Innovative Equipment Plus Flexible SoftwareEquals a New Business

The Challenge

Carey’s new company works primarily with thermo-plastics, high-grade acrylics, and some wood for its signs. They also make signs from non-ferrous metals such as thin stainless and aluminum sheets. The complex three-dimensional signs are produced using “HDU” or “High Density Urethane. To cut these out accurately using a router is a challenge. They needed a toolpath software.

• Mastercam’s Modify and Drag feature allows Oak Smith to manipulate images as in a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” type environment.
• Toolpath Verification allows Carey to see what’s going to happen in the cutting path. They use the Verify feature on every program before it is sent to the router.
• Mastercam allowed Oak Smith to move into a new market – making LED signs. Carey has created a way to make this technology available for automobiles, with an entire dealer channel established to keep up with the high demand.
• Mastercam’s technical support has assisted Oak Smith when they needed it.

Carey has an unusual background and a different perspective on business. Having already sold a successful company, he had to start another one within a few weeks. Otherwise, the tax burden from the sale would have been detrimental for future plans.

After 28 years of involvement in metalworking and manufacturing, half of which was owning a company called Technical Industrial Sales, Inc. that specialized in selling high-end tooling and equipment for metal working manufacturers, Carey felt he saw the “writing on the wall” with China and manufacturing being displaced in the US. So he sold the company.

He says, “I decided to buy a CNC router because they are unique to my area. I wanted to use my training and background to manufacture my own products, pretty much to unleash my own creativity. Also, all that good advice I’d been giving to customers about manufacturing over the years, I wanted to use for myself.”
His unleashed creativity took him back to a hobby and a first love – woodworking. The new business he created was called The OakSmith, Inc. He adds, “Truthfully, I’ve always been a woodworker at heart. When I bought that router, my thought was I’d do some high-end wood sculpting and corbels and things like that for the very elite cabinet shops. I would be their backup, the one they would turn to for doing their very creative work. I would develop a good service affiliation with all these existing cabinet and wood shops. But lo and behold, these shops were somewhat intimidated by me. Rather than being my ally, they made the assumption that I’d be a competitor. I believe it was because I bought everything brand new, a 6,000 sq. ft. facility, a state-of-the-art CNC router with a 5’ X 8’ table, and a laser.

“So how did I get into sign making? Well the word oaksmith has a dual meaning. But one of the definitions with Webster is someone who is skilled in the art of carving. Oak was to imply the wood carving or carver. I thought with my machine abilities I would do some sign making on the side. Why not make high end, hand-carved signs that you would see in cities like Eureka Springs, AR and Branson, MO. They are very decorative and have a warmth and character to them. So we (I and my employees at this time) did a few of those signs and people really warmed up to them."

When Carey purchased the router through CR Onsrud, they offered Mastercam and another software package. Carey says, “I selected Mastercam because in my years in metal working, I had heard the name, and knew they had a good reputation. So we chose Mastercam as our operating system for the machine. We’ve been buying Mastercam ever since and all the add-ons that go with it. To be honest, I think Mastercam is a routing software package dream. I’m very happy with its ability. In my opinion, it’s very easy to train people on too. I just found it quite conducive to what we use the machine for.”

Carey is taking his abilities and equipment in another direction through an opportunity to produce signs for the Country Music Television show “Trick My Truck,” which use LED illumination and acrylic composites to illuminate artist designs and logos directly in place of the vehicles standard windows. The end result is that of a “floating” display of color.

Carey says these new signs are neon-like signage or neon style. “We say it that way because everyone is accustomed to the neon look. But the LEDs allow for the neon color, without the maintenance and problems of transformers, gases, and highly volatile glass tubes that can be broken and damaged in storms. We’re able to use the LED lighting and project the light through the edge of the acrylic using a technique called ‘edge lighting.

“As far as waving the Mastercam flag, I truly could not be happier with the support we’ve gotten. Any time we’ve called, they’ve been right there to help us, even at the higher levels of the programs code writers if need be. I feel that with the staff they have at Mastercam, they’re going to continue to make improvements in ways that will keep them far above the competitors in the field.”

With new doors for his services opening almost daily, Carey is looking forward to expanding his shop and will soon add another router. Some of his LED-acrylic products are sold on Ebay.