Humble little Round Overs

[joe]

Brad Point Bits.

For the newbee these are powerful tools which should be considered and used. There are two techniques which should be considered. Brad points come in lots of sizes and I'd suggest owning all of them. When ordering, be sure they are not rounded over on the tips. They should be needle point. You should be careful when plunging too deep or the needle will break.

My favorite techniques are:
Roundover letters.
V Carving
Cutting Sandblast Mask on the final panel.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/Bits.jpg

It takes a little experimenting to get the depth correct on roundover letters. On a six inch letter I drop down about 1/8”. Then continue down until you like the effect. Once finished up you should have a 3D looking letter that is much cleaner that 3D and ten times faster to produce.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/DSC_0003copy.jpg


http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/z.jpg

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[VanIslanddan]

I also like these bits but I am unclear how V Carving works with a concave radius? Is the depth limited to the size of the radius? Could you post a picture?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[Big-Tex]

Is the depth limited to the size of the radius? Yes and no. Radius varry based on size of copy and desired look.

You could achieve what you see in Joe's picture but you can go deeper and get shoulder on profile for different look n give it a little shade to it.

[Rick W]

Thank you Joe!!

Looks very interesting, will have to git me some brad points and giver a try. I assume that for v carving you are basically just using the tip, correct?????

Thanks for sharing.

Rik

[joe]

I'll see if I can do a couple of little demo's showing how to employ these bits. Brad points, in the larger sizes, come with a ball nose. These are handy as they can be used to replace a strait bit on smaller letters and fret work.

One of the earlier posting I was showing how to make tiny little letters. These can also be done with a small brad point which gives a round over look. I can't be the only fellow doing this kind of work.

It's fun to work outside the sand box.


Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[Rick W]

Nice, I look forward to seeing a demo!!

Rik

[Rob Gunn]

Joe, That is way cool. Thanks so much for showing this, I cant wait to get some of these and try it.

[powerlsc]

Thanks for the tips. I'm waiting for some copper paint I mail ordered and would like to try using it on letters formed with the roundover.

[sailfl]

Joe,


Which make of the bits have you found to last the longest? Thanks for the tip.

[joe]

It's good to find interest in using brad points. Some of the advantages are, rendering extremely fine detail, gives interesting shoulder effect, and can replace V bits in many processes. But, you gotta put one in the router to see for yourself.

When building a panel like this, I start out by testing depth and changing up bits. I'm about half done with these tests.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/Anniversary70.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/Anniv2.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/Anniv1.jpg


I'll probably use Trupan for the final piece and use the following painting techniques.


Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[joe]

I view this process like thumbnail sketches. I'm often not sure how I'll proceed to the final until I make a carving or two. There are tons of options and I like keeping them open.

The finish will be something like this example

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e115/jcrumley1/Anniv4.jpg

[David Iannone]

Keep up the great work Joe. Keep up the pictures too! Great stuff.

[Rick W]

Very cool Joe! How many years of experience are we talking here? I love this, very inspiring. Can't wait to see the unit painted. Do you actually have "Trupan" in your area? A lot of guys building vacumms would envy you. Thanks again for sharing. Are you going to show some of your painting techniques?? Can't wait to get my bits, haven't found a good local source yet. All the good suppliers seem to be in the US. Haven't had very good experiences importing stuff yet, everyone wants to rip off my arms, brokerage, duty , fees , fee's for charging fees, bla bla bla!! ( a little bit of venting there :eek: ) Any how, thanks, looking forward to your next post!

Rik

[bruce_taylor]

I will be trying some of these techniques. Way cool!!

[joe]

Thanks Boys for the complements.

Perhaps Gary Beckwith has some bits in this area. I've used Woodline.com. You can tell by the color they use on their bits. Here is another source. http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/orderstatus/html/smarthtml/pages/bit_groove.html I hope no one trades their CNC after viewing the demo.

If I get around to attending Wayne's workshop I could show a painting technique or two. Don't know if I'll be back from Central America in time

My next little on-line demo is about making very small letters and giving them a beveled -round over look.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[Big-Tex]

Joe
That sign reminds me one below.

[joe]

Yes Thomas,

One of the critical steps in this craft is finishing. It isn't necessary to be skilled with a brush or silk screening but without them other skills have to take over. One can be assured, a lifetime can be spent learning and perfecting the many skills.

The only way I've been able to continue with this craft is to offer a high quality long lasting product. There isn't a great deal of competition at this level and the future is bright.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[kevin]

Thanks Joe I don't always respond but I read each post with a magnify glass .Its also the same in cabinet the higher you go up the competion is less

[Big-Tex]

Joe
I totally understand


Thanks Joe I don't always respond but I read each post with a magnify glass .Its also the same in cabinet the higher you go up the competion is less

Kevin
Yes there are plenty of box shops and it seems like anyway to get more business their mentality is to under bid everyone. I see those contracts every day at my day job.

By learning from wise man like Mr. Chapman, Mr. Crumley and others I hope to leave my current employer behind.

[joe]

Thanks Mr. T. but I'm no wise man nor am I and exceptional artist. I'm just dedicated.

About the vinyl shops. They produce a necessary product and I'm glad the're out there. Every once in a while there will be an artists in one of those shops and some good work comes out but the bar is very low for creativity. One of my friends who runs one of these shops tells me that creativity can get in the way of profit. They hold tight reigns on creativity. It's creativity isn't necessary to make a profit!

At one time we all thought every sign shop would have a CNC. Wasn't that silly. These machines take a lot of skill to operate and few people are aware of the learning curve when getting in. There isn't any shortcut to acquiring the necessary skills but once acquired the fun begins.

Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com

[mjindustry]

Hi Joe, great looking sign! Thank you for the tips about those really neat roundover style bits. You're the best! :)

[gsmith]

Joe,

Thank you for sharing. This will add a nice touch to projects.

Greg

[scottp55]

Thanks Joe, Iwish Ihad read this 2 months ago. I was struggling doing 1.5" graphics and they just were not coming out right. Then I remembered using these bits 10 yrs ago and after I figured out how to add one to my tool database VOILA. I just added your two suppliers to the one I had and will add them today. I didn't want to go 3D as I've got 130 kids blocks in a batch so was tyring to stay 2.5D for time factor. My desktop is showing up today and these bits will make a real difference. I'm working with sugar maple and my depth of cut will only be .15" can I do it in one pass? Thanks Scott

[Bob Eustace]

To all Aussies following this fascinating thread - you can get these cutters here from Carbatec under their own brand with the price rangeing from $17 to $29 for an inch cutter. Very sharp point and great for tiny brand name labelling. Rather oddly they call them barley twists which is why I posted this info!


http://www.carbatec.com.au/barley-twist-bits_c21257