Zoe, Geetanjali and I explored thenounproject, an online platform where it is possible to find vector files of just about anything you can think of. In order to add some form of complexity to our CNC-ed part, we tried to find an image that had different dimensions to it.  We thought that a train would be a good choice, since we thought that we could have the tracks protrude out farther the closer it got to the viewer for some prospective.  In order to do this, however, each component that we wanted to give a certain height would have to be disconnected from other components. We found an svg of a train that we thought would work perfectly.  Once we tried to upload the vector image to one of the platforms to prep our files, however, the outline of a man would always appear in the vector image.

After lots of confusion and fear, we decided not to question it and moved on to a new vector image of a lion. We put a border around it and gave different sections different heights in order to give it some dimension.  We thought that it would be cool if the lion protruded from the platform, kind of like a stamp would look like.  To do this, we used the pathfinder tool on Illustrator to cut out the lion shape from the center of a rectangle, so that the outline is what would be carved out, not the lion itself.  Once it was prepped on illustrator, we were advised to use ‘easelinventables’ to generate out g-code. It was much more straight forward than ‘makercam’ because you were able to see the 3-D product as you manipulate it.  We set the drill-bit size to 1/8in, since that is what was available in the CNC machine and was also appropriate for the size of our cut, and generated the g-code. The g-code was uploaded to the flashcut software on the computer connected to the CNC machine.

 

 

We defined the plunge rate and feedrate on the flashcut software.  The feed rate is determined by what material is being used; however, since the wood we used was very porous and soft, Joe at the machine shop indicated that it was not a big deal in our case.  Hence, we zeroed the system at the bottom left of our piece, turned the spindle on, and let the CNC do its work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Initially, we had set the depth of the outer cut to 1/2in.  Only midway through the cut, we saw that out piece of wood was actually only 1/2in thick. Hence, once it had finished a rotation of the outside layer and it looked like an appropriate height, we stopped the program, deleted the outside portion of the job, and restarted it.  This was not a problem since both projects had the same zero.

Finally, with the help of a lab technician, we used a table saw to chop off the edges of the wood, sanded the intricacies of the cut around the borders and outline of the lion, and finally put the finishing touches with some lynseed oil, only on the lion itself to define it from its surroundings. Below is our final product: