Winery Signs

[Jeffrey Aley]

A friend of mine owns a vineyard - soon to also have a winery.

I made the wooden sign (based on their logo) out of 1/4" walnut. Then they commissioned the acrylic sign (3mm / 1/8" acrylic). The red and white are cut out of acrylic and glued onto the black. Of course I marked the black so I'd know where to put the pieces

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In case you're interested, their website is www.belledor.com . They (and the black sign) will be at the Barbera Festival in Plymouth, CA tomorrow.

[Pete Cyr]

Nice and Nicer

[fred ungewitter]

That's an amazing bit of work! A fabulously crafted logo integrated in your laser art makes for a beautiful piece, in both cases.

[Jeffrey Aley]

That's an amazing bit of work! A fabulously crafted logo integrated in your laser art makes for a beautiful piece, in both cases.

I found it interesting that there are websites where you can submit your requirements for a logo, and multiple artists will compete to create a logo for your product / company / etc. Then you select one, and pay them.

Thanks for the compliment on the laser work!

-Jeff

[Jeffrey Aley]

By the way, I tried inlaying the red acrylic into the walnut. For the "flower" part of the rose, it worked fine (have to ensure you have the right kerf compensation ("sew compensation")). But for the very narrow "stem" of the rose, the acrylic really wasn't cut precisely enough (I think there was some warpage from the heat) to fit into the walnut perfectly.

Has anyone tried inlaying narrow strips of acrylic into wood?

[Doug Fisher]

Nice work. As I read your initial post, I was wondering whether the inlay would work inside the walnut. That had the potential to be pretty spectacular. The black is awesome though. What kerf did you have to use for the acrylic into acrylic inlays?

Did they give you a graphic file from which to work or did you do a scan and then trace?

[Jeffrey Aley]

Nice work. As I read your initial post, I was wondering whether the inlay would work inside the walnut. That had the potential to be pretty spectacular. The black is awesome though. What kerf did you have to use for the acrylic into acrylic inlays?

Did they give you a graphic file from which to work or did you do a scan and then trace?

Thanks!

The acrylic is not inlaid; the red and white are just glued to the surface of the black. I did a very low-power, high-speed cut onto the black so that I'd know where to glue it. But to answer your question, I see from my Parameters file that I have a 0.13mm kerf setting for 3mm acrylic (2" lens).

I had to start with a bitmap file, which I traced in Inkscape. They're working to get me the original .ai file, but the artist is unavailable for the next week, and we wanted the sign for the festival tomorrow.

By the way, walnut is a pain to laser - it's VERY dense, so my "50W" tube struggles with the 1/4" thickness. The density is also pretty uneven - watch the grain patterns if you're going to try it. And finally, it's very oily, so it leaves a very sticky smoke residue. Masking is a must! But it looks good, so I keep doing it

[sebastien laforet]

But for the very narrow "stem" of the rose, the acrylic really wasn't cut precisely enough (I think there was some warpage from the heat) to fit into the walnut perfectly.

you could try to reverse the warping. acrylic comes soft at around 80 or 90°c, a temperature you can obtain easily with an hair dryer or a baking oven (provided you have a low temp mode).

when the acrylic can be bended by hand, you can force it inside the hole of the wood.

[Jeffrey Aley]

But for the very narrow "stem" of the rose, the acrylic really wasn't cut precisely enough (I think there was some warpage from the heat) to fit into the walnut perfectly.

you could try to reverse the warping. acrylic comes soft at around 80 or 90°c, a temperature you can obtain easily with an hair dryer or a baking oven (provided you have a low temp mode).

when the acrylic can be bended by hand, you can force it inside the hole of the wood.

That's a really neat idea, Sebastien! I'll give it a try.