Hi everyone,

Sadly, my blogs are coming to an end, but I still want to show you what I’ve been up to this week with the CNC homework. This assignment has taught me a great deal of patience and that simpler projects are often better.

I originally prepared a cute cat file as my project, but during my tutorial, Katherine and I quickly realized how complicated it actually was. We spent the entire session trying to fix the file, and I eventually had to scrap it and start over with a new design. The new file required two cuts and switching between a 1/8″ and a 1/16″ bit.

With this new file, I felt so confident. Like, what could possibly go wrong if I’m just cutting a star with some words on it? First, it took me a while to set up the machine and figure out the clamp system. After asking several lab assistants and OEDK staff for help, I finally started my cut. It got through the first half—drawing out the letters—pretty well, but once it got to contouring the star, my piece started shifting up and down. That gave me my first failure lol.

After talking with the TAs, we realized there was an issue with the damaged machine clamps—so even if I secured the material tightly, there was still potential for it to shift. Luckily, they fixed it, so on my second attempt, I thought I was good to go. But as my piece neared the end of the cut—even though the simulation showed that the piece should stay within the shape—the cut turned out to be too large. So, failure number 2.

At this point, I was frustrated and decided to scale down the stars and double-check everything before running the machine again. While the file itself was good, the machine didn’t want to initialize and required a couple of tries to Home properly. Once it did, I ran the cut with no issues and was able to successfully make my two stars.

As for post-processing, I wanted to keep the design simple. I filed the surfaces with 220 and 800 grit to smooth everything out, then added beeswax and finishing oil to give it a glossy look and enhance the wood’s smoothness.

Here’s an image of my clean workspace:

Here’s my cost breakdown:

4 pieces of wood : 8.95 for 8 ft ~ 2.24 for the 4 pieces
https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-in-x-4-in-x-8-ft-Furring-Strip-Board-914608/100015901

Beeswax (used for finishing 2 small stars): 9.83 ~$0.50
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000LNSIM8

Wood finishing oil: 25.99 ~$0.75
Watco Danish Oil for Enhanced Wood Finish – Rockler