making large letters

[konaman]

I want to make some large letters from hardwood for a child's bedroom wall and need advice on best way to do this.  I am wonder the best way to make curved letters like C, G, S etc and how best to make from sereral piecs of wood.  I am thinking 36" high and 3/4" thick.  Any help or links would be appreciated.

[Guest]

If I were going to do that, I would draw the letters out full size--I'd use SketchUp and the desired font. Then I'd print them full size to use as templates. I'd cut out patterns in 1/2 in. MDF and work them until I had the shapes smoothed out. These would become the patterns for use with a pattern trimming bit in a router.

[goaliedad]

I would find the letter style you want on a computer and print it out as large as possible. Take it to a "copy shop" that has a large format printer and have them enlarge it to the size you want. It may not have real crisp edges, but you should be able to make it work.
Then glue up stock to givevyiu the material needed.

[Brian in sunny FL]

First, 3/4" may be too thick but I don't know the look you're going for or if you plan on painting or staining.  I assume stain if you are making them from hardwood.

Myself, I would glue up the panels and take them to a CNC shop.  They can cut all three in under an hour so figure an hours worth of shop rate for the cost.

[Cooler]

If you have an old slide projector and an old 35 mm camera, then take photos of the  letters and project the slides onto the MDF and trace.

Alternatively you can order frisket paper cut to any letter size from online sign letter companies.

Frisket paper is adhered to the surface and then used for painting.  In this case you would lightly spray paint the area to delineate the profile.

There are companies that will cut these for you but they charge about $60.00 per letter--which can get expensive if you have a lot of copy to produce.

[AHill]

It the art world, they paint murals and signs using an overhead projector or portable projector that plugs into a laptop.  You project the image or letters onto a wall, then trace out the letters.  You could put kraft paper (available at any big box store) on the wall, project the image, trace the letters, then cut out the template.  I'd recommend 1/4" vs. 3/4".  The size of your letters is pretty large, making them heavy.

[joe1086]

Here's one way to create the image....assuming you have a printer at home.

If you can create an image of the letter as a JPEG this site will let you upload it and create a poster of tiled prints. Tape the prints together to use as a pattern.

http://www.blockposters.com/

[Steve N]

If you find a font you like, you can take that to Kinko's or similar printing places and they can scale it up to some really large sizes. That = a pattern. I would use MDF which can machine pretty clean, band saw/jigsaw to close to shape, and clean the irregularities out with hand sanding blocks, rasps, and files. Lively paint would be my choice for color. Stained wood will be muted, and not nearly as eye catching as bright gloss paint in vivid colors. Ask your baby Doctors about what they see. Plus 36 x ? sounds huge, usually those are somewhere around 12 to 16" max.

Take pics, and have fun

[opticsguy]

Find some large paper and hand draw out the letters. A #2 pencil and eraser and some time will get you what you need.  You can use soup cans for tight curves and a thin long piece of wood for more gentle curves.  By the time you run around to printers, print shops, setting up projectors and etc. You can have this project done. You might surprised how easy this project can be if you simply try it.

[konaman]

thanks for the suggestions.  With the large curved letters should I use one piece of wood or glue several together with the grain running in different directions? I don't want it to have future issues if it is made from a single piece of wood.
Thanks