This week, our assignment was to CNC engrave a design and cut a shape out of a wooden slab. Like some of the previous designs I have done, I decided to put a design I had made onto the puck, and to cut it in a circle, as that was the design I thought matched best with the rest of the print.

To start, I set up the file in Carbide Create. Then, I set up the machine by clamping down the piece of wood and inputting the dimensions of the wood into the machine. After that, I initialized and placed in the correct file tips, which, in my case, was 1/16 of an inch because I wanted to capture some aspects with greater detail. Since I was using such a small tip, I had to account for the time that it was going to take to cut. Keeping this in mind, I adjusted accordingly and sped up the speed at which the machine cut. This, however, might have been a small fault, as it did cut time, but simultaneously chipped parts of the wood.

After my pieces were done cutting, I moved to post-processing the pieces. In this, I sanded down the back and the edges of the piece. I also took a finer grit and sanded the inside of the puck, as the edges of my tool path was a little bit messy.

For the final piece, I wanted to put an oil over the piece because I liked how that looked. I took the Danish oil and cloth and put that over the wood piece to give it a varnished look.

In conclusion, I am very happy with my final piece. I think it captures my initial goal. In the future, if I wanted to cut time, I would adjust the speed according to my piece in real time, so that I minimize the chances that my piece would get chipped. Overall, however, I am very happy with my final piece and I am glad I decided to use a smaller drill bit because I think that made a very big difference in how the final piece turned out.

Final Product:

Cleaned work station:

Cost breakdown:

Danish Oil – $13.98 The Home Depot

Wood – $1.70 The Home Depot

Sandpaper – $0.12 The Home Depot

2 hours of work for $7.25 an hour Minimum Wage – $14.50

Total: $30.22