Sometimes the 11th hour can feel like 24!

With the light and tables nearing completion, the only major component left to do was the table trays. These got a simple, repeating, Hockey Canada logo graphic. I had these printed on vinyl, and we stuck them onto the trays that form the bottom of the display boxes.

 There were quite a few steps to the table tops, and I ended up color coding the drawings as not to get confused between all the sections!

I am quite grateful that we have our Techno cnc router. That I can draw any shape, or angle on the computer, toolpath it in Aspire, and wait for our best employee to machine it out of whatever material I jam under it's gantry! Even though the old days of layout/ skill saw/ jig saw and sander are miles behind me, I can certainly appreciate what automation brings to the table! Of course, it was about this time that I pondered how well the welded steel table frames were fabricated. We were supplied the rough dimensions, and I allowed for even more room, but with the actual frames being in Ottawa, I guess "surprise" could be the install word of the day!

In the end, it always gets done! Even though the driver had to wait for about 30 minutes for us to finish up the last minute details, we finished pretty much right on time. We helped him load our stuff, than waved a goodbye for his trip to Ottawa that night.

 The production company sent us these images of the install. They were very happy, and so were we! I think the light looks amazing! I wish I could have seen it in person!
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JWO

Shadow box tables saving me from the light!

While Jody worked on the light fixture, I moved onto the next 2 portions of the build. One was the the curved PVC sign panel that mounts above the light fixture, and the other was the 5 table tops that have 4 recessed display boxes inside them.

The curved pvc sign was the very next step for me. I drew a circle in corel, the diameter I wanted the final curved sign to be. Divided it up into 3 panels, then extract one of the curves. This would give me the lengths and 1/3 radius I needed to build the forming jig.

I made a quick bending jig out of plywood. This would be the form that would shape the 1/4" thick pvc sign backer.

Because of the nature of the logo shape, and the 1/4" thickness, I had to gently persuade the curve with a heat gun. There was no way I could get the shape without heat forming the pvc plastic. It would have been all weird looking. This was an extreme exercise in patience. Thankfully, I'm a business owner, Dad, dog owner, Husband, have In-laws, and live out in the country, so really, I have unlimited patience!

With all 3 sections formed, and bolted together, I moved onto routing the 1/8" pvc logo that gets further wrapped onto this structure.

While our Techno cnc cut out all the various logo pieces, Jody and I moved onto running the 6- 3/4" pvc sheets through the saw, then I moved onto assembling the display boxes that will hang under the table surface. These will display objects from the Hockey Hall of Fame at the upcoming event were building for. I love pvc!! I love the fact I can tack it together with CA glue, kick it off, then move right onto chem welding it. No screws, nothing. And it looks awesome with perfect corner miters!

Once our Techno had finished the logo pieces, I set up for the table tops. These got varying pocket toolpaths carved in for the hanging boxes, and the acrylic windows.
We're getting there now!
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JWO

Oh, will it ever end......

First off, sandblasting acrylic into a consistent frosted finish sucks. It just plan sucks. It's almost as crappy as digging holes in the ground.

Luckily I can pass the "unwanted" jobs off on Jody!. I got this small sandblast cabinet specifically for doing these sticks. It's as small as I could get, while still being able to manipulate the sticks inside.
I ended up blasting just under half the sticks, while Jody ran the difference, as well as pre-sanded them all. Pffff. It sucked. It took along time to do them all. I was glad to be able to pack this blue box of  'time torture' up when we finished. Maybe the odd one or two off parts would be fun...........probably not anymore.

They did look great once they were all frosted, you can see the before and after above.

Because we couldn't fit the structure plates into the sandblast cabinet, I ended up just running a palm sander over those for frosting them. The wiring didn't take very long for the light sockets, and the cascading LED light strips already came wired 16 strips to a power source. I used thick walled PVC tubing, wrapped in a chrome mylar, to cover the 9 threaded rods that bolt the whole structure together.

Jody assembled all the LED boards into the rabbet we machined into the hockey stick handle, and then she started the assembly.

Due to the nature of cast acrylic, there was more than one stubborn stick that needed some serious persuasion to fit into it's slot! I made all the slots seriously over sized, because the material can vary quite a bit, but some of them were waaaaay thicker than the rest. And we didn't have the time to machine slots into every stick to get a consistent thickness.

