REAL Cedar House Number Sign: Custom Design Engraving Cutting
CNCROi.com specializes in custom applications using any material, this REAL cedar house number sign is a great illustration as to the production power we have at our disposal!
Having access to more than one industrial machine has its advantages, in this case, we were able to cut a solid slab of cedar wood that’s 1.5 inches (40 mm) thick precisely and efficiently. Sure, we could have done this using our laser but it would have taken dramatically longer and the results wouldn’t have been as good.
The advantage of a CNC router, such as our ShopBot, is that we are able to make profiles and straight edges without burning into the material as we have a router bit instead of a beam of light cutting into this, what will become, a custom cedar house number sign.
CNC routers do have their disadvantages, just like any other CNC machine, there are good and bad things to keep in mind. That’s why having the power of both works so fantastically for CNCROi.com and this custom cedar house number sign is a prime example of what’s possible.
If you aren’t familiar with the differences between different CNC equipment, watch this video to familiarize yourself and you’ll become an instant CNC pro!
Our industrial ShopBot CNC router is incredibly precise and works wonderfully for our customer’s projects and applications, Corian through wood and even laminates where using our Austrian CNC laser wouldn’t be the optimal tool.
Take a look at the picture below, what you see is our industrial ShopBot CNC router making a flat surface on two completely different passes going at the same depth, it’s completely even and you can’t even tell that two different cutting paths were performed.
Now our ShopBot Desktop continues cutting through the outer profile of this custom cedar house number sign. This is done at a fraction of the speed that would take our Trotec Speedy 400 flexx and the results are easier to sand and work with for this application.
This may look very rough but that’s why we have a full complement of sanding equipment, both power and manual, to make quick work of the jagged edges you see on this custom cedar house number sign.
Our industrial CNC router has now cut out the entire shape of this custom cedar house number sign from a solid piece of wood, the profile and the outline can simply be lifted out for the first of two processing cycles, the first sanding and preparing the surface for laser and then laser and paint filling.
Due to the indents on all four corners, sanding this custom cedar house number sign will be a little tricky but nothing we haven’t done before or will again in the future.
If you are curious to see what a custom cedar house number sign looks like when made out of Corian, check out this video!
Although the custom cedar house number sign looks rough in the picture above, a sanding using a variety of tools we have in the shop quickly turns it into something smooth and professional looking.
Now that the sign is nicely sanded, it’s time to apply a protective mask that will allow our Austrian CNC laser to engrave into this CNC routed custom cedar house number sign the information our customer wants as per their spec.
The masking does two jobs here, first, protect the surface from the resins and vapors that would otherwise settle on this custom cedar house number sign and the second, provide the perfect mask for paint filling.
CNC laser engraving this cedar board is precise and accurate, just like our CNC router, which is why using both machines for this project is such a wonderful compliment. We are using the strength of each to make-up the weakness that they individually have.
Looking at the laser, unlike the CNC router, when you have grain, the different density causes the laser to “raise” that area and “lower” the non-grained parts, this is due to the different densities and lack of material two-way feedback.
If we did this entire sign using our CNC router, the bit would just power through these material densities and you wouldn’t see it. Same as this Corian 3D v-carving.
In this case, we needed the sharp inner corners that the laser provides which is just about impossible using our CNC router due to it using a round bit, hence using two different machines for this custom cedar house number sign.
As both of our machines are incredible precise and industrial strength, using them to complement one another is a perfect solution for this custom cedar house number sign, the results are perfectly to spec.
You can see how the laser darkened the letters and numbers in the completed laser work, but for this application, this isn’t dark enough, so we’ll go through another process of black painting the area that’s been CNC laser engraved to make this custom cedar house number sign stand out!
Our industrial CNC laser darkens the lettering, the darkness depends on the angle and generally this is fine but our customer wanted black paint so that’s what we did. The custom cedar house number sign paint can be any color, if you wanted neon green or a dark green, it’s all good.
The black has been applied and you can already see how much darker (in this case), the paint makes the inner CNC laser parts become.
After some sanding, you can see what was a dark brown is now black and you still see the grain too, something that gives this custom cedar house number sign a bit of character!
From a distance, the numbers and letters on this custom cedar house number sign are clearly legible.
A little bit of varnish on the front and back completes this custom cedar house number sign and makes the whole sign shine a bit.
It also give the sign a “wet” look that increases the contrasting colors found naturally on this piece of cedar.
Need a custom-house number sign, business sign or any other marking device for your home or company? Contact CNCROi.com right now!
