Sign Rescue help needed!!

[myxpykalix]

Ok, i volunteered to make a couple plaques for the Arthritis Foundation and NOTHING is going right.

I'm not a sign guy so i'm having trouble and need to see if there is a way to make this work.

Here is what i did. I made a 3d finishing pass to have a relief carving of the bones above the surface.
Then i made a toolpath to Vcarve the text at the depth past the relief carving of .125.

I ran the vcarving toolpath FIRST.
Then I sprayed gold paint into the lettering, let it dry.
Then i ran the 3d relief toolpath to cut away the sprayed surface and to cut the Bone Bash logo.

The problem if you can see is that some of the text in the lower part got cut away altogether or is very shallow.

How can i fix this?

My thought was to retoolpath the lower text just a bit deeper but then the gold paint gets carved away.
Also when i used sign mask on the other one the insides of the A's and R's and D's ect got cut out.
What can i do to fix this so i can have gold letters and darken the surface some to make a bit of contrast?

[bobmoore]

Not sure where to start Jack as you didn't give a lot of detail I will have to make some assumptions. V carve looks like times new roman. That is a tough font because the slender legs of the letters do not carve as deeply as the wider legs. You can sometimes counteract that problem with a start depth setting to get the bit down deeper or possibly make the text the same size as the top part of the plaque. Also looks like a vacuum fixture with tape around the perimeter to hold plaque down, notice cuts are a little deeper around thedges of the plaque. I would recommend a recess where the tape is going to flush the tape with the top of the fixture. You may have zeroed your bit without the vacuum on and that could contribute to the shallow cut toward the center of the plaque.
Bob

[myxpykalix]

Sorry about details.
It is just in a jig helddown no vacumn
The text is bookman old style

The problem is because there is more text on the lower half, it has to be smaller.
the problem with smaller is it doesn't go as deep.

I think i can hilite lower text and redo. I guess my next question is how do i contrast the letters and surface after its been carved?

[bleeth]

Get a good coat of sealer on the whole thing before you cut the v-carve. Cut the v-carve. Brush in your gold. Sand the surface with a flat sander (like a DA) and the paint on the sealer will come off pretty easily. LET ALL SEALER/PAINT DRY COMPLETELY BEFORE TAKING THE NEXT STEP.

[bob_reda]

Just cover the area you don't want to paint with anything, could be newspaper as long as the edges are taped and do what Dave says

Bob

[zeykr]

I would probably have opted to carve the Bone Bash 3d separately and applied to the vcarve plaque.

But another way would be to do the 3d carve, then do the vcarve with 'project toolpath onto 3d model' checked. Then seal and paint like Dave says. Not sure if you used the project onto 3d surface like this, or just set the start depth on your vcarve toolpath.

[myxpykalix]

Dave,
you say "Get a good coat of sealer on the whole thing before you cut the v-carve".

Give me a specific name of a product i can go get...you mean like a sanding sealer, or?

Also take these steps

coat with sealer

let dry....(how long?)

vcarve letters

spray/paint vcarved letters

how soon to wipe off after sprayed....immediately i assume

What is best type paint or color to contrast with oak, if oak is left unstained?
I tried the gold but didn't get good contrast.:confused:

[bob_reda]

coat with sanding sealer (with oak I would do multiple coats,sand between coats), let dry overnight. spray, let dry,usually overnight (depending on what used) do not wipe off immediately, sand off paint, finish. With oak I would use a black if the oak comes out a little lighter with finish.

Bob

[bleeth]

Give me a specific name of a product i can go get...you mean like a sanding sealer, or? yes-any brand will do for an indoor sign. You can even seal with a first coat of your topcoat simnply by thinning it 10%

Also take these steps

coat with sealer

let dry....(how long?) till it is completely dry-read the can

vcarve letters

spray/paint vcarved letters Paint with brush

how soon to wipe off after sprayed....immediately i assume
wrong. read my post again. I said sand it off after it's dry.

Don't be so nervous-it's only a small piece of oak. you can get a good contrast with gold if you stain the oak dark (like a walnut color) first but otherwise black is best.

[bobmoore]

Jack; In my opinion oak is going to give you problems even with a sealer. The open grain will bleed paint and it is nearly impossible to sand deep enough to get rid of it. I usually use Joe Crumley's rubber cement technique when I carve anything from oak.
Bob

[kartracer63]

Bob is "spot on" when being concerned about the bleeding with oak.

[harryball]

I find white oak works better than red oak for stuff like that.

Can you shellac the entire sign then paint the letters? That would prevent the bleeding.

/RB