“Look at the cherry blossoms as they bloom and scatter. Such is the way of life.” – Matsuo Basho
Sakuras thousandfold, entwined with night
As the weather gets a lot warmer, I wanted to make an object reminiscent of that fact- the cherry blossom. As such, I went on thenounproject.com in search of the perfect icon. While most of the available images seemed a bit too simple for my liking, I eventually stumbled on the following icon by Eucalyp.
Image 1: The Selected Icon
However, I wasn’t fond of the inside bits, and so I removed them in the slicing software.
Image 2: The Resulting Flower I Wanted to Cut
Setting a few contour and pocket lines that I thought might be interesting, I saved my Carbide Create V8 file and reopened it in Carbide Create V7, allowing me to save that file to be opened in Carbide Create V6. In V6, I was finally able to create the GCode necessary, thus finally allowing me to use Carbide Motion to send my file over to the Shapeoko Pro. With my first attempt, I realized that I set my pockets to be too deep (the OEDK’s lights were basically shining through the bottom); I feared for the structural integrity of my actual part.
Image 3: My First Attempt
Thus, after fixing the depths of my pocket cuts, I tried again. Unfortunately, due to the wood and the thickness of the outside walls, some bits inevitably cracked. That being said, I was quite pleased with the overall product.
Image 4: The CNC’ed Parts After Sanding
After sanding it, I stained my pieces with the assistance of a part of a dowel.
Image 5: The Pieces After Staining
Image 6: The Clean Workspace
cost
18” of 1×4 wood at $6.81 for 6 feet (The Home Depot) – $1.70
3 hours of running the Shapeoko Pro at $0.78 per hour (Carbide Community) – $2.34
1/10 a can of wood stain at $19.99 a can (Amazon) – $2.00
1/8 of a sheet of 220 grit sandpaper at $12.98 for 25 sheets (The Home Depot) – $0.06
3.5 hours of work for $7.25 an hour (Minimum Wage) – $25.38
Total: $31.48
