This project turned out to be a lot easier than I had initially expected. The CNC was a big scary machine to me, but then I had to reset it a bunch of times and fix my files a bit, and through that practice I was able to really become comfortable with the motions of it all. That being said, I only did the intermediate assignment, and thus am not versed in vCarve at all.

My process for this project was pretty simple, right after training, I stayed and used the other machine to do the homework. I downloaded a capybara from Noun Project (shoutout), and then set up the files. I initially was just going to  do one per wood block, but after a failed cut, I looked at the outline and decided that I could actually fit two on there with the right orientation.

This is the finished product, I am proud of the skills I learned. However, I think that the capybaras look a little boring. If I was less busy this time of the semester, I would have done a painting or something more interesting.

Cost of making

Material Cost:

• Gray spray-paint: negligible amount
• Wood – 2x4x5 inches: a 96in 2×4 is 2.78 on Lowes’ website. This comes out to about 11 cents for the block of wood I used

Labor Cost:

• I spent about an hour and a half working with the machine, and another 20 mins doing the post processing
  • sanding
  • spraypainting
  • cleaning my mess
• total of 2 hours, with a $16/hr wage, this comes out to $32 for the labor

The total cost:

• The total cost of this is almost entirely the labor, at a total of $32.11 for two Capybara pieces.

 

If I were to do this project again, I would spray-paint before I machined the wood, giving the capybara’s eyes a cool look because they would be the only thing not spray-painted.

Another improvement is I would use a band saw to remove the pieces for the block, because I got a significant amount of tear-out on the back of one of the pieces.