By John Elliott
Posted on Monday, April 3rd, 2023
Here’s one of those how-the-hell-do-I-do-this-jobs? I love ’em.
Jayson, the client, had definite ideas of what he wanted. He cut a mock-up from 6mm foam PVC board with a stencil knife to show me. It was about 250mm [10 inches] wide.
He was specific that he wanted the bicycle wheel lying over, showing it in a perspective view. That proved to be the most difficult element of the job—making the oval work.
I started by cutting some 35mm [1-1/2 inch] black poly pipe along the middle, making a very long ‘U’, then heating it so it would do the sharper bends on the sides. I used 6mm aluminum rod for the spokes, slimming the end and tapping a thread onto the ends of each one so that they would screw in and stay in place.
After some experimentation, I ended up using some foam water pipe insulation as the tire. I painted it with several coats of EcoSol Max ink from the waste bottle of my Roland printer for extra protection. (That ink makes very good tire black, too!)
The disc brake is laser cut 6mm acrylic, hit with some Krylon spray paint. The cabinet work is just 3mm ACM, V routed on the back then folded to make the returns for depth.
The whole project is about 2.4 meters [8 feet] wide.
The sign gets a lot of comments. Jayson is stoked. And it’s one of those jobs we do more for the pleasure than the profits.
John Elliott’s shop, Prickle Patch Signs, is in Valla, NSW, Australia
Here’s Jason’s mockup cut from foamboard.
Fabricating the bicycle wheel and tire
The workshop sign is simply flat 3mm ACM panels cut to shape and spaced with appropriate length threaded rods, washers and nuts. Jayce had an old BMX cycle wheel we could use on this sign. It was considerably easier to make than the external sign, which kept the price down.
