Commercial Signs
 

Hello Gerald and friends.
I have been lately doing some commercial sings and I am so happy that now I am making a vacuum former machine to use the capacity of the "Baby Beast" Mechmate to produce molds .
Here are some of the signs. Hope you like them.
Regards:)
Hugo Carradini

Lovely stuff Hugo!

Some more photos.

Thanks Boss

Very nice Hugo !!. The cut is very clean ...
What is the yellow product you cut for Beijing signs ? Styrofoam?
Thanks.

Bye,

Pierre.

My guess is that the yellow stuff is MDF from the Arauco/Trupan company in Chile who use virgin pine from their own forests.

Hugo,

WOW! Very impressive and VERY Creative. :):):)

I'm so happy to see these excellent examples of what can be done with the MechMate.

Regards,
John

Hugo,
Those are some very beautiful signs. Can you share with us the materials and software you used for these?

Nice job Hugo...
You mentioned mould, what kind of molding and would you show how you do it? Maybe this is trivial to people used to advertising/sign making business, but many are curious....

Again, all those works are beautiful.

Very Professional! Are you making a RTF press (ridgid thermal foil)?

Wow! Very nice looking signs. Great job Hugo!

It is also a good read to follow Hugo's building of his baby beast:

The baby beast is cutting away - Peurto Ordaz, Venezuela

Beautiful work Hugo !!

Keep the pictures coming. :)

Don't know if many people noticed, but this forum now has a section The Show Room where it is nice to see what everyone has made. We want to see why we are building these machines! :)

Hello Gerald and friends.
I want to apologize for not answering before but I don't have Internet in my house sow I have to write from some where else:o. (This will be fix soon I hope):confused:
First let me thanks for your nice commentaries .:):):)
I am working basically with MDF that we make here in Venezuela with a Chile License. (We have one of the biggest man made pine forest of the world http://www.cvgproforca.com/ingles/index.php ) so Gerald was very close.:D
I spend some time trying different ways to handle the MDF to achieve nice finishes and I think now we can offer good quality sings. I work basically with a 3mm and 6mm up cut bits and 45º-60º-90º and 120º bits. I am also cutting acrylic and using a 3mm and 6mm 0-flute (they are the best ). I am just starting in the Sign business and I think I am staying. I promise to send all my future work and hope to have a space where we could share our experience like the Shopbot forum have for sign making. I think we can't make it here. The other area I am playing with and also great for publicity is the vacuum forming. Vacuum forming is simply heating up sheets of plastic until they are soft and stretchy then placing it over a positive form and using a vacuum to suck the plastic tightly onto the form. Mechmate is great for making those positive form / molds.

If any one knows of any good www. address to learn more about sign making I would really appreciate it.:)

Regards to all
Hugo Carradini

Hugo some vacuum pressing web sites for you. (Not signs but hope it helps)
I was into veneering a while back and still love it. I have made my own bags and have some exsperience with cold pressing. I have seen a commercial Rigid Thermal Foil press in action. This sounds like what you are trying to make.

http://www.vacupress.com/index.htm
http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/welcome.htm

Hugo,
The pine plantations looks better than the Gum plantations around our village.Smells better to. The wood has a stringy/line grain with a lot less knots than pine.It wouldn't make good timber to cut on the MechMate due to the tension in the wood. As soon as one saw or plain it, it start twisting. maybe because they are the fastest growing trees in our area in the world.

A general note on yellow MDF, compared to the browner/redder versions that are also around . . . .

Not all MDFs are the same - there are huge differences in terms of glue content and density/hardness. We try and only use the yellowish TruPan because it has a low formaldehyde content (safer on the lungs) and the cutters last much longer. TruPan is made in different density grades, the lightest grade being a popular porous spoilboard for vcauum holddown spoilboard on your table. (Out here we only get the denser grade that competes with the locally made red/brown MDF that is soaked in formaldehyde glue)

Don't just walk into the store and think that MDF is just MDF - your lungs and your cutters will thank you. :)