posted
We get all manner of unusual requests in our business. Occasionally we are asked to do something that is very somber and meaningful to our clients. In this case the city fire department had a bell they ring at a ceremony honoring deceased firemen. They needed a stand for the bell which suited the occasion.
They came to me with a rough drawing of what they had in mind with the idea I could use our CNC router to do the cutouts for them. In their design the bell was in front of the crest which bothered me. I asked if I could submit a slightly different design which rearranged the elements they had included in their sketch. I also asked to use Precision Board instead of real wood to fabricate the stand with a steel frame laminated into the center for strength and durability. After seeing the design I submitted they gave me the green light to proceed.
Here's the finished piece. The scroll is gilded... the crest behind it painted with copper paint and brown patina. It stands 34" tall.
-grampa dan
[ March 27, 2009, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8739 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Believe it or not it has a special meaning to me. My Brother who passed away last Month was a Paramedic/Firefighter for years and Years in British Columbia... One time he lived right in Chilliwack... I visited him there at one time. Art was his name, he moved to OK Falls years ago and raised a family there... and he was a Fire Fighter there as well.
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
as a volunteer firefighter, the most moving part of our yearly banquet is the ringing of the bell in rememberance. Ya done good, Granpa!
-------------------- Catharine C. Kennedy CCK Graphics 1511 Route 28 Chatham Center, NY 12184 cck1620@taconic.net "Look at me, Look at me, Look at me now! I't's fun to have fun, But you have to know how!" Posts: 2173 | From: downtown Chatham Center, NY | Registered: Feb 2004
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(may I add a small suggestion though: the curved but of 'timber' supporting the bell looks great, and even though we know it has a steel centre, in reality you wouldn't cut a piece with the grain running off the block like that, but you'd make the grain run if possible from one end to the other. We cut pieces like that as felloes for waggon wheels, and strength of grain is paramount. I know the grain is fake, and looks perfect, like some weathered driftwood, but that cross-grain is the only bit that to me looks like it's not right, to me that is!)
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Thanks for the kind comments. I agree Ian... if I had it to do over I would alter the woodgrain on the top piece as you suggest. It hit me about the time the router was half way through...
Living and learning in Yarrow...
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8739 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
There is a 1" square tube frame welded up and laminated inside the bell support and into the base. While the 30 lb Precicion Board is pretty tough I just knew someone would eventually pick this thing up by the arm supporting the bell and I wanted no chance of it breaking off.
The head scratcher on this project was how to get the base tapered on the router as I hadn't created a file like that in EnRoute previously. The solution was to route the top in one go out of a 3" piece of Precision Board and then the bottom part out of successive layers of 1" board upside down and then glue all the pieces together. It worked out real slick. Although visually massive it didn't take that much board to pull off - 1 sheet of 1" and a 2' x 2' piece of 3" and two pieces of 3/4 MDF for the base. It came together in only two days in the shop.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8739 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Bob Noyes Digital Graffiti 310 Main St NE Mapleton, MN 56065 Posts: 130 | From: Mapleton, MN | Registered: Nov 2007
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