Project: FarCry Logo

[Wyoming]

Looking very nice - eagerly awaiting the finished article

[turkster]

I've been doing a bit of mocking up with the EL string, working out the best path to give the most even light without bending the EL string too much. As I mentioned before I am going to have to thread the EL string to the back between letters which means drilling through both the copper and the slate in 16 places . This mock up of the logo in cardboard with the path of the EL string and holes marked.



And here is a rather blurry picture of the EL string taped in place on the cardboard. I did this so I could get an idea of how even the lighting effect would be. Unfortunatley it looks like it is going to be difficult to get a very even effect but it still looks pretty good anyway.

[turkster]

Well here's a sneak preview of what the lighting should look like

[skuzgib]

Looks great!

[Duncan_Mon]

wow. Looks brilliant

[turkster]

Yeah its coming on nicely now .

Here's a shot of the copper piece on the slate. The slate needs a bit of cleaning but should look fairly good when thats done. Next job is to drill the holes through copper andslate to thread the EL string thorugh.

[hoodmeister]

Carefull when drilling the slate, it can be damn hard to get a decent cut without shattering it...

Judging by what you've done so far, though, you'll be fine

[turkster]

Yeah this particular slate is not the strongest either but I have most of the drilling done now with no cracks .

Just used a masonary bit in the pillar drill at fairly high speed, no hammer of course. The pillar drill makes it a lot easier .

[turkster]

Well sorry for the delay guys, got a bit distracted . Anyway the project is nearly finished I just need to assemble the final pieces. In the meant time some photos to bring you up to date.

Here's a (rather blurry) shot of the copper and slate just prior to drilling the slate. The copper has been drilled in the correct places for the EL string to pass through so I just need drill matching holes in the slate.


Shot of the letter "R" in the process of lapping/sanding, as you can see the finish is quite good but the difficulty is in getting a consistent finish over all the letters. I' am aiming for a light brushed aluminium effect finish which should look quite nice in the end.

[nvening]

any updates?, cant wait to see it all finished

[turkster]

Sorry been busy over last few days

Anyway here's a quick update. Two pictures of the slate backgound with the copper lay attached and the EL string stuck in place. The EL string is stuck down with superglue which seemed like the best method because it required quite a lot of force to hold the string in the necessary shape so superglue was used in conjunction with a couple of handclamps and the string was attached inch by inch.


The El string is actually quite stiff and the most difficult part of attaching it was to try and keep the string from bulging up where it emerged trhough the holes in the back plate. It was important that the el tube remained relatively flat to the copper otherwise it would be difficult to attach the aluminum letters later.

[Leecho]

Hey.... I'm just new to your forum here, but what I've seen going on with mods here is like, way cool. I work for a sign company in Toronto, Canada. This style of hallow lit letters is very popular in the sign business, it the first time I see someone doing it for a case. Nice choice of materials and fine detail of workmanship. Im planing on posting some photo's of my unfinished custom fabricated case mod called "Creature".

Awsome stuff with the lettering, can't wait to see it on the case.

[turkster]

Thanks leecho I have to say I'm pleased with the way this mod is turning out although I dont actually plan to have it on a case at the moment but more as a standalone ornament/etc!

Some closeups now of the aluminium letters. As I say i am pleased with the finish on these and IMO they look pretty cool! The detail that can be acheived with a piercing saw means that the torn/shot and scraped/scratched effects on the lettering can be done quite nicely.

A close up of one of the "R"s. I am relatively pleased with the finish on the letters although it is easy enough to damage with fingerprints scratches etc .


A close up the "A".


The "A" and "R" together. Looks cool .

[Koolpc]

Superb work there mate! Real quality. Keep us posted.

[turkster]

Well a couple more shots showing the all the letters here







The next (and final ) job is to fix all the letters to the copper/el string background. I originally planned to do this one letter at a time possibly using transparent hot glue but I thnk it would be very difficult to get them to line up correctly. It will probably look much better if all the letters were lined up on a perfectly flat plane so I am now thinking in terms of temp fixing the letter to a flat piece of cardboard which would allow me to attach all the letters to the copper/el string at the same time. Then after the glue was dry i could remove the cardboard and hopefully all the letters would be perfectly positioned. Anyway will keep you updated on progress with this.

[Tomahawk]

Wow.. very nice, well impressed. Obvious a lot of time and effort has gone into this, with brilliant results!.. Very cool indeed, can't wait to see the finished product.