Aluminum Tree Panels
In February of 2019, we were contacted by Basecom, Inc, a prominent general contracting firm in Fort Worth, Texas. Basecom heard about our capabilities and asked us to come up with a design for their new offices that could be machined into aluminum plate and they wanted it to resemble a tree. We got to work looking for the perfect specimen that was native to the ecology of North Texas: The mighty Live Oak. We drew a 3D rendering of the finished panels and soon we had the thumb’s up from our client.
Upon approval of the design, we sourced 5x10 sheets of 6061-T6 1/4” aluminum. Our design called for the background of the tree to be a field of 3/4” holes and the tree branches to be solid aluminum. That meant cutting tens of thousands of holes.
Sheets were loaded onto our 5x10 foot CNC router one at a time, and the real work got underway. We couldn’t sweep the aluminum chips off the floor fast enough. We were able to achieve a stunning mirror finish on the cut surfaces. Those surfaces reflected the light in such a mesmerizing way.
Within a few days we had all the aluminum machined and ready for a clear powder coat. We palletized the finished panels and sent them off to Fort Worth. Then we waited. Four months later, we got word that the panels had been installed and were sent photos so we could see our first glimpse of the panels in their permanent home. The client loved them.
We want to send a huge thank you to Basecom, Inc for trusting us with this project. Here are some quick photos they sent us. We will update this gallery with high quality photos once their office is open for business.
