For this project I created a heart was the acronym for “i love you” engraved in the middle. Through out the process of making this I had a lot of troubleshooting with the CNC machine and now a machine that was unknown to me, is now something I am conformable with.
Process:
I originally went searching for ideas on the noun project and decided on mixing to ideas together. I downloaded the file of a heart and a file of the Brazilian flag. I imported these files into Carbide Create and added letters that said I love you in Portuguese. This design I discovered was way to complex and would not engrave nicely with the size bit I had to use. So I erased the Brazil flag and just added simple text that of ” i l y ” on the heart.
Complex Original Idea
Official File
Then I created two tool paths when that would contour around the letters with a depth of .125 in and a second toolpath that would completely carve through the depth of the wood piece to take out the heart. To make sure the piece would say stable when it cut through all the way I added three tabs around the heart that would keep it still until a took the heart out.
Before taping my wood to the Nomad 3 platform, I added a sacrificial wood that would protect the base from cutting through by mistake. I taped the sacrificial wood first and then the piece of wood I was using to cut my piece from.
Used Sacrificial Wood
Once I had the gcode saved, I uploaded it to carbide motion. I put a 1/8 ” bit in, then jogged the Nomad 3 tip and probed it. The first issue I ran into is that the bit that was available to use was actually broken and didn’t have enough end available to keep the bit stable. I notice this was an issue when starting the run and the bit shaking a lot more than normal. I reset the machine and changed the bit once a good bit was found. I ran the print again and this first cut looked great however, the heart did not cut all the way through. I issue for this was on the gcode I had saved because I did a carve of the exact thickness I had measured with caliber but in some areas of the wood might have been thicker than the area I had measured. So I increased the cut of the heart and this wasn’t a big deal because I still had the sacrificial wood that made the cut got through all the way.
Running Job in Carbide Motion
Then, I ran this new gcode after jogging and probing the Nomad again. This time midway the tape on the wood came loose. I immediately stopped the machine, cleaned the area and added more tape. I decided to do the run again and just make the first part that was already cut just really fast. This worked well except the small dot on the letter i came out in this retry of a run.
Finally a good cut but the dot on the i is fallen
My time booked ran out after that last attempt and when I came back I decided to do things a bit differently. I edited my gcode on Carbide Create again and duplicated the heart and letters. This would save me time from having probe and cut the wood into later. This time I also added a lot ore tape on my wood piece to ensure it would not slip off. This cut worked out great. Once it was printed, I sanded both piece thoroughly with 4 different grits of sandpaper.
Final Cut on the Nomad 3
After sanding, I decided to post-process with some natural wood looking oil. I carefully coated each heart, waited about 15 minutes and did another coat on each heart.
Here is what the final product looks like:
Front of the Hearts
Back of the Hearts
Cost Estimate:
4Materials Costs (Wood 16″x 4″ piece, Danish Oil) = $18.00
Overhead Costs (Nomad 3, Vacuum, Tools, Bits) = $80.00
Labor Costs (5hr @ $20.00/hr) = $100.00
Total Cost: $198.00
Reflection:
I really enjoyed this project and I feel like I was really able to use the knowledge I learned in other assignments through out this project. For instance:
- I was able to quickly download and edit files similar to the process of 3D printing.
- I know the importance of jogging from laser cutting
- I had previous sanding experience
- I knew the oil post-process I wanted to use
I really liked being about to use all those skills and add now CNC machining as a new skill of mine. I think it was a bit frustrating when so many different errors occurred about I was able to troubleshoot and I learned what I needed to do to fix the problems if I or anyone ran into those same difficulties int he future.
Lastly, I am really proud of my product, though simple, it has a clean aesthetic and I am excited to gift these hearts to some friends.
