New Sign

How about it JJ? can you make a video out of cutting the YZ plates and I’ll pick up the costs? Let me know what your charge would be + materials if interested. I have the metric taps for tapping the M3 screw holes. Postscript - (Never thought about printing them, that may be a lower-cost option to get mine up and running…)

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Mike, what was the thickness of your print nozzle? I was going to change it to .6mm for printing these parts, but wonder if anyone has gone up to 1.0mm nozzle and if this would make stronger parts, just not as aesthetically pleasing I would guess.

0.6 nozzle. I probably printed at 0.36 layer height.

I have a small printer, so I printed in 2 parts and epoxied together

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Did you add some kind of notch or slot (tongue and groove) to the two halves or just butt joint them? Without pulling up the DXF/cut files I have a 250220220mm print capability on my Anycubic Kobra 2 Neo which also has a very good print speed - is my build platform big enough to print in one piece?

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I split the model as shown in the Printables link that was in the post above.

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JJ, as I said, Wife did a super job on this, but sometimes fitting text to a shape area messes with the perspective, so I spent a little time to “tweak” the kerning and lettering at the top to read a little straighter. Hope you don’t mind me messing with your Wife’s fine work.

break_in_v2

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My wife didn’t make the sign, it was an SVG off Etsy. She gets fancy with the photography LOL.

As far as making the plates I can sure try. I just don’t know when LOL. I have another 2ish weeks home before I’m back off shore for 4 weeks. We will see if I can get to it before I leave or not. Cant make any promises.

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Y’all need some frog plates.

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Green anodised and laser etched! :face_with_spiral_eyes:

Quak:

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Looks like you used a softwood like pine or fir. Use furniture grade hardwood like alder or beech if you want better detail.

You can also mask the board before you carve with stencil film. This is a trick of the pros, and what I do.

Stain or paint the board with a non oil base product (the stencil film won’t stick to the oil based stain for a week or more and really delay your process- I did this once on a job where I was making 40 signs for a wedding- huge problem)

Oramask 813 Stencil Film 12.125… Amazon.com

Cricket makes a mildly superior product called removable vinyl for 6x the price.

After carving, lightly spray the lettering with spray paint, or air brush. Then blot lightly with paper towel to absorb the access paint on the film, then peel immediately. (A vinyl sign pick helps immeasurably). I used an ivory paint color for the lettering in the examples, and an avocado color for the accents. After a couple of practice pieces, you will be able to get perfect lettering with zero bleeding.

These were all cut into sanded plywood from Home Depot (not a great choice for detailed engraving, but the customer provided it, pre-stained, with oil based stain :frowning: ) I then hit them with a couple of coats of matte polyurethane. Avoid gloss/ semigloss at all costs for most casual signage.

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Those look amazing!

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That is awesome! Thank you for the tips! I will for sure keep that in mind next time I make one!

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We can figure out a way to DM once you’re ready to try the masking, etc. Your signs look great, I think you’re way closer to having a totally pro product that you think. Speeds and feeds could play a part, but I really think softwood tear out is unavoidable at that resolution. box store Poplar wood is what I use in a pinch. Alder here in the NW is plentiful, but now used for furniture, so it’s kinda spendy, lol.

oh, I hate to be that person, but look:


singature, not signature

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Sssshhh, everyone will be drunk anyway! :smiley:

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Tell them that they have to sing while drinking! :wink:

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Karaoke!

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Very astute sir, lol. The customer provided their own svg files created on Canva, and this typo slipped through. They were happy anyway. I made 40 signs in 24 hrs, and this was the only misstep.

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That is some serious hustle!

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