tray inside.







In progress of the inside finishing cut pass.   I use a 35 thou stepover per pass, that seems to be the best balance between machine time and finishing sanding time.







And the finished inside half of the tray.

after the inside is done cutting. I remove the block from the table and drill the 4 reference holes again,  this time into the spoiler board of the table.  I put 1/4" wood dowels into the holes, flip the stock material, line up the original reference holes that were drilled, and place it onto the wood dowels.
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Cutting the outside roughing pass.










Outside of the tray is complete.
With all the machining complete, I cut the  4 "tabs" to hold the tray into the stock block. now the tray is free from the stock material block.
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All sanded, sealed with 7 coats of danish oil, and ready for whatever it may be used for..

this one turned out really good I think.   The tray itself is so impossibly thin,  it feels like it was pressed from a flat sheet of metal, but its wood.  Something you definitely have to hold to really appreciate.
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Rue - 3D Wood Graffiti Piece.

10/26/2012

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" Rue "  Original sketch by Ronny Mac, AKA Ruen.
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Finished wood cut 3D graffiti object.

How it's made.

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My first thought for a really cool thing to make on the machine was 3D graffiti.   I borrowed a sketch from my friend Ronny Mac's sketch book and modelled it in 3D.  This is a preview render of the 3D object.   After a few iterations it was ready for creating the cutting code.
To make the stock material I jointered and glued up some spruce 2x4s.  Here's the glued up stock block sitting on the machine ready to be planed down to the finished thickness of 3"
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Then we cut a roughing pass to clear out the bulk of the unwanted material.  Next is the much slower finishing cut.
Oops.  
The machine started removing way more material that it should be, so we had to stop the cut and investigate.  Turned out that the stepper controller we had on the Z axis was defective, there was a known issue with it.  Too bad we didn't know before this cut.   Oh well,  the stepper driver was replaced and the cut was continued.  After a little time and care with a dremel the error was all but erased.
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Here is the complete piece, after a few hours of cnc cut time.  many hours of sanding, and a light wipe-on polyurethane protectant.  the final piece is 30" by 22".
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LUX Visual Effects - Hardwood Sign Letters

10/21/2012

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We completed the LUX visual effects company sign in august of 2010, it was made from local storm-fall western red maple.  The tree fell not far from where the CNC machine shop is.    

The sign measures 66" wide by 39" tall, and 3" deep.  The lighting and the backdrop were completed by another company.

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We have an onsite 24" sawmill that we used to cut the boards from the logs.  The boards were then air dried at the sawmill for about 12 months.  

In this image the raw planks are awaiting selection.   We picked the pieces for the LUX letters that had the most interesting figuring and grain shapes and patterns.  The boards were cut to size and planed down to a uniform thickness using a standard 14" tablemount planer.
After planing and jointering, we glued up the pieces for each letter and clamped them for a few days.  

This glue-up will become the face of the "U".

After the glue-up panel comes out of the clamps, we use the CNC machine to plane both sides of the new panel to ensure perfectly flat pieces to work with.
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Here we see the 4 portions of the "X" being cut out on the CNC table.


Sanding the "L" 
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All the letter pieces were sanded up to 400-grit.  

Here the "L" is all ready for sealing.
We used a lot of thin coats of a polyurethane based danish oil to finish this one. 

After the many coats were applied to the letters, I sanded them down through the various grits, all the way up to a wet 4000-grit foam pad, and lastly, a creme based cut polish.
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The letters in their final installation.  We love the juxtaposition of the natural wood surface and the almost "neon" glow of the LED lights.  The colour reflections off the high gloss finish really stands out when viewed in person!


The lighting and the backplate was manufactured and installed by Paxton Downard at Pushkar Props Services inc.
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The VanderWoudes - CNC Sign & Design

10/18/2012

2 Comments

 
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The VanderWoude sign was a great project.

The sign itself is 56" x 44"

The client wanted a sign for their family farm that captured the feel of the property and their view across their fields to Mount Baker.  We met with them in early September and started the design process.
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We started with a few thumbnail sketches of potential shapes and layout ideas.

They wanted the sign to sit inside an arbour that matched the one they already had near the house.  

After a few iterations we all settled on this one being the best.  From concept, through 3D development, to the machine, and finally installed on their property  all took about a month.
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The cutting process started by saw-milling the 6" rough cedar posts in half to get our 3" thick stock pieces.  Those were jointered, glued up together and after a few days to cure, ready for the machine.   

Here we have cut the first facing pass for what will be the faces of the topmost layer, everything that will be white.  The letters and mount baker.
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The roughing passes on all 3 depth layers.
And finally with all CNC milling complete, the sign is cut free from the stock material, sanded and ready for staining.
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Using vegetable based aniline dye for the dark and Saman brand vegetable stain for the white, all sealed behind several coats of Defthane to protect it from sun and rain.  With staining complete, we're ready for onsite installation.
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Our services: 3D Signage, CNC, Milling and Design

10/1/2012

6 Comments

 
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We are a family run design and wood crafting team that is able to bring your ideas from a dream to a reality that you can see, touch and admire for years to come.

We offer a wide range of wood milling services as well as a large bed CNC router which can plan slabs and create elaborate 3D carvings.
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    Mainland Woodworks specializes in CNC 3D carved signs, live edge installations, and custom wood surfaces.

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