Make Something Big
The Modeling of My Thing
So I wanted to make a cool rocking chair. So my brain went to a fish since it would be an interesting shape to make into slices. Which I was going to make, buttt it's hard to find a slicing tool that can handle any models I make. So instead after I had modeled the whole fish, I scrapped that idea and tried to use Fusion 360 to design a fish box with a living hinge as the door. My design is made to have multiple smaller layers on top of the fish and to not have the middle panel in the wall be made out of wood, instead it would be transparent 1/4in acrylic so it seems like it is swimming, then using a dremel I would carve out the fish to be more detailed since the CNC would not be able to do that on the large form.
Starting with Fusion I made a rectangle that was around 1.5feet tall for the back and then a arched triangle shape to be the sides. I use the curved line tool in order to draw out my design that I want to be on the walls. Then adding extra layers that I want for the top of the fishes.
Then I add the bottom of the box, making sure it was the correct dimensions for each of the sides. I then make a bunch of squares that are two inches apart which would act ass finger joints, since for a moment I had sized up my design, which later I go back to the original. I would then subtract these squares from the back side, and add them to the arched side so they meet up correctly.
Which I did a similar method for the back side and the bottom panel. After adding a slot to attach my living hinge to I then mirrored the back panel.
Rotated the bottom panel in order to create the joints for the side panels and created another arched panel so I can figure out how the layers in the side panels would work. I then use construction lines to line up and make the shelves, which I had to make sure wouls not be too big for the arch. Which I also made a support for the sheves but once I did my small prototype realized I put the slot on the bottom panel in the wrong place. I had also added a piece to secure the living joint from raising up.
For the living hinge, I kind of guessed the length it needed to be based on measuring a few different ways, after prototyping it, I realized it was the slightest bit too small, and then I over shot and made it the slighest bit too big.
Once I got all the pieces made with the correct sizing I then brought it over to Illustrator to make it small enough to print in a laser cutter. I used a 1/8in white board like material and a 1/16in chipboard for the prototype. I then made a simple X shape and made a which pattern for the hinge, I will probably make a fish version for the final piece. Also I wanted to see what happened if I had it etch some fish onto the living hinge but I left so little material it does not show much.
After the CNC was up and running I got 3 appointments trying to get my pieces cut. The first two times there were problems with the machine and my own file.
Attempt 1
The first time I didn't even get a change to cut because I came with someone else and they took most of the time, then mine was accepting the file instead as something that would take 400 minutes which was extremely unaccurate.
Attempt 2
Next time I had an appointment we were able to cut into the osb, and we realized the problem was we needed to have all the paths be using the upcut tool which takes less time. As well as we didn't check to make sure that the cut pathways were on the correct sides of the lines but in the second try we didn't do that. There was also the problem of the program thinking my paths were all about a foot in the wrong spot, and it cutting way too deep into the board.
Attempt 3
After successfully getting a few pieces cut it had already been about 3 and a half hours.
Then after I bought my 1/2 in thick plywood we tried it on that. I had to outline some pieces because they would not register as pieces that could get a toolpath. Measure the thickness to be around .47in and begin.It went relatively painlessly other than the bed being unlevel so certain parts almost feel off the board because they were cut through too much.
After all of the CNCing, all I had to do was saw the tabs off and sand and assemble. It all fit really well I just needed to laser cut a few things so the box isn't finished but the cnc part is.