For my CNC machining cuts, I chose a toast shape from the noun project. I first opened the svg file in the Carbide Create software to edit the scale and positioning of the shape and create toolpaths for the cuts. I decided to make a contour cut of the outer edge and make a pocket cut for the butter in the middle. Originally I had wanted to make the butter stand out by making the pocket cut of the bread surrounding it, but that cut would take a really long time to complete; therefore, I decided to just cut the butter inward, which would save a lot of time. The total tool path cut time would take only about 10 minutes. I measured the thickness of the two pieces of wood that I cut in order to input the depth at which the tool would cut for the tool path.
In order to secure the wooden blocks onto the machine platform, I used duct tape on the sides of the block, since there was no double sided tape at the time. I think the thickness of the duct tape caused the probing to be slightly off in the z-direction, because after cutting my first block, the contour cut did not cut all the way through. So I had to modify the cut depth in the gcode file again in order to make the cut all the way through the bottom of the wooden block. I also modified the pocket depth to be less for the second block to save some time.
Once I completed the cutting, I sanded my pieces of toast, up to 1000 grit sandpaper.
After sanding, I used linseed oil wood stain to post-process the toast (it actually looks like the bread got toasted!).
Then, I used plastic to fill the butter pockets- I used a tiny drop of yellow dye to create the cream-color for the plastic.
Finally, I superglued a folded napkin to the back of each toast, and it’s ready for serving!
Cost Analysis:
Raw materials:
- wood scrap ~ free
- plastic casting material ~ $1
- wood stain ~ $10
- sandpaper ~ $1
Labor, machine, overhead:
- labor: ~ 3 hr ($7.25/hr) = $21.75
Total:
$33.75
