Very Satisfying To Watch Carve | ENGI 210: Prototyping and Fabrication

The seventh homework consisted simply of obtain a shape from The Noun Project and using this shape to carve it out of a piece of wood using CNC Machining. There were three levels of proficiency. I chose to do the second level where not only did we have to carve the shape, we also had to cut it out of our piece of wood and have two different carving depths on the shape.

Step 1: Select a shape

I went on The Noun Project and browsed the catalog of shapes they had until I found one that caught my eye. It was a raptor claw, which appeals greatly to me due to how much I love the first Jurassic Park.

I downloaded the SVG file for the shape and opened it in Illustrator in order to modify to my desire.

Step 2: Get the Wood and Place it in Carvey

I cut out a 10″ x 7.2″ piece of wood in the wood shop, sanded it down for smoothness, and applied two layers of mahogany stain to it so my piece would have a dark top and light carved parts.

I then installed a 1/16″ up-cut fishtail bit, placed the piece of wood in Carvey, and adjusted all the clamps to ensure it would not move at all. Since the bit is not long enough to cut completely through my piece of wood, I would have to flip the wood later to get the backside carved out as well and manage to completely carve it out of the piece of wood (.5″+.5″ for outline > .8″ of thickness), and flip the easel file horizontally as well.

Step 3: Upload to Easel and Adjust

I used Illustrator to separate all the components of my shape using the “Release compound path” tool, and created an outline which would serve as the line that Carvey (CNC Machine) would use to cut out my shape.

I uploaded this new File to Easel and set the depth of the outline to .5″. I set the depths for the interior to .18″ and .09″ in different areas. I set the settings for my cut: .8″ thickness, 10″ x 8″ piece of wood, 1/16″ up-cut bit, and started the carve.

This is where I made two big mistakes. The first was that I did not perfectly center my shape on the piece of wood. This meant that once I flipped the wood, the outlines of front and back side did not match up and the shape was not cut out. I tried to fix this by using a jigsaw, but quickly realized it was futile and I would have to restart all over again. The second issue was that .5″ of depth for the outline was too much and the bit broke some of the thin walls on my carved piece.

On my second attempt I used the same sized wood, but made sure to center the shape perfectly on easel so no more issues would arise. I also decided to use a downcut bit despite Easel not having that option, because I wanted it to be smoother on the top and rougher on the bottom of cuts. This time the cut was a success and I repeated the process for my second piece.

Step 4: Post processing

I had already applied a stain to the wood so the only thing I wanted to do further was apply some sort of clear protective layer. I used Polycrylic and applied it with a brush, then I sanded down the pieces again once the Polycrylic had dried to make the surface a little smoother.