CMU Letters

| May 2021 |

This CMU sign was made for the Alumni House at Carnegie Mellon University. Each letter is 47" tall, 6" thick, and CNC routed from 8 sheets of 3/4" MDF. The interior of each letter is hollow to reduce each letter's overall weight. In total 16 sheets of MDF were used.

After CNCing, each letter had to be deburred on both sides using a palm sander. With all 8 pieces routed and cleaned, the pieces were attached in chunks with the inner core screwed together in chunks of 3. The front and back caps were glued on, and brad nailed in place.

Once the letters were fully assembled, the tabs used to hold the piece in place during the routing process could be removed. A combination of flush cut saws, palm sanders, and a pneumatic grinding tool were used. Wood filler was then used to fill any gaps between the MDF layers and to smooth out the edges.

Finally, the letters could be primed and they each received two coats of paint each.

These letters would not have been finished in time without the help of the TechSpark staff and student workers. Thank you!