For this assignment, we were tasked to use a CNC machine to carve a noun out of a block of material. More specifically, we used wooden blocks, the Carvey Inventables machine, and the associated Easel software to CNC our nouns.
Easel was very helpful in quickly assessing the feasibility of a noun to be carved by The Carvey. Before importing into Easel, I downloaded nouns from The Noun Project in the form of an SVG. I then imported the SVG file into Adobe Illustrator to scale and make any necessary adjustments. Then, I uploaded the file into Easel where I could further adjust the size, drill-bit, and other settings.
I imported several nouns into Easel and quickly discovered how certain thin or intricate sections of designs would not appear (and would not be carved) without a finer drill bit, or sometimes not at all. I also discovered how enlarging the design would sometimes allow the more intricate sections to be carved but also significantly increased the run time. The simulation tool was very helpful in assessing the run time of a carve.
Ultimately, I decided to carve this lady bug design. I scaled the lady bug to fit on the pieces of wood provided for the class. I initially selected a depth of 1/8 in for carving, and saw that with the default 1/8 in drill bit, the antennas of the lady bug did not appear. Therefore, I scaled down to a 1/16 in drill bit so that the full lady bug appeared for carving.
When setting up the wood block for Carvey, I first needed to change out the drill bit to 1/16 in. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to do this at first since the drill bit was so tightly wrenched in place. With the help of lab assistants, I gained confidence in the setup and learned how to quickly change out the drill bit. I then clamped the wood in place.
In the first carve, everything seemed to be going well until the very end. With a few minutes remaining, the drill bit became loose and eventually dismounted from the Carvey. From this I learned that it is very important to strongly tighten the drill bit in place. I cleaned up the current carve, tightened the drill bit, and restarted.
I then encountered another issue in which I would press “Carve” but nothing would happen. With a bit of troubleshooting and eventually reading the recommendations in Easel, restarting the computer solved this problem. This reminded me of the importance of reading the provided help section/instructions of any machine you are using. Finally, I was able to successfully carve two lady bugs! 
One issue I noticed is that the wood cracked a bit from the carve on the second wood block. I am wondering if this is due to the location on the wood where the original wood block came from. However, in general this assignment was probably one of the easiest fabrication methods to replicate, as there was so little variability in a successfully executed carving process when using the same settings. Overall, Easel and the Carvey were very intuitive and user-friendly.
Cost Analysis
Based on the cost of pine wood found at Lowe’s, I would estimate the cost of the wood pieces used to be approximately $10, including the cost of the trial and error piece. Once the process is optimized, the total labor time is approximately 2 hrs (assuming labor at $10/hr), including adjusting settings in Easel to ensure a successful carve. Finally, the cost of the Carvey is $2500 and the cost of Easel is $13/month. For a one time usage and around 20 minutes of carving & 1 hr of machine use, a reasonable use cost is around $40 in comparison to others charging for Inventables machine usage. It is assumed that the user has access to a ShopVac and the clean-up cost is negligible.
Therefore, the final cost is as follows:
- $10 – Cost of wood
- $20 – Cost of labor (2 hrs, $10/hr)
- $40 – Cost of Carvey & Easel usage
- $ 70 – Total Cost
Edit: Number 7
