As a thank you gift for hosting my Cinematography For Actors Workshop, I laser engraved a custom sign for Story City Church in Burbank, CA. Made from 3/4" Poplar. The design was engraved, then I wiped on a light gray stain wash. I touched up the black engraving with some gloss black paint and sprayed on a satin poly finish. The knob is a camera head tie down nut made for a production company I shoot for named FusionFlix. The knob was cut from 3/4" baltic birch plywood, hand sanded with a natural Danish Oil finish. I used LightBurn software on the X-Tool to design and burn the lettering.

Ames Creative now has laser engraving capability. I did these promotional pens for a friend promoting her new film. Many more laser projects to come.

 A camera rental house in Los Angeles asked I if could fill an order for 60 hi hats. I've built them before and have been wanting to make some custom movie themed versions, so I accepted the challenge. And a challenge it was! I basically turned myself into a factory worker for two weeks in my unairconditioned, garage workshop during a heatwave of temps over 100 degrees. The Hi Hats were made of a variety of 3/4" plywood 18"x18" with a 4.5" hole in the center and slots for handles. The corners were cut off at 45 degrees and all the edges were rounded off with a roundover bit. Finish was two coats of water based, polyurethane for hardwood floors. 

First the plywood was cut into 18" squares on the table saw. Tolerances were 1/16th of an inch because the blanks had to fit into jigs later.

Next the blanks were secured below a 1/2" MDF template made on my friends Shapeoko CNC machine and the holes and handles were cut using a flush trim bit. The extra handles with the "X"s were the result of an accident when the bearing came loose on the router bit and dug into the template. Lesson learned: Always check those little allen screws holding your bearing in place. Fortunately my friend was able recut the handles on the template. I found in necessary to firm up the MDF template with some polyurethane and paint so the bearing wouldn't dig into the edge of the MDF. Fortunately my friend  was able to help speed up the process by cutting out some of the holes and handles on his Shapeoko while I did my hand routing.

The edges were routed using a roundover bit. The blue tape holds my improvised dust collection system fo my small router which is connected to my shopvac.

After routing the edges, I had to fill any voids in the plywood. I would usually use glue and quickly sand over the hole so the sawdust mixes with the glue and hides the repair. Here is where buying quality wood pays off.  On the right you can see the edges of two different types of plywood. The bottom is regular big box store plywood and the top is baltic birch. The baltic birch is expensive, but it's very clean, consistent and stronger than regular plywood.

Hollywood Impact Studios was holding its 1st Annual Festival and needed some props and signs. The CAMP LAKE HUGHES sign was hand made from some 3ft long scrap boards. I printed out the lettering real size on my printer and taped everything together. The lettering was taped to the boards and letters traced with an exacto knife. I followed up with a chisel on the same outlines and then used a handheld router 1/8" deep to remove the inside of the letters. The dynamite boxes were 9"x13"x7" also made with scrap wood glued together. The sides were glued and nailed with small brad nails. A friend created a stencil for the HERCULES POWDER logo on a Cricket machine. I spray painted the black lettering and aged the wood with some scratches and dents and different colored stains and dirt. The dynamite was 1" wooden rod painted red with weed eater twine as fuses. The simulated metal bars were 1" square wood painted black and weathered with some yellow, red, brown and grey paint. The MINE SHAFT sign was designed on Carbide Create software and cut on our Shapeoko CNC machine. The Museum sign was also cut on the Shapeoko out of Birch. The CLOSED signs were designed by RickRob Studios and printed at Staples. I aged the paper with tea stains, ragged edges and some bullet holes.

2021 brings new machines and capabilities to the shop. I now have access to a 3D printer, laser engraver and two CNC routers. I'm learning a lot about materials, workflow and software. I've been working with Rick from RickRob Studio who handles all the CAD and design software. We have been working on some 3D relief carvings and engraved wood signs. We also laser engraved a leather patch and tested our ability to engrave into soft aluminum.

AmesCreative made it's first 3D print!  An Up! Plus 2  3D Printer on loan from a friend allowed me to print out an idea I had for organizing my spray paint cans to a wall. Once again, Rick Rob Studio provided CAD design and 3D printing support to make an ABS plastic clip that can hold cans or bottles to a wall. Two countersunk screw holes were added for mounting. The first prototype was a little thin and didn't hold very well so Rick beefed up the design and got it just right on the second print. It has a very satisfying "snap" sound when you insert the can into the clip. One clip takes about 90 minutes to print. 3D printing is all about trial and error.  I see a lot of trials and errors in my 3D printing future. For now we are building 5"x 5"x 5" objects or parts in ABS plastic. 

​My CAD creator friend Rick sent me some cool 3D.pdf files and detailed drawings of his unique design for a tripod mounted holder/ mount for his new Mavic Air 2 drone. It allows him to walk with the drone while mounted to his tripod to get smooth stabilized shots just like a hand held gimbal.  The Brass 1/4"-20 threaded insert allows mounting to a tripod and the Velcro helps protect the drone from scratches.  Final finish was grey spray paint with protective coat of clear satin polyurethane.

 The first prototype was made with 3/4" ply which was glued and screwed together. The rounded notches were made on the router table.  It's great to have detailed plans to work from, but then you have to deal with exact tolerances. Lots of wood filler and sanding to fill in the plywood edges.  Future versions could probably be made from MDF or some kind of hardwood.  3D printing would also be an option. ​

​Here's the drone nestled in its holder. The blades of the drone have been removed. A simple rubber band can hold it in place if you are not doing anything crazy. It looks like a submersible to me.  Drone technology is amazing.  I made a video of most of the construction. I may post it on Youtube.

I had some free time and scraps of maple so I decided to make a magnetized pot lid holder for the side of my oven. Very basic design. Hard to see in the photo, but the bar has a 45 degree bevel on it (router table) where the lid touches the bar. The hardest part was chiseling out the compartments for the magnets. They were salvaged from an old magnetic knife rack and held in with epoxy.  Finished with sanding to 220 grit and a single coat of Natural Danish Oil.

The client of the king bed conversion offered me a challenge. She had purchased an adjustable bed and wanted it installed in the daybed. The new bed frame was a few inches longer that the existing daybed, so I had to do some widening of the headboard and scrap the storage compartment under the bed and attach everything to the metal adjustable bed frame.

The bottom storage compartment and sides were removed and 2x4 studs were connected to both sides. They were braced together with the headboard with  some 3/4" pine shelving board. The removal of the sides left some bad sections of wood so we decided to use some pre primed wood ornamental bead casing to cover it.

The sides were reattached to the outside 2x4's by screwing in from the back. The top end caps were repositioned out to the new ends of the headboard.  The top of the casing and exposed end grain of the old bed frame was sealed with Bondo  and sanded smooth. 2x4 blocks were secured to the bottom of the frame with bolts to act as feet and attachment points to the sides, front and back. A longer front board was attached to keep the mattress from from sliding out. Lastly the original ball feet were cut down and installed under the front sides. Still waiting to take a final photo after everything is installed and repainted.

The crop of wooden handguns is almost ready for harvest. A martial arts instructor requested some wooden handguns as a training aid for teaching gun disarming techniques. These are roughly based on the Glock 17 made from 1" plywood, routed edges with three coats of satin polyurethane. Details include barrel opening, slide groove, ejection port, bottom frame relief, slide cocking serrations, mag release button and trigger guard removal for safety. I'm experimenting with adding some more Glock specific details for custom orders such as Takedown Lever, Slide release, Pins and customer name engraving or stamping.