08: CNC Milling

Lab Day 8

Today in lab, we worked on CNC Milling. Specifically, the focus was on the ShopBot. Adwoa, Fahrenaz, and I made a heart. To begin, we uploaded the STL file to a Flash Drive, and inserted the flash drive into the computer. The file looked like this on the computer originally.

Next, we worked on examining and editing the cuts. First, we set the drill bit to a 1/2 inch bit (the biggest bit avalible). We chose this size because the insulation material is relatively easy to cut through, and the heart did not require very precise cutting. We then set the first rough cut, and two other more exact cuts to smooth over the ruff edges. For the second of the ruff cuts, we did the same cut strokes, just rotated it 90 degrees. Below is what the heart looked like with all of the cut lines drawn through it.

Then, we drilled down a new piece of wood to the platform and hot glued the edges of the insulation to insure that it would not rotate. We also zeroed the x, y, and z axes.

We pressed start and watched the ShopBot cut the heart. A time-lapse of part of this process is displayed below.

This is what the final product of the heart cut out from the ShopBot looked like.

Next, we wrapped the heart in saran wrap.

We draped canvas over the heart drew around the it. We made three copies of this. We then created a mixture of epoxy and coated the three layers of canvas in that and draped it around the heart.

Then, we added another layer of saran wrap, but with small air holes so that the extra epoxy could escape. Finally, we put a layer of cotton on the very top. It was then time to seal the heart. Once that was completed, our work looked like this. You have to let it sit for at least 10 hours, so we will find out how it will turn out tomorrow during lecture.

The final product is below. The top dart did not align or turn out as well as we had hoped, but we are still fairly happy with it.