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Free Hand Sign

17260 Views 15 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  dlane6110
2
After reading about free hand signs here and bugging Visteonguy (Terry) with questions I bought one of Homier's trim routers and made the 12" base that Terry describes in one of his posts. Man that makes the router easy to handle. I made a list of the steps needed to make the base if anyone wants it. Just PM me. I have a lot to learn to get good at making signs but I will post the first two tests. They don't have anykind of finish on them.

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That's a neat little set up! Nice job. Good luck with your signs. Those 2 you show look great!

Corey
Nice looking tests dlane. Can't complain about there outcome.
Yeah Dolan,,, ya are on your way now,,,, keep up the good work,,, If you can picture an old antique sign hanging on some old buildings in New England,, picture your fish now instead of having square edges, and being flat,,,,, maybe rounding it off or sloping it down to the back round, and adding some detail to it like the scales and fins,,,, so it looks 3-D ,,, then painting them in some old antique looking colors,,, now ya would really have a sign others would be begging for,,,

ITs gonna be fun, watching ya "Catch" the sign fever,,,,,, cant wait to see your next ones,,,,
Visteonguy said:
Yeah Dolan,,, ya are on your way now,,,, keep up the good work,,, If you can picture an old antique sign hanging on some old buildings in New England,, picture your fish now instead of having square edges, and being flat,,,,, maybe rounding it off or sloping it down to the back round, and adding some detail to it like the scales and fins,,,, so it looks 3-D ,,, then painting them in some old antique looking colors,,, now ya would really have a sign others would be begging for,,,

ITs gonna be fun, watching ya "Catch" the sign fever,,,,,, cant wait to see your next ones,,,,
I like your idea, Terry. Something to play with. Thanks.....
Ok This is all new to me How do I get the info on " Free Hand Signs " I have trying to make signs and am getting agravaited. Help Twitt
dlane6110 said:
... I bought one of Homier's trim routers and made the 12" base that Terry describes in one of his posts.
Really COOL! You're doing good!!

Can you give us a link to the homier trimmer you got? Do you like it? (or is it too soon to tell?)

Are you using primarily just a 1/4" str. bit? What bits are you using, so far?
(I also see a bowl hollowing bit in there for the background (?) ) :)

I can see a board clamped across the workpiece to aid in staying in a nice horiz. straight line, if desired... have you done that?
I can help with that.. Bought one myself.. It had a bad collet, I called them, they sent a whole new router.. I have 2 of them now.. Not bad for $17US..
You can find them on e-bay also..
http://www.homier.com/detail.asp?Se...IZPMXml/dP8g/bkeP8R+M&dpt=9&cat=108&sku=02735
twitt said:
Ok This is all new to me How do I get the info on " Free Hand Signs " I have trying to make signs and am getting agravaited. Help Twitt
There are several of us that have made signs.. Here's a couple links on one I did..
http://www.routerforums.com/general-routing/2865-my-first-sign-project.html
http://www.routerforums.com/show-n-tell/2882-my-first-sign-project-moved-here.html
Here's one more tip about the two routers Chicago and Homier, they are both ok routers but you must not run them to long and get them HOT.

They both come with a extra set of brushs, they do this because they know they are going to fail.
If they get hot and they do because they don't put a fan in to cool them down ,I can see why when they sell them so low and a 10 cents is a big deal.

This what they do when they get hot the spring that's on the brush wire with fail that's to say because it's a spring it can't take the heat and will lose it's spring and then the arc will cook and burn up the brush or it will just stop running because the brush can't stay in place.

The key to keep them working is not to work them to long or to say use a short pass and then let them cool down.
The brush caps can be tricky to get out, a little cutting fuild and a inpack driver will free them but you must take care when you hit the cap, it's plastic :(.

Hope this helps someone that has one , by the way I have 4 of them and many of the Chicago/Homier tools are the same way . :)

Just a Note... my son just cooked one last weekend (4" grinder) and I just got it repaired today.
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I wonder if it's possible to take springs from pens and wind them onto the brush wire.. I'll have to look into that..
HI Mike

Maybe but I don't think so ,they are to strong/stiff ,they must be just right not to much pressure but just touch, almost float, I make alot of my own springs on the lathe but I don't have that wire size.
But I'm sure you can find some springs at the hardware store (or from a motor bush sets) or motor repair shop that would work if the need comes up.
twitt said:
Ok This is all new to me How do I get the info on " Free Hand Signs " I have trying to make signs and am getting agravaited. Help Twitt
There is a great book out there by one of our past greats Pat Speilman. I think it is called sign making. Lots of good info on template routing for signs and free handing signs. Worth the 10-15.00 in my opinion.

corey
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Dremel Tool

dlane6110 said:
After reading about free hand signs here and bugging Visteonguy (Terry) with questions I bought one of Homier's trim routers and made the 12" base that Terry describes in one of his posts. Man that makes the router easy to handle. I made a list of the steps needed to make the base if anyone wants it. Just PM me. I have a lot to learn to get good at making signs but I will post the first two tests. They don't have anykind of finish on them.
Nice little tool. I have a Dremel tool I use to make free hand signs which has a router attachment and a guide that fits onto it for straightline routing. I will provide a pic of it soon.
Gary

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Looks like it used to be a plunger as well. I have a Craftsman base for mine that works pretty good and have used it to do carving work on signs, trash bins, vegtable bins and the like.

Corey
Free Hand Signs

Joe Lyddon said:
Really COOL! You're doing good!!

Can you give us a link to the homier trimmer you got? Do you like it? (or is it too soon to tell?)

Are you using primarily just a 1/4" str. bit? What bits are you using, so far?
(I also see a bowl hollowing bit in there for the background (?) ) :)

I can see a board clamped across the workpiece to aid in staying in a nice horiz. straight line, if desired... have you done that?
Joe, Pardon the late respone. I have not signed on in several days. Have been busy but not in the woodshop......getting withdrawal pains.

Yes, I like the Homier trim router. I have used it to make 5 signs. Two were about 18" x 24". Yes I use str. bites on all the signs. Have tried mill end bits also but the 3/8" double flute straight bit I have seems to cut better without a lot of wood smoke/burn. No I have not tried a straight edge but after I made the two large signs I realized I could have gotten a sharper outer edge if I had of used some kind of edge guide. I plan to try this on a future sign.

BTW Harbour Freight sells a 1/4" trim router that is identical to the Homier. You can usually find it on sell for $19.99 at their stores...watch for their flyers...which is about the same as the Homier with shipping. If you can catch it on sell for $19.99 and get one of their coupons like I did recently, I got it for about $16 at the store. Now I have two 1/4" trim routers. I recently used one of them with a small roundover bit on several pieces of wood and it was a pleasure to use... much easier than a normal size router for job I was doing.
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