Big Ash Sign: Woodworking & Laser Engraving
CNCROi.com works with a number of woodworkers bringing their projects to life, in this case, it’s “almost finishing” a BIG Ash sign that’s about 75% finished, the customer will finish the clean-up of the edges and seal it for outdoor use.
CNCROi.com can make custom signage regardless of the material, size or thickness for this BIG Ash sign, it was 3″ thick and roughly 39 inches across and 10 inches in height.
When it comes to custom wooden cottage and house signs, any size is possible using a huge variety of materials at CNCROi.com.
Of course this BIG Ash sign started life far larger and as it came directly from the mill, it had to be cut down to size, planned and sanded before even bringing it into our industrial Austrian CNC laser.
We have quite a few tools in the shop and this one was great fun not only due to the size but also the weight, Ash is a heavy wood, it was quite a workout just planning it going back and forth until the correct thickness was achieved as per customer specs.
If all you want are huge house number signs, CNCROi.com is capable of making that just as easily as this BIG Ash sign, in this case, it was made out of Pine.
Once the BIG Ash sign was sanded and cut down to rough size, the surface was masked and it was put into our wide-format CNC laser.
The engraving of the BIG Ash sign was done using multiple passes in order to achieve the 1/8″ depth required for this project.
What’s especially nice about Ash is the very deep grain pattern that it has, which our industrial laser just accentuates further.
CNCROi.com can also make custom Cedar signs for your home, there are just so many options when it comes to making a wooden sign personalized to your favorite wood and design style.
While this BIG Ash sign was being laser engraved, other references were added so it could be further cut down to size using our bandsaw.
The reason why an outline was added was so that the bandsaw knew where to cut so that CNCROi.com could laser engrave the other side dead-on.
One of the challenges with wood is that you can’t see through it, as such, from rough-sawed stock, something else must be name so that the same design is perfectly central on both sides.
We’ve also made house number signs using Corian, which has hundreds of color variations alone.
For this BIG Ash sign, you can see the depth achieved between each pass by looking at the fine line going across the entire board.
This is only possible thanks to the precision of our Austrian CNC laser, as it’s accurate within 5 nanometers.
After several passes on this BIG Ash sign to create depth at CNCROi.com, a final pass is applied darkening the Ash surface after we’ve dug into it.
CNCROi.com can also perform paint filling on your custom cottage or house number sign, whatever you want, we make it just for you!
One side of this BIG Ash sign is now finished at CNCROi.com, it’s time to get it ready so that we can accurately engrave the same design onto the other side.
For indoor use, CNCROi.com can also make custom signage out of acrylic as well, with hundreds of color variations.
You can see the rich dark brown achieved from our industrial laser onto this engraved Ash.
Our awesome bandsaw will do quick work of this 3″ thick BIG Ash sign, you can see in the picture below the fine line created by our laser so that we know the references we need to hit on the other side.
I really love using our Rikon bandsaw, it’s such a wonderful piece of equipment that came in very handy for this custom wooden signage.
The BIG Ash sign is now roughly cut along the edges, again, the customer will finish the entire sign in their shop, CNCROi.com is just doing the first bit of the work for them to clean-up and finish.
You can see what the BIG Ash sign looks, it has saw dust on it and hasn’t been cleaned, the masking is still there, hence why you don’t see the grain.
So, CNCROi.com just flipped it around and we’ll engrave the other side with the same design.
CNCROi.com can also do mix and match signage using a variety of materials, in this case, wood with metal.
You’ll notice right away that this side of the BIG Ash sign doesn’t have the bark going across the 3 tree island on the right, one side of this Ash has a totally “clean” surface while the other has the character.
CNCROi.com‘s laser has 13 inches of vertical play, as such, this 3″ thick BIG Ash sign is no problem at all, we have plenty of clearance in this machine for this project.
If you want custom metal signage, CNCROi.com can produce that just as easily for you.
Now that both sides of this BIG Ash sign are finished being laser engraved, it’s time to sand it extensively after removing the protective mask.
Laser engraving a dense wood like Ash isn’t the quickest process but once it’s all done at CNCROi.com, the sanding required can be quite slow, that’s why it’s masked, this greatly reduces the amount of sanding required on this piece.
The before and after shots are pretty impressive regardless of what size is cleaned-up on this BIG Ash sign.
Now only was this custom wooden Ash signage engraved using our Austrian CNC laser but as was the entire sanding table too!
You can see how much of the resin remains on the masking and once that’s removed on the video, how little touch-ups are required by comparison.
Personally, I prefer the character side of this BIG Ash sign, this will looks absolutely amazing after our customer finishes the surface at their end.
Whether you want a small wooden cottage sign or a BIG Ash house sign, contact CNCROi.com right now!