Laughing Tortoise Sign: Part 2

Once the three layers of the Laughing Tortoise sign had finished routing, we used a die grinder to whip the shell into rough shape Then, we used compressed air to blow off the dust before gluing them up with Coastal Enterprise’s PB Bond 240. We also glued in a 1/2" steel rod for the neck. This sign is bound to get more than a little handing once it is installed; the steel will provide it plenty of strength!

Once the glue dried we gave the Tortoise Beer sign the once over with the die grinder. We carved in the scroll detail and textured up the sides to match.

After this it was time to do some preliminary sculpting on the tortoise. (The tortoise will be semi-realistic with a heavy dollop of character added.) We roughed in the head first — often, it works better to build up a foundational shape and then go back to add a detailed layer later. Then we roughed in the shell and feet. (The scales on his legs are just balls of sculpting epoxy.)

The side view shows just how dimensional this sign really is.

Once the first layer of sculpt dried, we finished sculpting the tortoise. The whole head and neck received another layer of sculpt — lots of character, wrinkles and laugh lines too.

Next week we will go through the painting process.

G Street - Part 2

G Street Sign Series: Part 1

As with most types of signs, hanging signs need some interior structure to make sure they stay securely in place. Over their lifetime, signs are subjected to high winds and endless gravity. And of course, there is also the occasional “macho dude” who sees something like a hanging sign and suddenly has to prove how tough he is by jumping up and doing a few chin-ups. We always want to be sure that our signs will withstand the vagaries of weather and weirdos and an internal welded steel frame is our insurance policy.

In the G Street sign’s case, the frame was made from 5/8" solid steel bar. This level of structure is probably overkill but better safe than sorry — after all, it is impossible to make something too strong!

The sign will be suspended by the cast steel eye bolts (which are rated for 5000 pounds each - more than enough!). Once the frame was welded we laid it on the (interior) back of the sign to marked out where it would go. Then, using the die grinder we cut in a 1/2" deep slot not the sign.

We repeated this step on the second side as well, test fitting dry to make sure everything lined up tight.

Then we spread on the Coastal Enterprises PB Bond-240 glue which is formulated for Precision Board HDU. We misted the Precision Board with water to activate the glue and clamped it up tight to dry.

Once the steel is firmly glued inside the sign it was time to glue on the rest of the sign’s detail.

Below you can see the results of our efforts — just waiting for paint.

See you next week!

Bending High Density Urethane with Heat

A few years ago, my father visited Coastal Enterprises' operation in California and he asked Chuck Miller if it would be possible to use heat to bend a sheet of Precision Board High Density Urethane. Chuck’s advice was to let the heat soak into the HDU really well because Precision Board is a good insulator and doesn't transfer heat well.

So, when he got home my father popped a good size scrap of Precision Board into the oven and turned the heat to 200 degrees Celsius. Fifteen minutes later he threw on a pair of oven mitts and pulled it out of the oven. And Chuck was right, it easily bent and then hardened quickly into its new shape. (Keep in mind my father’s experiment was done with 30 lbs. Precision Board.)

Since that first experiment we have used this trick a number of times. First we route into the board and then we heat the pieces up to bend them, clamping them over a buck (form) to harden.