Team Oregon

This sign measures 4' high x 6' wide and hangs on a wall behind the reception area. It was completed in the spring of 2012. I was given just the logo in black and white. After much design exploration to come up with a panel to hold it all together, this juxtaposition of oval and rectangle was agreed upon. The sign is a stacked 'open faced sandwich' of 5 layers. The far background is black enameled birch plywood. The 2nd layer is the same birch ply with a water based aniline dye in red mahogany, sealed in oil based clear. The 3rd layer is 'Formica' countertop laminate. The 4th is 1/2" thick 'Plexiglass' black acrylic. The top layer and pinstripe is stainless steel.

This yellow vinyl is normally used for a paint mask. It has a low tack adhesive and I'm using it for registration of parts. It's been cut on my plotter and the unwanted parts 'weeded' or stripped away. I'm in the process of covering it with a clear transfer tape which holds all the individual pieces of vinyl together once the backing is removed. New modern vinyl sign shop 101.

Plastic laminate parts, cut out with a cnc laser.

1/2" thick black acrylic, cut out with the same cnc laser.

The letter F above is half on and half off the rectangle panel. The letters that follow need a laminate layer as well, as a spacer, so that the surface of the black acrylic letters are on the same plane.

These black acrylic letters for 'TEAM' are spacers as well. They will get covered with stainless letters.

I stock a very aggressive double stick tape called 'Mactack'. It comes in 18" x 24" sheets. With one side of the release liner removed, the letters are stuck, then hand trimmed.

Crap! I'm missing 2 parts. The sample swatch laying around was just big enough. I ran it over to my cnc router guy and he cut these out pretty quick. The edges were quite rough and needed sanding. The rest that were laser cut were smooth and required no prep work.

I was careful not to remove the yellow registration mask around the G until it was caught up with the rest. A 1/10th inch outline around the letters and graphics makes for easy removal.

 

The base layer is screwed to the wall with all screws finding studs. The top layer then hangs on the 4 aluminum 'French cleat' style hangers; similar to kitchen cabinet type hangers.

I use a pencil rubbing on butcher paper to pattern the location of the 4 hangers. They were aligned and attached in the shop, before the final installation. 

The thick black acrylic has a gloss finish coming right off of the cnc laser; what I call a 'wet ice cube' look.

Completion.

NuScale Power

This project involved sandblasting & painting 4 pieces of glass. The glass was 1/2" thick and  22" high x 66" wide. 6 holes, 1/2" in diameter, were drilled by a glass specialty fabrication shop. The edges were polished clear and had very slight bevels. I did this work in August of 2012.

All of the artwork is done on the backside of the glass. A rubber sandblast mask has been cut in reverse on my plotter and applied. It protects the glass from being frosted during the blasting process.
   

The border is to remain clear. I cut strips of mask and applied a bit more than enough for the border, and wrapped around the sides and onto the front face (remember, I'm working on the back side). Next I hand cut the exact border distance with an x-acto knife and a strait edge. The dense rubber is a great precaution against accidentally chipping or plinking an edge during all the handling and transport while in production.

My friend Vance Galliher in Eugene (Springfield) has a very similar shop as my own. However, he has a great setup for sandblasting glass at this size, and even a bit larger. Here he is in his blasting booth. Vance is truly a fine looking gentleman. It's too bad my best shot of him is with a bag over his head.

I'm back at my shop and removing the sandblast mask. The right side of the image has the mask peeled part way back, exposing the logo.

Aluminum oxide was used to 'cut' the surface of the glass. You can see the residue that got through the pre-drilled hole and stuck to the sticky side of the mask.

Big wads of non-reuseable mask. Unfortunately it won't merge with our commingled recycling.

I was originally planning to screen print the black and orange graphics, but chose to mask and paint instead. I'm applying a transparent blue paint mask. I'm applying it in small sections to achieve a near-perfect spacing of the 'glow-line' between the graphics and the background. 

The mask barely sticks to the frosted area, but has great adhesion to the smooth glass. You can see the 1/10th inch 'glow-line', which makes for not much surface area.

Here's 3 of the 4 finished panels with fresh enamel paint.

One of these four pieces of glass was shipped to the east coast. I packed 1.5" of rigid pink insulation on all sides, 2x4's around the perimeter, and 3/4" plywood top & bottom. A perfect fit allowed for no wiggle room. I trust it made the trip safe and sound. Does anyone out there know otherwise?

Ready for the top sheet of ply. Looks like the ends received an extra layer of 3/4" insulation. I sent instructions to ship it standing up, laying down on it's long edge.

I made 4 paper install templates and kept them mated to each of the 4 pieces of glass. This was to insure that the drilled holes of the glass all line up with the drilled holes in the wall. The paper templates make placement and leveling much easier.

This is one of the coolest pieces of installation hardware. It's called a zip-toggle. You drill a hole large enough for the toggle end to fit through on end. There are 3 parts of the white plastic. Parts 1 & 2 are the handles, which slide and allow you to pivot the toggle perpendicular after insertion. Part 3 is the small ratcheting slider that cinches down on the toggle, like a zip-tie. Once snug, the 2 handles easily break off. The centered toggle has a threaded hole to receive the special bolt for the up-coming stand-offs.

The stand-offs are clear anodized aluminum with a 1" diameter. Both of the barrels are threaded, obviously the cap only part way. There is a thin, clear, plastic or vinyl washer between both sides of the stand-off parts and the glass. Also a length of clear vinyl 'aquarium tubing' inside the glass hole, protecting the glass from the threaded bolt. The glass never touches the hardware.

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Another corner view.

This one was driven to and installed in the Portland office, behind the reception desk. I also dropped off the crated piece to be flown to the Washington DC office. The other 2 reside here at the Corvallis offices on the HP campus.