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Week 5: Computer-controlled machining

This week’s assignment is to make (design+mill+assemble) something big.

Summary: I created a model of the statue of David using 2D wood cutting.

After marveling the statue of David by Michelangelo in the Accademia in Florence, I became inspired by the biblical story of the young David strategically with God’s help defeating the giant Goliath. I’ve wanted to buy a model of the statue but it was kind of expensive. So I made my own, which is the highlight from this class.

I found an image of David on Wikipedia. I tried seeing if it was possible to automatically create an outline of the original image in Adobe Illustrator, but it would not create a nice solid outline but have holes because some parts of his body were too dark. Therefore, I traced his body outline over the image. I used the Illustrator Pen tool and would carefully draw inch by inch to maintain as much curvature and beauty as possible.

After making the outline, I went to the lab to import the .dxf file into Aspire software to create a file to instruct the Shopbot software on how to mill the image. I reduced the scale of David to fit the smaller board size and rotated him diagonally to maximize the space. I added six drill holes as the first cut order and the body as second order. I also added extra screws to ensure the wood board did not fly off. First we zeroed the machine. Need to add pads so parts don’t fly away loose.

I also designed and made a base for David so he could stand alone by making a slot in a wooden rectangle.

After measuring the size of David’s wooden statue (can make the width proportional to height), I went to Lamont Media library for large-format printing on heavyweight matte paper (cost around $5). I cut the figure of David out from his background with scissors (including on the T and in class as I ran out of time). Wood glue is better than tape.

I look forward to making a larger version (double the size) of David by wood-cutting on the large shopbot in the basement of the Science Center by attaching two wood boards and laying David across them diagonally.