CNC Router carved wall panel

CNC Router carved wall panel designed in ArtCAM

Bamboo magazine rack

Bamboo magazine rack created by ArtCAM Express competition winner, Youseff Benzaoui

A custom designed lithopane lamp with a rotating shade

Author:me-cheng:

 

 

The project I would like to share is a custom designed lithopane lamp with a rotating shade.  To keep within the Instructables spirit, this is a project that anyone with basic wood shop tools such as: a table saw, scroll saw, router, and some basic hand tools, can complete the project.  I took it a step further to show how cool a CNC router can be – and I don’t have a CNC router with near the same capabilities as a ShopBot.  My router is at best a worn out, low tolerance, entry level router with a 12” x 18” table, a Rotozip for a spindle, and powered by a HobbyCNC controller.  The software I use is borrowed from my work (after hours of course) and is SolidWorks for design and BobCAD-CAM for the CAM which we use for networking product design and manufacturing assembly fixtures.  I am not in the wood industry but do like wood working as a hobby. Should I be fortunate enough to win the ShopBot and AutoCAD software, I would like to design and build larger woodworking pieces such as kinetic sculptures and clocks - mostly moving wooden assemblies.

Cup Holders

Cup holders from Advanced Wood Production Class. Both pieces were cut by a CNC Router from a 2'x 4' piece of wood and fit together without any glue or fasteners. The cup holders are designed to easily fit a beer bottle, those red plastic cups or  glasses.

Technology challenges the master violinmaker

Most people consider Italian violinmaker Antonio Stradivari the greatest violinmaker of all time. He’s getting some competition from technology. Today, on Engineering Works!.

A team of modern violinmakers and a doctor is using technology the 18^th-century luthier never dreamed of to measure and duplicate – almost exactly – violins built by the master.

The doctor, a radiologist, or specialist in medical imaging, also is an amateur violinist. He came up the idea of using computed tomography, or CT, imaging to get exact three-D images of one of the 500 or so Stradivari violins that have survived to today. The CT scan produced more than 1,000 images of the 300-year-old violin.

Then they converted the CT images to computer files that programmed a computer numerically controlled, or CNC, router. The

CNC router is a machine tool that can shape new violin parts to almost exactly the dimensions of the originals. The scans also show the density of the wood in individual parts. This allows modern violin makers to use different woods to match the density of the original. The newly made parts seem to match the originals.

One of the best things about this approach is that the original instruments aren’t disassembled or damaged. The researchers say the imaging is so detailed that it could also be used to identify individual instruments and track repairs to them over the years since Stradivari made them.

CNC Router Cut CD Ninja Stars

by Jeremy Cook

Behold, the CNC cut CD ninja star!  At one point I believed I had invented the CD ninja star, but a quick search of Google proved me very wrong.  As far as I can tell though, this is the first one that is cut with a CNC router, so maybe that’s something.

The picture to the right is, unfortunately, a result of placement, not the actual star sticking in the dartboard after a throw.  Not that this wasn’t attempted.  The shuriken in the upper left was a result of one of the points breaking off.

Not the sturdiest weapon in the world.  After cutting off another point to make it symmetric, it’s flight is still impressive if incredibly random.  I tested it out in the house (not recommended) where it arced around a wall nearly poking my wife in the eye.

Cutting was done with an engraving bit from ZTW at a depth of cut of .010″ per pass.  I didn’t offset anything, but just drew it and cut as an engraving.  The CD was fixtured the same way as the last HDD clock that I did, but one difference was that the zero of the X and Y axes were on the edges (shown by the green and red lines in the CAMBam picture after the break), not the center.  This allowed me to line everything up based on an edge instead of estimating the center of it.

It seems that things cut much better if started from the side with a picture.  Things seemed to delaminate from the other side, but this could also be a result of using an industrially-written CD instead of writeable media.

Mold cutting using cnc router

George Leone, Student Project Facilitator at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, CA, recently sent us pictures of a project that students from the Human Powered Vehicle Club designed for the ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge. The human powered vehicles have been known to reach speeds of approximately 55 mph.

 Precision Board Plus PBLT-6 mold being routed

After testing the sheet-metal prototype, a mold was cut from Precision Board Plus PBLT-6 using their “hot-rodded” ShopBot CNC router.  They then vacuum-bagged the molds for the bodies using a room-temp cure system. The molds were coated with Duratec for an ultra-smooth surface. Once finished, the Carbon/Kevlar bodies were fitted over a composite or Chrome-Moly frame.

The bikes are 100% built by students unless the technology is WAY beyond the capabilities or ingenuity at Cal Poly. This is also an all-volunteer club, and students do not earn credits for participation.

George has been working with composites for over thirty years. He enjoys working with Precision Board Plus because “it allows students to take their vision and turn it into reality quickly and easily, whether they are using Surform files and sandpaper or a CNC router. It’s low-dust, green chemistry composition coupled with its favorable carbon balance and renewable resource content appeal to the stewardship concerns of our 21st century engineers in training.”