Week 5
Something Big - Ladder Shelf
After spending a weekend in Houston and watching bad HGTV shows, I decided to make a ladder shelf. I needed some extra storage space in my room, and my original idea of milling a table with the topology of the Grand Canyon was shot down because of material restrictions. I may come back to this though!
This week involved Mastercam, Rhino, and the Onsrud.
I started with Rhino to make the parts for the ladder. It was a relatively easy process. I made the ladder with 2 of the same side pieces and 5 shelves. The interior corners were a problem, though— there was no 1/4” endmill, and the next size was the 1/8” endmill, which was not big enough to compensate for the 3/8” endmill that I used for the contours in Mastercam. So, I went in and made a second set of circles that would be traced by the 1/8” endmill so that my pieces could fit together. This was not the first time using Mastercam, but I hadn’t used it with the Onsrud before.
I exported the GCode and started the Onsrud— here’s a fun video of the Onsrud changing tools!
This is the assembled final product— I touched it up a bit with sandpaper and did a coat of spray enamel. I added string as well to make it less wobbly, and it is now a great shelf for my room!