Contrary to what some think, hardwood medallions we offer are made entirely piece by piece. None are stained, all individual pieces are cut either by CNC laser or CNC routing machines. My preference is for the latter, as lasers have a tendancy to show minuscule burning on the edges of some lighter hardwood species.
What does CNC stand for? CNC is the acronym for computer numerical control. In other words a design is programmed into a computer. With the click of a mouse, the whole system performs its automated cutting of patterns. I first saw the routing system through a cabinet maker friend in the early 90's and exclaimed..."I gotta get me one of these gadgets!"
They are indeed very cool!
I've only had the chance to see how medallions are made by laser but look for the opportunity to see how they are done by a router system. The photo above was provided by friends in the Ukraine showing a portion of the CNC routing process. Assemby can be seen in another photo towards the bottom of this page. Unfortunately the quality of next picture is poor but you get the idea. Such small pieces, yet incredibly precise.
Cutting Process
The next image shows how delicate pieces can be until they are assembled into the pattern. The outer band in this design are the pieces being cut out in the photo above. Made from natural Wenge, an African hardwood, you can barely make out the seams in the second photo below. The directional letters in this compass medallion is what caught my eye especially. Shown is one inserted and another set aside for the next medallion to be constructed.
Assembly
Details!
Finally once all the pieces are assembled the medallion is placed in a vacuum gizmo with a backer board applied with adhesive. I apologize for the lack of proper terminology, but I sometimes get impatient when it comes to creating a blog article. Besides calling someone at this hour is impossible. You may notice many of my articles are put together in the early morning hours by the time stamp shown below. Quiet, void of noise or distractions. Doesn't get any better. I may have the clock messed up. Add one hour on this one or 5:45 AM EST.
Custom Pine Medallion- Final Steps
More Assembly
Close-up View Showing Actual Thickness (US .05 cent piece used as reference)
The medallion shown above is 3/4" in total thickness used for installation into a 3/4" solid hardwood floor. Designs can be adapted for any thickness 3/8 inch and greater. However for thinner medallions, the top actual surface layers (dark color shown) are reduced dependant on the overall thickness of the medallion itself.
Border Sample
When I snapped the above picture I thought what's this stuff?(circled) It's actually the part of the design that is turning direction at 90ยบ No pieces coming loose with that after it was cut on a chop saw.
3 comments:
Those are gorgeous. Where can I get a catalog?
Fascinating to see how the medallions are made. We use a compnay in Ireland that make ours. Something we should be trying to get more involved in.
good stuff here! look forward to reading more!
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