10/01/2025
Hey Gainesville! We are in full swing over here at the shop - offering all sorts of hands on classes right now. Welding and Blacksmithing. The next Feb/ March schedule is coming soon.
But in the meantime, I want to give a shout out for this new CNC sign cutting class I'm offering. (This image is the Lynx Bookstore sign, created from a 4x4' piece of steel and backlit with LED lights)
I've heard from many fellow small businesses that they'd love to get a custom sign made but the costs are tough to handle when they're just starting out. This is my attempt to bring that cost down by turning the process into a group class!
Here's the full class description:
Design and cut your own 4' x 4' sign from 11 gauge steel on a CNC plasma cutter.
Class will begin initially as a group and time slots will be given for students to return with their design and assist in running the CNC machine to cut the sign.
Saturday 9-1 as a group, and with times through the rest of the weekend and following week to be chosen depending on the student's graphic complexity and ability to be cut with the prep time between our following meeting.
The first day will cover the principles of CNC plasma cutting and the required programming to take a black and white image through the process of bring cut in metal. This class will not be a thorough training in CNC programming, but rather is designed for small businesses who would like a business sign made, or creative home owners who would like to create a custom piece of art or special sign for their property.
Students will benefit the most if they arrive to class with a graphic of their image, already created. Please email [email protected] prior to class with either a plan for your design, or a completed design.
The primary steps will be -
1. Image creation (please email me with 1 week's notice if you'd like to attend but need guidance on your design). The image will eventually be a dxf file, but can begin as a jpg, pdf, or even better - an svg file.
2. Cleaning up the graphic and preparing for input into the CNC software program.
During clean up - which we can do together, we will need to adjust any images to be no thinner than .25" and we need to check for "drop out sections".
3. Moving the image through the CNC software, and into the "cut stage" where the machine plasma cuts into the 11 gauge steel.
4. Very important! Clean up - this entails each student grinding away and unwanted slag from their project. This can either happen during your second meeting at the shop, or will be done on a weekday evening, depending on how quickly we can get through the cutting process during our second meeting.
$400 registration fee and a material fee of $200 is due at the time of class
