Custom PCB Board Plaques: Laminated Pallet Wood & Lamacoids

CNCROi.com makes custom awards and plaques however you want, in this case, these are custom PCB board plaques that celebrate carbon emission savings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf-65lMBjAg

As luck would have it, I lost large portions of the photos and videos of this custom PCB board plaques project but luckily, the process involved with making these is something I had other videos and photos looking for a purpose laying around so I’m using those to explain how these were made.

The above photos shows 2x4s being cut, but for this pallet award, the process of getting the bits needed to laminate was different, I used the bottom 2x4s of pallets to create the small pieces required… and yes, there was a lot of rejections due to holes, nails, rot etc.

That being said, the following process was the same once I got enough good 2x4s out of the pallets, again, these aren’t the ones I used for this custom PCB board plaques project.

I used my CNC machine to flatten both sides and make them dead flat, this is essential for a solid and tight fitting seam where glue will hold it together.

For the custom PCB board plaques, I did cut these 2x4s into 2x2s before proceeding to the flattening process as they needed to be 3/4″ thick and unlike this project pictures and video showing this, which was for a large mold, warping was going to be an issue using such wide 4″ laminated boards over 2″ laminated boards at CNCROi.com.

I began a few routers ago cleaning slabs for customers and from that experience, and a lot of other custom projects requiring wood “cleaning and flattening”, I got into wood lamination, it took a lot of practice to get things to where they are essentially seamless now.

After I had the 2x2s flattened and sized-up properly, the next step was applying glue and letting it dry over a few days at CNCROi.com.

I glued the lamination, very much the same way you see in the image below, though it wasn’t nearly as big, and made-up of a lot of smaller pieces, but the custom PCB board wooden plaques were much in the same way looking before I further flattened them up to the desired thickness of 3/4″.

Fast forward a few more steps, the first thing I realized was that I didn’t have enough offsets so that I could stain all the 20+ plaques in one shot, so below is a jig I made that I spread all over my CNC router table at CNCROi.com to enable me to stain both sides of the custom PCB board plaques in one shot.

This stand-off or off-set jig was made using just 1/8″ MDF and I can easily flat pack it when not in use, I wished I thought of making this YEARS ago but it just never occured to me I could easily make my own.

The problem with straight edges when it comes to painting and staining wood is that they tend to leave a line on the finished product, that’s why these are all Vs, because then there is a very fine point where support exists but not big enough to leave a mark on the underside of the custom PCB board plaques at CNCROi.com.

MDF is used a lot at my shop, from router to laser to even waterjet (for additional backing), it’s just such a wonderful material when it comes to certain specific applcations where cost-effectiveness and wide availability come together.

Now that I’ve used this custom made jig that I designed and cut at CNCROi.com for this custom PCB board plaques project, I can’t see how I lived so long without it, it’s just so convinient!

The nice thing about making my own stand-off jigs is that whenever I need new ones, I have them ready to go and if I happen to damage or break them, no big deal, a new one is just around the corner at CNCROi.com.

The idea I had for this actually comes from a Christmas tree with built-in stand I made years back.

Just shows you that inspiration can come from anywhere.

You’ll notice the hold-up mechanism is the same for the Christmas tree, just two interlocking parts at right angle to one another and since using this for these custom PCB board plaques, I can confirm this works great!

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best, and I’ll be using these for years to come, they are just so wonderful to use and can actually hold a lot of weight without any issue.

Another type of project that these offset plaque holders will work wonders with are the stainless steel projects we do at CNCROi.com that require a clear coat over them before being shipped out.

After staining both sides of these custom PCB board plaques in one shot, I just let it dry on my CNC router until it was time to go ahead and assemble them, by screwing and gluing the various components on the surface.

Staining this wood came out great, always impressed by just how great stain can change the aesthetic of a wood product with minimal fuss.

After the stain was given time to dry and be absorbed by the wood, the next step was applying a sealant front, back and the sides of the custom PCB board plaques for some protection.

Adding a sealant is best done outside in the shade when it comes to a spray, CNCROi.com already has lots of sensitive equipment in the shop and having some sealant go on a sensor isn’t the best of things to have happen.

As you see, wood lamination and finishing is something I’ve been doing for years – there are a lot of banks all over the place that have been made at CNCROi.com!

One the sealant was given time to cure and dry, the next step is to assemble the custom PCB board plaques with the board, lamacoid and the back picture frame hook at CNCROi.com.

I laser engraved reference marks on the wooden plaques, it’s very small but just enough to make aligning things perfectly position wise on these custom plaques.

These custom wooden plaques are very unique, the PCB board was also clear coated.

Need some custom plaques? Contact CNCROi.com right now!