We created a mechanical owl!!! Just four weeks ago, I couldn’t have imagined I had the ability to design something like this.

Gate 1

Throughout the project, my main role was to handle the artistic design of the owl, while Ender focused on creating its mechanical components. Since I had never designed a 3D object before, the process was challenging at first, as we started with only a rough idea. To gather inspiration, I compiled a large collection of reference images of real owls and their body parts—wings, faces, tails, claws, body, etc. I imported these images into Adobe Illustrator, expanded and converted them to black and white, then extracted the features I wanted to incorporate into my design. This gave me a basic image of our owl without any layering.

After creating this, I began thinking about how to give it a more three-dimensional look, so I decided to divide each owl body part into multiple layers. For example, the head would have the eyebrows and nose as the top layer, the face as the second, and the eyes and neck as the third, with additional layers of the same dimensions to provide adequate thickness. Similarly, the owl’s body would have several hollow layers. This design became my initial illustration for Gate 1, but I still had issues figuring out how to connect different parts like the head, body, and legs.

Gate 2

In the second week, we experimented with cardboard, which allowed me to see the owl’s shape more clearly. After watching videos on laser-cutting 3D pieces, I started adding layers with a sense of hierarchy to the owl’s body, making each top layer slightly smaller than the one below to create a rounded effect. I also began working on how to connect the head to the body, using pieces to bridge them. However, while discussing with TAs, we discovered a problem: even the half-owl made from cardboard was quite heavy, meaning the full model in wood would be even heavier and challenging for the mechanical parts to support. Initially, I’d planned to add around 15 layers for realism, but this wasn’t feasible as even without them, the model was already heavy.

Gate 3

So, for Gate 3, I focused on reducing the owl’s weight by hollowing out every area of the wood where possible.

Initially, we cut the owl to a relatively larger size than our cardboard prototype, but midway, we realized this size would still make the mechanical pieces too fragile. With our professor’s advice, we adjusted the owl’s size to be about 50% larger than the original. There was also an engraving issue: textures that were obvious on cardboard weren’t as distinct on wood. I addressed this by assigning different colors to different engraving parameters. After some testing, here were the settings I used:

• Darker areas (e.g., owl’s wing shadows): Speed 20, Power 30
• Very light areas (a subtle engrave): Speed 100, Power 5
• Medium-light areas: Speed 100, Power 30

These were my most-used settings, though I don’t recall the exact details for occasional adjustments. For laser cutting, I used Speed 15, Power 75, Frequency 10. After this, the texture was much clearer. Additionally, to integrate the mechanical and artistic parts, I laser-cut rectangular slots in the wings and body for easy attachment.

Next was the owl’s legs. We decided on a T-joint structure and added four pieces on each side to give the legs a sturdy, muscular look. The legs went through several iterations—from a basic support structure to a more detailed form. Ultimately, we chose a three-layer design that embedded into the owl’s legs.

This is the result just after gate3:

Vinyl cut and Metal cut

After this series of steps, the owl’s body is essentially fully designed and printed. Next up are some finishing touches: we need a nameplate to display mine and Ender’s names along with our personal information. For the nameplate, I initially planned a simple rectangle with our names and details, but since we designed a mechanical owl, and since we still needed a vinyl cut section, an idea suddenly emerged: why not make the nameplate into one with an owl holding it? We used a vinyl cutter to create stickers for the white-fur areas on the owl and spray-painted the wood a deep blue for contrast. Since the owl we printed was relatively small and had many intricate patterns, I spent a lot of time applying the stickers on it.

For the water-jet, we used it to cut the handle and inner gear to prevent wear on the small gears. The outcome was imperfect due to the handle’s thickness, which didn’t yield two smooth circles to allow the rod to pass through. Therefore, we did some post-processing.

Postprocessing

When finishing the wood, we initially planned to dye it the same blue as the Rice owl, but after testing different dyes, we found they obscured the engraving texture. So we used Minwax walnut stain for most parts, and we bought more of it since it was nearly out. The new walnut was thicker, so we thinned it with water to maintain the wood grain visibility. For the owl’s undyed areas, we used wax for a glossy finish.

Materials:

Cost	Price	Source	Quantity	Total
Materials             Machine Cost	2’x4’x3/16” Board	$12.89	Home Depot	8	$103.2
	Vinyl Sticker Roll	$9.99 per roll	Amazon.com	1/10	$ 0.99
	Aluminum (Handle and Gear)	$ 23.99	Amazon.com	1/3	$8.00
	Wood Glue	$ 3.97	Home Depot	1/2	$1.99
	Superglue	$4.67 * 2	Home Depot	8	$18.68
	Wood Dowel	$ 1.26	Home Depot	3	$3.78
	Minwax	$ 12.98 + $14.99	Instacart Amazon.com	1	$27.97
	Spray Paint	$2.98	Home Depot	1	$2.98
	Cardboard sheet	$12.72	Home Depot	1	$12.72
	laser cutter	$ 20/hr	Accteklaser.com	20 hour	$ 400
	water jet	$ 20/hr	wardjet.com	1 hour	$ 20
	vinyl cutter	$ 10/hr	sunbeltrentals.com	1 hour	$ 10

Labor cost

$ 15.00 /hr

30 x 2 hours

$ 900

Design

Engineering and Development

$60.70/hr

talent.com

1

$121.40

Total: $1631.71