Speaking from Experience: Building a train

WELCOME!

It is hard to believe that it was almost ten years ago I witnessed a CNC router in action for the very first time. I was fascinated and simply had to have one! Although I had been in the creative end of the three dimensional sign business for most of my life I didn't really know what I would do with one of these machines - but I just knew it could do fantastic stuff.

Along with the CNC router I discovered the wonderful material called Precision Board and the glues, primers and other companion products they offer. Since then we have gone through many tons of the material using it in most signs and projects we tackle. This journal will chronicle our many adventures both past, present and future. I'll talk from the perspective of someone who pushes these products to the creative limit on a daily basis. I'll be adding to the stories two or three times each week. -dan

Friday, February 1, 2013

Building a train - Part ten

It was finally time to assemble all those pieces. The geared trucks for the locomotive were first.

I assembled and glued the pieces together, then used the air powered die grinder to round the edges and add character to the 'cast metal'. The larger pieces were glued using PBBond-240 one part urethane glue which is activated by water while the smaller ones were joined with a two part epoxy glue.

Then I applied (with a brush) two coats of Modern Masters (water based) iron paint, allowing time to dry between coats. Once the second coat was dry to the touch I sprayed on the reaction solution. The rust began to form in minutes.

After half an hour I applied a second coat of the rusting solution. This sped up the rusting action. I took this picture about half an hour later as I turned out the lights to go in for the night. Tomorrow morning the reaction will be complete and the rust will be much redder than than the orange we saw tonight.

I'll post a follow up picture tomorrow showing the result.

-dan