Week 5

Week 5: Computer Controlled Cutting

October 13 - October 20

[0] Overview
This week's assignments:
(1.) Make (design + mill + assemble) something big (~ meter scale).

That's it for guidelines! I decided to make something functional - a couple of shelves for my desk! This week, I familiarized myself with the ShopBots (the smaller one upstairs and the larger 4x4 ft one downstairs.)



[1] Group Assignment
Group assignment comimg soon

[2] Designing the File
For the cabinet, I made five different sections - the shelf, the top and bottom, and the two side panels. This was done fully through FreeCAD's sketch feature. I made the design in millimeters, and this is where my first problems began. When I was initially exporting out to the ASPIRE, I somehow messed up the scalings which ended up making the size 2/3s of the original one intendnet. This caused the intiial holes to not fit, and needed to rechange the future ones to get the correct size cabinet. The file can be found here (.DXF). I was initially going to insert rods into the left and right side of the wooden cabinet to add some interesting shapes, but ended up changing that design last minute due to timing constraints.

[3] Using ASPIRE
Before I had to cut, I used the ASPIRE software to draw toolpaths for the woodworking. I was surprised how elegant it was to use, and especially how I can set all my parameters based on the machine as well as what I want. You can change the drill path individually for each part, so engravings become possible. In addition, you just have to make sure that your parts are scaled corretly, which can be tricky and something I initially messed up on. The last important note is ensuring that the files you import are joined correctly somethign I initially messed up as well.

[4] Milling with the ShopBot


To mill, I had assistance from the TFs who were there to supervise me. I first set up the zeros on the machine, and then proceeded to follow the SOPs to start cutting. This was a lot of fun figuring out the software and how to cut, especially since this is another new topic for me.



The ShopBot is really just an oversized PCB mill, except much more dangerous.

[5] Cabinet Assembly


Once I had all the pieces nicely cut out, I now had to pry them off the plastic staples.




Once I had all the pieces, I first sanded the edges of each one so that they would be smooth for use. This took a lot longer actually than I thought - around 1/2 an hour of consistent sanding to get the texture I wanted with the OSB.

Next, I started putting the joints together, and voila! It actually worked! After three attempts of wrong scaling, I was finally able to use my cabinet in one piece.





[6] Finished Cabinet

Even though it's just made of OBS, it doesn't look that out of place for my dorm room! I already know it's going to be very useful for me, with all the electronics and items I have now I can place it somewhere without getting lost!! This is the very first item that I fully constructed with wood, something that I feel accomplished of considering that it only took a few hours.