This week in EDES 210, we learned to use the CNC mill to cut wood. This also marks my third article with a Beatles song in the title! I tried really hard to find a different good song with ‘wood’ in the name but I suppose the Beatles win again. For this project, I used the Nomad to cut out wooden shapes, and it was a very fun and enjoyable experience! The shape I chose to cut was a sword that I downloaded from the noun project website.

Figure 1: Vector Image

Figure 2: Cut Simulation

The first cut I did went super well! I had no problems, except that I accidentally put the wrong bit in for two cuts in the process. I wanted to use the engrave tool for two of the features on my sword, but I accidentally put in another end mill instead. The features still came out great, but it was not quite as intended.

Figure 3: First Cut

For my second cut, I messed up big time. While I remembered to update the plank height in the Carbide Create file settings, I forgot that the contour cut depth does not automatically update with the setting (which is really annoying because I had it set to match the depth). The result was a very messed up cut, as the piece came loose as it was still cutting and I had to manually stop the cut. Luckily the sacrifical wood piece placed under my stock prevented any damage to the machine, yay! The walls of the sword were destroyed and the piece was ruined, so it looked like I was going to have to make a third cut.

Figure 4: Destroyed Sword

After finally realizing this was the issue, I was able to cut a third piece that was successful! Unfortunately, in all my troubleshooting I accidentally set one of my engrave depths to be too low so the diamond is not represented in the second model. Additionally, the cut depth of the general sword area was deeper than the first despite all the settings being the same; this happened with the second cut too and I’m still unsure of why this happened! My biggest guess is that the end mill I used was mislabeled and was actually a larger size. My eye isn’t trained well to distinguish these sizes just yet so it is very possible this happened.

Figure 5: Another successful cut!

Figure 6: Cut Comparison

After cutting both of my swords out, I sanded them down with 150 grit sandpaper. I was already a big fan of how they looked without a finish (especially the darker piece) so I decided to apply tung oil to achieve a very subtle finish. I let the tung oil soak for a day and wiped off the excess when it was done.

Figure 7: Tung Oil Soaking

Now the pieces were finished! I’m happy with how the finished products came out and I’ll definitely be displaying these on my shelf soon!

Figure 8: Final Product

Cost analysis:

Materials:

2 – 3 x 6″ pine planks -> $6 for 3 ft of length on Lowes.com ~ 6″/36*$6 = $1

Tung oil -> $28 for 1 quart on HomeDepot.com – used approximately 4 oz ~ 4/32*$28 = $3.50

Machine Time/Tools:

The OEDK is very generous, so 2:30 hours on the CNC mill was free! Additionally, the sandpaper was also free!

Work Time:

3:30 hours of working time * $10/hr = $35

Total Cost = $39.50

This is a great cost for two great quality wooden swords!

Last used workspace:

Figure 8: Last Used Workspace

My last used workspace was the table at the loading dock for staining. It was covered with cardboard and cloth so no mess was made!