This week we learned the basic principles of a CNC machine and how to use the Carvey, a desk sized CNC machine. We needed to carve a “noun” into a block of wood, applying two layer heights and finishing off the wood with techniques we’ve used in class so far.

The idea of a noun reminded me of the Mexican card game “Loteria”, a game similar to bingo where nouns are called out to fill your playing board. My original noun was the playing card “El Diablito” (the little devil), however after simulating the design on Easel, I found that it was too intricate. I switched gear instead to the card “El Gallo” (the rooster) after finding a cool illustration online.

    

Bringing a sample line art into Illustrator, I made sure simplify the path, then I created a negative shape by cutting out of a larger rectangle and exported it into the Easel software. The idea in mind was to create a wooden stamp by CNC the wood around the shape.

In my first attempt at the CNC machine, the inner shapes were too close to together and the plywood chipped into pieces. I decided to stop the print, went back into Illustrator and spaced the shapes better.

 

 

To add finishing details, I chose to CNC the back of each piece of wood to show the design that would be stamped. In retrospect, I would have designed this outlining better to remove the inner chipping of the plywood. I brushed both sides of the stamps with a natural look stain. I sprayed the front pieces with a generous layer of polyurethane spray (about 3 coats) so that water-based inks can be easily wiped away.

 

Cost Analysis:

Overall I spent about 3-4 hours on this project – I got a little carried away with some ideas for CNC designs and decided to fully design them for future projects. Time spent on this piece was closer to 2 hours from vector design to adding the spray finish. In material, I used a scrap piece of plywood that would cost about $16 if bought by the whole sheet. A can of polyurethane spray costs $7. The Carvey machine tool costs $2,500 retail – so the best route to take would be to find a way to rent or borrow time on a similar CNC. Luckily, there are options to rent, including maker space access to CNC machines (for about $25/$50 monthly membership). In total you would be expected to pay about $60 for a set of two rooster stamps, pending your interest in having two rooster stamps.