PROCESS:

For this assignment, we were tasked with engraving a noun of our choice into a piece of wood, using the CNC machine. For my engraving, I decided to use my favorite Super Smash Bros character, Captain Falcon! First, I had to make the file on Easel – Inventables, so I combined two images off of Google using Illustrator, and imported into Easel:

The wings and body had different depths, as you can see. I decided on .2 in. for the wings, and .125 in. for the body. I then got to selecting which bit I would use. At first, I was considering a 1/16″ bit, but after seeing how long the cut would take, I switched to a 1/8″ fishtail:

Doing this severely decreased the wait time on the cut, which ended up only being around 8 minutes. I also decided on my pieces of wood: ~ 3.9 x 3.5 x .75 in. pieces of high pine.

When I put all these dimensions into Easel, I realized that there would be some issues if I attempted to cut out my shape completely from the piece of wood.

As you can see here, the engraving itself barely fits into the dimensions of the block and clamps, with one side being at least 3 in. That meant that I wouldn’t be able to center my figure on the block itself, which would make it extremely difficult to cut precisely enough on the other side of the block to allow the shape to be cut out. Since I could not size my piece down, and did not want to bother with larger pieces of wood, I decided to roll with it.

I got to cutting, went through all the necessary steps, and this emerged ~8 minutes later:

I failed to realize that the bottom part of the wing design would have that thin wall protruding from its outline, so I decided to remove that outline, alongside the walls near the wings. I did so using the ultrasonic cutter. I also sanded the piece where necessary, although it was difficult to get into all the nooks and crannies.

I then got to spray painting. In the spirit of the character, I decided to put a layer of dark green/blueish spray paint down as a base around the whole block. I applied a couple layers, waiting ~10 min. in between.

I then decided to show off the layers of the design by applying some red acrylic paint into the 2 upper wings.

The paint was a little difficult to get into there cleanly, but I think it turned out alright, and definitely got the effect I was going for.

I then etched a design into the bottom left of each, just to fill the empty space and give it some extra flare!

Very happy with how the red paint and how the logo looks on the bottom left!

COST ESTIMATION:

Labor Costs: $30

I spent about 3 hours on this, and assuming my work is worth $10/hr.

Raw Materials: $28.32

The smallest amount of pine plywood I could fine was (https://tinyurl.com/yfjua7bp) $16.07.

Spray paint was about (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Stops-Rust-11-oz-Bright-Coat-Metallic-Chrome-Spray-Paint-7718830/100151050) $4.27

Acrylic paint was about (https://www.homedepot.com/p/DecoArt-2-oz-12-Color-Acrylic-Craft-Paint-Set-DASK353/205803542) $7.98.

Machine Time Cost: $10

Assuming a lab tech’s salary is around the same as renting out a machine, and I spent only one hour on the Carvey/laser cutter.

TOTAL COST: $68.32