When I lent my services to a collegue who was working on a film about 12 years ago, I was introduced to the world of cnc. I remember watching this huge machining centre milling out a slab of mdf and turning it into a fantastic set of gears. I knew that it would have taken me hours to achieve the same thing with traditional power tools. I decided then that I would invest in a cnc router for my own business Oxenham Design. At that time I could turn on a computer, but even to check email seemed like a crazy set of operations. I persevered and learned every piece of relevant software I could get my hands on. I am now fortunate enough to be using Vectric's ASPIRE software, and Techno cnc routers, which has helped us to create some amazing projects, both in part, or in full. I thought that this blog would be a great place to share "behind the scenes" adventures with the software, materials and equipment we use, as well as the projects we build.

Monday 9 January 2012

More with the Institute

I was able to get into the shop on Saturday and get the final primer on the Lawyer sign done. Now I'm just waiting for the contractor who hired us to go over the colour scheme.
The Institute sign is trucking along o.k. though. I cleaned up and did a final detail to the fish body and by 5 pm it was all primed. I also decided not to 3D machine the bow thruster cap. After spending more time contemplating how to do then it took to make, I decided to cut it from 4 layers of .125" sintra and stack them.
I also cut the 2 layers for the porthole eye frames.

I cut the propeller for the bow thruster at the same time. I cut this from .0625" styrene and bent the blades so they weren't just sitting flat.
I also put in a screen to protect the propeller from debris that might get sucked into the intake :)
The screen will go a dark brass-y colour. This will add a ton of  visual interest to the head area, as "stuff" behind "stuff" always looks complicated!


I had drawn up all the vectors in Aspire for the pectoral fin that will mount to the side of the fish. I can only put one of these on the fish, as there isn't the room on the back side for the other one. These were also cut from .125" and .060" styrene.


 The 2 halves will stay as separate pieces so I can insert the prop after painting, Then I will glue them together forever.
 I also got a lot of painting done on the sign backer for this. The only painting left to do on it is paint the letter tops gloss black, and buff on the polished brass powder!
8)
JO

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