* Project #4 *
In this ENGI 210 assignment, I was tasked with using a CNC machine to create two identical cuts of a design of my choice. Although I encountered a few problems when working on this project, I can say that I was able to create a few cuts that I am very proud of.
First Attempt: Cannon Crest
In order to be able to find a design that would be able to work with the CNC machine, I browsed online to find a PNG file that I liked. Once I had this PNG file, I was able to convert it into an SVG file which was inputted into ‘Easel’ in order to begin cutting.
I am a very big soccer fan, so I knew from the beginning that I wanted to have my two cuts be somewhat related to that interest of mine. It didn’t take long for me to settle on going forward with a design of my favorite soccer team Arsenal. I first began with a design of the team’s cannon crest (see fig. 1).
Figure 1 – Cannon crest
I had concerns about the cannon being a bit too detailed, as I knew that the very small empty spaces in the cannon’s wheel could pose problems for the CNC machine. I still decided to continue with this cannon (see fig. 2), and this proved to be somewhat of a bad choice.
Figure 2 – Cannon cut
Second Attempt: AFC Crest
Although as a whole the cannon cut seemed to do pretty well, I noticed that there was a significant amount of chipping/damage done to the design. This was very disappointing, but I had prepared another design in the case that this would happen. Again, the design was a crest of the team Arsenal. The design itself was just the three letters AFC (see fig. 3), and it seemed to me that it would be much easier to cut.
Figure 3 – AFC crest
I did end up having a few problems with this design as well, particularly in its placement/size. In order for the CNC machine to recognize the entire print, I had to scale up the crest quite a bit. This left me very little space to work with, meaning I had to position the design on the far left side of the piece of wood (see fig. 4).
Figure 4 – AFC crest in ‘Easel’
Luckily, after scaling the design and beginning the cut, everything went very smoothly. I was able to get two identical cuts of this crest (see fig. 5), which I was very happy about.
Figure 5 – Identical AFC crest cuts
Final Thoughts
I think that the cuts turned out great in the end. I do plan on doing some post-processing to the cuts some time soon. I hope to spray paint the pieces both red and white (traditional team colors) and also using all the empty space left on the right hand side of the wood to add lettering of the team name. Overall, the assignment to work with the CNC machine was very enjoyable, and I hope to be able to work with it more in the future.
