The idea:

To make a 3 dimensional puzzle out of a non-geometric object

a rock:

The design:

Chris DeVries and Anne Wood were extremely helpful in teaching me the basics of Rhino.

I exported a dfx file to cut on the Omax.

John was less than thrilled with the idea of cutting a 4 inch think rock.

Obstacles:

-will the rock explode?

-using up all of the garnet (the original design would have used 150-200 lbs)

-securing the rock to the grid

-the curvature of the waterjet as it goes through the material

We decided to try just one cut in order to preserve the garnet and minimize the risk.

It was quite loud.

It worked!

The effect of the waterjet variation was actually the inverse of what we expected. The jet was loose when it entered the stone, because of the uneven height. As it progressed through the material you can see that it cut a tighter, cleaner line.

An ongoing question:

Should I try to make more cuts?

I am very happy with the results, so I am hesitant to go back in.

The only problem with this project – it isn't big.

So, I came up with something that was.

It is an Autopropelled Aerobic Low Capacity Upspring Altimeter with Undisclosed Incentivized Target

or a.... Box with Eyes.

This was a very straightforward design, other than the calculating of the correct height for the eyehole to be challenging but not impossible.

The initial design used the entire 4'x8' piece of o.s.b. but I discovered that this wouldn't work because of the difficulty of keeping the screws out of the toolpath.

So I redesigned the layout to have borders around each piece.

The routing and construction went smoothly.

I hope everyone will try it out!