Introduction

This week’s assignment went interestingly. I was very excited at first but then that excitement was met my the inconsistency of the Nomad CNC Mill.

Choosing Design

Above is the design I decided to go for on this assignment.

Milling and Post-Processing

Once I had the design I uploaded it to Carbide Create and selected the pockets and contours that I wanted. The first pocket was the line at the top and I made it 0.1 inches deep. The second pocket was the rest of the design, which I made 0.2 inches deep. Then I chose the circular edge around the design as the contour cut and I made 0.7 inches deep after selecting and measuring the wood I was going to use.

After I had the design ready I uploaded it onto Carbide motion and set up the Nomad CNC Mill. Once it was ready I started the cut after double taping the bottom of the wood and placing it on the bed of the machine. At first the cut was going smoothly but once it got deep enough onto the final cut, the contour, it started running into trouble and I had to restart the cut after replacing the tape and changing the file so that only the outer edge was cut, as to not waste wood. After a couple repetitions of this I finally had my first piece.

While waiting for the machine to free up again i started post processing my piece, starting with sanding.

Then I moved on to spray painting.

Then I went through the same process to finish my second piece and stumbled across the same issues. This time a let a piece of wood go to waste and used another one. I was so happy once it was completely cut and then I post processed it.

This was the final result:

Cost-Analysis

1″ by 4″ by 12″ Commond Wood Slat = $1.11 (Home Depot)

Lime Green Rust-Oleum Spray Paint (12 oz) = $6.48 ( Home Depot)

CNC Technician Labor Cost (2 Hour) = $48.60

TOTAL = $56.19