Any tips for making my own grain frame? Spacing? I thought mabye guitar strings? Thanks for any of your ideas! I just got some samples from Sign Foam and got some Anchor sandblast stencil, this stuff is cool. I am looking forward to learning this art.
Any tips for blasting are welcomed to!! I'm using glass beads @ 60psi with a suction fed blaster.
I am using glass beads that I use for line painting to make the paint reflective, is this ok to use?
Speaking of painting, I am painting our portion of the Boston Marathon (Natick, Ma.), the crosswalks, centerlines and gutter lines, look for them on Monday on T.V.!!!
Thanks for your help,
Brian Caissie
Posted by Steve Purcell (Member # 1140) on :
Making a tool can sometimes be more expensive than simply buying one and getting right to the paying work.
I don't think you'll get satisfactory results shooting glass bead through a siphon feed on SignFoam. Try slag, sand, or aluminum oxide (if you can find it).
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
I too wanted to try to save money by making my own. When I went to an HDU seminar and saw an actual GrainFraim, I decided to buy one. They went thru 14 prototypes before they had a sellable product. After having one in my hands vs. looking at a photo, I felt there was no way I was going to save money by trying to make one.
There are a few people on the BB that have made their own and claim they work OK, but wire tension is critical and the GrainFraim people have a machine that tensions the wires properly. I don't think guitar strings would work, maybe on a very small one, but the GrainFraim wires are stainless steel and much heavier guage than guitar strings.
Tips on using a GrainFraim:
Grab 2 to 3 wires and tape them together with some electricians tape in a random pattern in a few areas of the GrainFraim. The angles created by the wires coming together make a more realistic grain. I also take a half to three quarter inch block of wood, put it under one end of the GrainFraim, blast 6 to 8 inches (height) of the sign, then take it out, blast another 6 or so inches, then put it under the other edge and blast some more of the sign. This results in grain running together at slight angles which adds more realism.
I've created knot shapes on the computer using real sandblasted redwood knots as a guide. I copy and paste a few knots into waste areas of the sandblast rubber, then pick these out and apply them where I want to add a few knots. After removing the rubber, I carve them down a little more and smooth them out. Redwood knots are usually very smooth.... even more realism.
[ April 10, 2002, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: Dave Sherby ]
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
I guess I am one of those that made their own grain tool.
THe cost and freight of a grain fraim and the strong $ made it too expensive over here.
All the ads I see in sign magazines show very straight lines that look machine made.
We welded up an angle iron frame drilled lots of holes and ran graden wire back and forth at different tensions, when the wire dances you get some great effects, and not uniform. Occasionally the wire brakes, and I just set in a new bit.
I blast with a 1/4" nozzle on a Clemco system so its not a hobby machine it seems to work fine.
I was out blasting today, maybe I can take some pictures and post here for any doubters Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
Use guitar strings, tune them to the key of E, install some pickups and frets, hook it to an amp and play music while you blast. I wouldn't use guitar strings cuz they are steel and particles of the steel could become embedded in your sign which might rust through later.
I made mine out of 3'' schedule 40 PVC pipe and stainless steel Mig welding wire. I drove two overlapping rows (so the wires would be close together) of screws into each end and wound the wire back and forth hooking it on the screw heads. I bought a big roll of the stainless steel wire for $175 (about enough to rewire the thing about four times)thinking I would need to change it often. I've blasted several signs and the wire is hardly worn. I built mine in a couple of evenings after work. Couldn't afford a "storebought" one at the time.
I keep the wire fairly loose on it and it gives a nice rustic looking grain effect. It looks more natural than tightly strung wires.
Hey Dave Sherby, Those sound like some cool effects. I'm definitely gonna try those.
[ April 10, 2002, 04:36 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Brian,
My father looked at the Grain Frame literature and made one for me based on their design. It took a little time and some welding skills, but it's as good or better than theirs...the first time out!
It has one end with a moveable tensioning bar on it like theirs with a bar welded on it that has "teeth" grooves cut into it the length of the bar. This same "tooth" pattern is welded on to the opposite fixed end as well and the wire is wrapped back and forth around the "teeth" until the whole frame is full....and then the wire is tied off at the end.
We used a heavy steel wire and purposely put kinks and bends in the wire. When the tension bar end is tightened up, some of the wire is semi-straightened out...but there are overlapping areas and lots of variance in the wire so that the overall effect is a pretty realistic looking grain....it's not uniform at all.
Total cost? $75.
Had a little help with people giving us scrap aluminum frame tubing and use of some equipment...but I can't imagine it costing over $130 if you had to buy all the materials.
The Grain Frame probably has the advantage of individual wires, whereas mine is wound back and forth in one long continuous length...so if a wire is broken, I would have to rewind the entire frame with new wire....but hey, the wire is really cheap.
Email me and I'll try and get you some close-up photos of how we devised ours...it's a little bit different than the Grain Frame, so I don't think there would be a copyright infringement. Hey, we don't sell the things anyway.
Posted by Amy Brown (Member # 1963) on :
I have used the little grain frame and a homemade grain frame. Personally I think the one you buy makes signs look really fake and too linear.
With a homemade version you can make the wires loose and place them how you want making the grain look more realistic.
Try using aluminum piping and fencing wire. I am not positive this will work as I haven't built my own but I think that is what my friend used.
Also, use sand with your suction fed blasting setup and don't prime or paint first or you will be sorry. I know from experience! Make sure you wear a GOOD respirator.
Have fun!
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
I needed one for a job to match existing signs. Priced a used 2' x 4' on the internet for $400. Made my own out of scrap aluminum angle and wires for hanging acoustic ceiling. Works great, cost me $5.00 to make.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Brian, Like the others have mentioned, the home made version gives a more realistic and natural looking grain. We made a 2"x 4" frame and, like Dennis, wire used to hang acoustical ceilings. Havin' fun, Checkers
Posted by utter (Member # 634) on :
Well........I guess you can count me in too, it wasn't so much the cost as the size factor. I needed a long one and couldn't get it. So I made it! I too agree, the home made one makes a more realistic grain. I have a smaller one I made that is very simple for doing things such as house signs. If I get a chance I'll put up some pictures of my tensioning system. The key to the realism is the Irregular spacing of the wires and the occasional "kink".
Posted by Ken Morse (Member # 1799) on :
OT I also tried making my own wire frame but after a live demo and reading the book "Mastering the Art of Dimensional Signmaking" by the inventor of the Grain Frame I was hooked on the real thing. Try the web site http://www.grainfraim.com/ and tell them to advertise here at Letterville.
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