Week 8: CNC, Molding and Casting


<br> ### Assignment This week, we were tasked with creating things using CNC machines and molding and casting techniques. #### CNC For the CNC machine, I knew that I wanted to make a wooden cookbook stand because I cook a lot at home and did not get one for Christmas despite putting it on my wish list -_-. I don't care very much about the aesthetics of the stand -- in my mind simple is better -- so found a <a href="https://3axis.co/download/eoxlz9qo">dxf file online</a> to use as a template. When importing the file into Fusion, the program told me that there were no units specified in the design. I think that the CNC software will show me the measurements as I lay out the design for milling, so I will try it out without addressing the issue in Fusion 360 then see how that goes. I got Bobby to help me with the CNC milling (thanks, Bobby!). We found some pretty nice wood to cut and used the 1/4 inch end mill, which was insanely loud. But it worked well with the wood we used, even though part of it wasn't cut all the way through, probably because the wood wasn't even thickness throughout. <img src="/harvard_ps70/08_cnc/pics/stand1.jpg" height="300"> Unfortunately we didn't account for the wood being thicker than what the design accounted for, so the inner part doesn't fit into the outer part right now. The plan is to make a bigger hole and cut into the wood again to fix the problem. <img src="/harvard_ps70/08_cnc/pics/stand2.jpg" height="300"> Update: After a few weeks I had time to come back and fix my cookbook holder. Nathan suggested using the scroll saw instead of the CNC to make the hole bigger and kindly helped me get it started. Going around the curves on the scroll saw was not easy and the blade started smoking at one point but it worked! And even though the hole is not perfect because I'm not a pro scroll sawer, some sanding helped to make it smoother. Also because of the way that the two pieces assemble together, it is not very essential that the hole looks good. <img src="/harvard_ps70/08_cnc/pics/stand3.jpg" height="300"> #### Molding and Milling I'm going to skip the molding and milling this week to focus on the final project, my PhD dissertation, and planning my big move for my postdoc!