A hard thing to photograph, but I took a bunch to try and show the LED's in action! While Jody worked like a trooper on the light, I had to move on to the other portion of the build.
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JWO

The right tools always help!

I had gotten a set of cutters in the summer from Tools Today, and was saving these cutters for some aluminum milling work I had planned on. However that project never seemed to have gotten off the ground!

It was an 8 piece O flute set specifically made for routering aluminum on a cnc router. A router not being the ultimately ideal machine for this, due to the incredibly high spindle rpm. I have always had my share of problems dialing in feed and spindle speeds perfectly in aluminum. But with these mirror finish, single flute Amana cutters, the prospects looked good.

I still haven't cut any aluminum yet.....

It's a really nice kit, in a wooden box, with a clear plexi cover. I secretly enjoyed having these cutters, un-used, all shiny and razor sharp, waiting for the day they would hear their calling, and jump to attention. Well our current project was just the thing. Although not aluminum, acrylic can have it's drawbacks cnc routing as well. I decided that they would be shiny no more..

It's a pretty sweet deal when a simple tool can make things easier, and give 10 times the professional finish that you were getting before.

These cutters are amazing! I ran 80 hockey stick blades in a sheet of cast 1/4" acrylic. These were all cut with the single flute, 1/4" upcut bit, in one pass. I had my feed speed at 71 ipm, and surprisingly, there was VERY LITTLE up pull on the sheet. But the edge finish was something that I was really impressed with.

The clarity was incredible on the finished part. It's pretty awesome that you can see my hand through two cut edges, on a part that's 2.5" deep. If I had had more time, I would have played around with my speeds a little more, to see if it could be even better, but at 71 IPM, there was no issues with cutting. These weren't even held down with the vacuum table, just some screws through the sheet into the spoil board. I'm a believer!!! I think on the next acrylic project, I'll give the downcut spiral version a test drive. With these results, I think I'm going to permanently switch over to Amana cutters. Ordering from Tools Today seemed to go pretty smoothly as well, with the kit arriving in a very timely manner. I would definitely order more from these guys, especially these O flute cutters.

 The other portion of our crazy hockey stick chandelier was the center plates that hold all the sticks together. I cut this from 1/2" cast clear with the same cutter. Although, my bravery ended at a 1/4" per pass, so the plates were pocketed in one pass at 1/8", and cut out in 2 passes, at a 1/4" per pass. The thought of busting my amazing new cutter friends was more than I could bear!
The edge finish on the 1/2" acrylic was just as good as the 1/4" pieces, even though it was done in 2 passes. If these were any better, they'd rival laser cut edges! In-fact I'm pretty sure flame polishing would go very fast, with the edge quality being 3/4's the way there already!

Next step..............sand blasting!
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JWO

After 20 years, I'm not actually sure what we specialize in!

We certainly specialize in fabricating everything creative, but it can be pretty hard to elaborate on that statement. A while ago we made miniature construction workers, and last week we specialized in a gingerbread theme for a print advertising spot.
This week, we're building a 2 part fabrication for a one night event. One part is 5 custom table tops, and the other part is a chandelier type project made with 80 small acrylic hockey sticks! Sum that up in a quick conversation!

The acrylic chandelier we're building is a 3 tiered set-up. This will be lit from the inside, as well as have cascading LED's running down every-other hockey stick. Not shown in the render will be 3 logo's wrapped into a circle at the top. The whole assembly will hang from a truss system at the venue's ceiling. We've also had to shorten the overall height of the fixture, due to the headroom available. So the whole unit, logo's included will now only be 5.5 feet total.

The first order today was to cut into the 3/4" thick, 4 X 8 sheet of cast acrylic. This will become the handle portion of the chopped hockey sticks. It was pretty amazing to try and get that sheet onto the table saw! I'm guessing the weight was somewhere around 250 lbs. What a load of crap lifting that was!

I love cast acrylic! Easy to cut, high melting point, and just a plain joy to use. I got all the handle portions cut to size, then used a wobble dado to cut in where the blade will get glued on.

I also milled a rabbet on the other-side of the handle for the cascading LED light strip. Only half the sticks get these LED's, so I only ran these through the saw.
Should be cool!
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JWO