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Routing a Sign

9K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  followyourheart 
#1 ·
Setting up the design

I make a lot of hand painted signs, but now and then I do a routed sign. They take much longer to complete, but they are just as creative and fun.

Someone who saw me at a craft show contacted me to make her a routed sign, so I photographed the process.

The finished sign looks like this:



Now I'll explain how the process goes

Valerie wanted a basic sign to hang outside that was 18" long. I chose cedar because of it's ability to last outdoors and I cut a piece of 1" thick cedar from a deck board. I left it a few inches longer than the finished sign would be to allow me to have extra room for routing (you'll see this later)



I chose to use a basic, straight font without serifs. This font is Calibri and I blew up the size on my computer so that the letters would fit on the 18" board and then printed it out on my printer.



I taped the paper together, taped it onto the board and put carbon paper under the letters:



Then I traced the outline of the letters with a pencil and the carbon paper transfers that onto the wood quite clearly:



Here are all the letters finished and ready for routing:



For routing, the board has to remain solidly in place otherwise the torque of the router can move the wood. Often I clamp down the wood to a worktable but usually the clamps are in the way of the router and have to be moved. This time I screwed a scrap piece of wood to the bottom of the sign. The screws are in the waste area at each end of the sign (remember I left it long for this reason) and the sign will be trimmed after the routing is finished, removing the screw holes.



After turning the side right side up, I put it on my husband's work table which has an opening that can be adjusted by turning the knobs on the front. (Please don't look too closely at the table, it's not pretty, but it serves a purpose) The table closes in on the scrap wood I put on the back and this way the sign is firmly on the table without any clamps in the way.



Now we are ready to route out the letters, so tomorrow I will post on setting up the router and starting the routing. Please see Part 2 for that information.
 
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#4 ·
Too late, Julie…I looked at the table and was horrified!!! I have the same type of table (minus the paint stains) and find it to be very useful.

Very clever idea of using the computer to get the letters and then the carbon to trace them. But then again, I find much of what you do to be clever.

Now on to part 2.
 
#5 ·
Routing the Horizontal and Vertical Parts

>>> You can find Part 1 here on how to set up the design <<<

I have three routers, but for this job I'm using my small trim router. This router has a small square see-through base that is good for smaller signs. It takes bits with a 1/4" shank and I'm using my 3/8" round nose bit which I will leave protruding just less than 1/8" inch out of the base. Because the letters need to be quite close together to fit on this sign, the groove from the bit can't be too wide or the letters will end up touching each other. (I tried out the bit first on some scrap wood to see how it would look)



In addition to the router, the other thing I need is some clamps and a long straight piece of wood plus a 90 degree jig. I make this jig crudely out of scraps and just screw it together. It will be used for the vertical parts of the lettering. The most important things with this are that the wood edges are straight and the jig forms a perfect 90 degrees:



Before routing I need to find out what the offset is from the edge of my router base to the center of the groove that it makes with the bit. Your router is most likely not the same as mine which was about 2 3/8". This measurement is needed because I am going to clamp a board down to ride the router base against, to keep the horizontal parts perfectly horizontal.



When I clamp a piece of scrap wood horizontally across the board, it needs to be clamped the same distance from the middle of the letter part I'm working on, as I determined the offset to be. For example here below, to route the TOP of the E, the board is clamped this distance away from the middle of the top of the E (again for me it was 2 3/8")



I carefully lower the router into the wood and then ride the base along the boards edge, pushing my router against it firmly (to the left and against the board) and away from me. If you let the router wander to the right, your letter will not be straight. If necessary, you can also clamp another board to the right of the base and then it has no chance to go off track.



I watch from low down (with eye protection) to see where to stop and start. I then do all the horizontal letter parts that are at the top, so the E's the small part of the R's and the small part of the B.



I then move my clamped board so that it is the offset distance away from the horizontal middle parts of any letters. In my case, again the E's the R's, and the B. I move it again for the horizontal part of the A which sits lower than the E's. And I move the board to the top and clamp it there to do the lower horizontal letter parts, the L, the E's, the B.



Once the horizontal parts are complete I use my 90 degree jig to line up the vertical letter parts. I put a small groove in the jig where the bit will cut when the router is riding against the vertical portion of the jig. Again, the offset is the same, but this jig can hook onto the bottom of the board (I still clamp it to keep it secure). You can see where I drew a faint line from the middle of the L and then lined up the groove from the bit. I found this easier than measuring each time, since the jig has to be moved for each letter.



Here you can see the cut made with the router for the vertical part of the L. I move the jig along to do the rest of the letters: E's, R's, I, and the B



Although this is quite precise, it is not perfect… but this isn't a CNC router, it's hand done!

Tomorrow I'll finish the remaining parts of the letters, see Part 3 for that.
 
#6 ·
This is a cool blog! I attempted to make a sign like this once, but wasn't pleased with the results. I tried to freehand the whole thing, and it looked really wavy. I can see the big benefit of using the edge guide for the router. Thanks for sharing!
 
#11 ·
Finishing the sign

I've finished the horizontal and vertical portions of the letters and now move on to the straight angled parts. This would include both sides of the V, as well as the A and the leg of the R. These are basically done the same way, by clamping a scrap piece of wood at the offset distance away from the letter being routed. I had to brace underneath my scrap piece to clamp it securely.



The router then rides again along the side of the clamped piece.



Now… the hard part! For the remaining curved parts of the letters, such as the top of the R's, the B, the bottom of the U and the C and of course the very curvy "&". You really need to hold tight on the router and try to keep within the drawn lines. As I said in Part 2, it's not perfect and it helps to practise a bit first! Here are the finished letters:



First I take off the support wood underneath and trim the wood to size. I then give the board a good sanding which can help remove some of the fine bits you sometimes get around the edge of the routed out letters. It also removes any pencil or carbon markings and any small scratches that the router may make while moving across the wood.

I fill the letters with black craft paint, using a fine brush, carefully. Some people spray their whole board and then either sand or plane off the black on the flat parts. I have not had success trying this, perhaps I need a different paint for that?



I did a second coat of black in the letters and checked for places where it wasn't solid enough. With wood grain, the paint can sometimes soak in in places and leave small gaps in other places.



Once the black paint has dried, I use an exterior wood finish that soaks into the wood. I used "Deftoil" by Deft which is supposed to "Protect Exterior Woods from the Harmful Effects of Rain and Sun." This product is brushed on liberally and then left for 30 minutes to penetrate into the wood. You then apply a second coat and wipe after another 20 minutes.



Here's the finished sign:



Please ask if you have any questions, this is meant to help others try out routing a sign so let me know if you make one.
 
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