Making a Zombie Sign

[cnc602]

Making a Zombie Theme Sign for work.
It will have Dibond Letters on standoffs.
Inlayed carbon fiber letters and a center
focus point using Dibond, Acrylic, Carbon Fiber and red vinyl on plastic.
Sign will be 6" x 22"
Will be using a 2550 CNC Router to make the sign.
See image for more detail.

 

[Andy D]

I LIKE IT!
I am a zombie fiend!
Please post pictures of the final sign.

 

[Jillbeans]

It would look a million times better if you reduced the size of everything to give more breathing room around the edges.
Love....Jill

 

[Billct2]

or make it 24"

 

[kheebl]

I Love it, I am a zombie fan!

 

[cnc602]

Ugh You guys are right, if I reduced the size of everything or make the wood back piece bigger it would frame it and make it look a lot better!
Unfortunately I've already cut the back piece and some of the letters. Plus I have to get this done for a tradeshow coming up soon the Shot Show.
However, will probably cut a bigger back piece after the show, would be easy since it's just wood and I'm using a CNC Router.

 

[cnc602]

Here are the photos of the wooden back piece.

Photo 1- Holes drilled for standoffs

Photo 2- Routed out the shape of the wood back piece

Photo 3 - Routed out the circle for the Zombie Scope

Photo 4 - Engraved the letters for the Carbon Fiber inlay letters

Photo 5 - Finished wood back piece.

 

[cnc602]

Ok got some photos of the Dibond letters being cut on the CNC router.
Some people might know what Dibond is for those who don't know what Dibond is, it's a brand name
of a material consisting of a solid piece of polyethylene (plastic) sandwiched between
two sheets of aluminum. This make for a rigid aluminum like material but lighter. (I added links for more info)

Making the countersinks for the standoff screws

Close up of the tool and the countersink hole

Here are the cut Dibond letters. Vacuum boot for removing dust & debris, removed for a better photo

Close up of the routing tool used

Letters routed out still in the Dibond

Here are the letters again cleaned up a little

 

[Billct2]

Are you going to have an industrial look with big visible hardware for the standoffs?

 

[cnc602]

Are you going to have an industrial look with big visible hardware for the standoffs?

Yup the screws will be visible, thinking it matches the theme.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Maybe not for this sign but the next build.

 

[Billct2]

I like the idea.

 

[cnc602]

Ok got to work on the letter "O" in the word Zombie.
We are going to make it look like rifle scope with cross hairs.
Were using various materials to give it a dimensional look.

Layer 1 is a Zombie graphic made from sticker vinyl on plastic.
We used Print-To-Cut and an engraving head, how it works is a camera sees the registration marks (dots) on the application and uses it to align the cut to the graphic.

Layer 2 is a routed out piece of half inch acrylic, were using routing head for this.
It's a little bit of a mess because we removed the dust collection boot from the CNC router to show the routed area for a video I'm putting together.

Layer 3 is the Crosshairs engraved out of Carbon-Fiber.
Please note, if your going to work with Carbon Fiber, use gloves and a mask.
You don't want to inhale or get the fibers on your skin.

We also did the Carbon-Fiber letters that are going to be inlayed into the wood back piece.

4th layer is a part that we added and was not in the original design, this acrylic part will help hold down layers 1, 2, & 3.

The 5th layer is the Dibond letter "O" that we routed out earlier.
Here are a photos of all the pieces.

Here is the Zombie Scope put together.

This Zombie Sign is practically done. I'll get photos of it put together either today or tomorrow.

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

Awesome project.
How thick is that carbon you cut? Ive always wondered if we could cut carbon on our CNC (any advice on bit size and speed would be awesome, and where you got the carbon sheets)

 

[Jacob Singer]

Awesome project.
How thick is that carbon you cut? Ive always wondered if we could cut carbon on our CNC (any advice on bit size and speed would be awesome, and where you got the carbon sheets)

I'll second this question, we use a Vision 1624 for all our ADA and engraving, but I'm always looking to expand our boundaries.

 

[GypsyGraphics]

great sign (including intentional visible hardware)

what a great thread too, so cool to see photos of all the steps your taking to create the dimension!

been wanting a Visons for quite some time, hope to see the video you mentioned.

 

[cnc602]

Hello the sign is done! We took it too a trade show.
I'll be posting the final pics next week.

To answer the questions
I used a multipurpose hard plastic cutting end mill from Onsrud model 65-000.
I ran the spindle at 12,000 and at the RPM the manufacturer recommends a feed rate of .4-.8 ips.
The carbon fiber sheets came from a past project but you can find them on Amazon.

If your going to work with Carbon Fiber, don't forget to use a mask and gloves.

 

[cnc602]

Here are photos of the finished Zombie Sign.

All the parts of the Zombie Sign ready to assemble.
You'll notice the Dibond letters are covered in red sticker vinyl.
We had pre assembled the sign and felt it was very lack luster.
It did not POP like we wanted.
I'll post a photo of the sign with black letters, you'll see what I mean.

Here is the finished Zombie Sign

Here it is with black Dibond letters

What do you folks think? Was the color change a good idea or should we have stayed with black.
We also went back and forth on the the letter "O" being red or black.
With kept it black to give it more contrast to the rest of the letters being the focal point.

Were also thinking of adding led lights behind the letters to accentuate the stand-offs and give it more pop.

Thoughts?

 

[J Hill Designs]

looks pretty killer. I dig the red.

 

[ExecuPrintGS]

Turned out great, though my OCD doesn't like that the M mounts different from all the other letters (screws in the center not top and bottom).

 

[Marlene]

love it! love how you used the "O" as a target with a zomibe. love seeing the hardware. the only thing that bothers me is the natural wood. I would have loved to see it a faux rusted metal or something else more industrial as the rest of it has that feel