This sign for the Vedder Mountain Grille, (a local restaurant) feature its namesake mountain . We decided to route a hole in the sign, allowing the real sky to show through on top of the mountain.
The client also requested a motorcycle and rider somewhere on the sign as he rides the mountain often... hence the name of the restaurant. We included the motorcycle as part of the sign’s bracket.
Once the design was approved we created the lettering vectors in Illustrator, then imported them to EnRoute to finish creating the file.
This is a very simple 3D file. There are four different routing files, each would be cut twice on the CNC router to make a double sided sign. The inside layers were simple cutouts. The oval and lettering was roughed out with a 3/8" bit and then finished with a final detailed pass with 1/8" bit. The lettering was cut with a v-groove bit.
While the CNC router was busy cutting we were out in the shop fabricating the steel work for the sign. The sign’s bracket was plasma cut by hand.
Once the CNC router was finished, we set about assembling the pieces. First we used a die grinder to cut the grooves for the structural steel.
Then we glued and clamped the sign together. We used Coastal Enterprises one part urethane glue, PB Bond-240, to glue the Precision Board HDU.
Once everything was dry we lifted the two layers into place and welded the sign to the post
Later, we glued on the rest of the layers. At this point you can easily visualize the finished sign. Now it is time to start the hand sculpting.