There were many sheep on The Noun Project. I chose a design by Iconic since I felt like it had good detail while still being easy to CNC machine. I selected the general contour of the sheep for the CNC to carve out and make pocket cuts out of the outlines, including the curves giving depth to the sheep’s wool. I could not cut out one of the curves since it would have interfered with the pocket of the general outline.
I cut the sheep using the Shapeko. Although more sizeable, the machine is not much different than the Nomad and has the advantage of completing the job faster, though cleaning the wood dust afterward mitigated the time saved from the faster cut. After zeroing the machine using the probe, I used an eighth-inch drill bit. The block of wood was secured using double-sided tape.
The Shapeko cut my first piece with no issue. However, the second piece came loose just as it was about to finish. This accident led to the sheep not being completely carved out from the wood block. I sanded the back of the sheep block to free the sheep – unfortunately, in the process, one of the sheep’s legs fell off. Superglue fixed the issue, however.
For post-processing, I sanded them down to 400 grit before applying Howard Feed-N-Wax wood conditioner. Here is the final result:
Cost Analysis:
Labor: 3 hours x $7.25/h = $21.75
Tooling: $15/day for CNC machine x 1 day = $15
Material:
- 2×4 Wood: $0.648/ft x 1.5 ft = $0.97
- Wood polish: $9.98/bottle x 1/16th bottle = $0.62
- Total Material Cost: $1.59
Total Cost: $38.34
