7. Computer-Controlled Machining¶
CNC Machine - ShopBot¶
A cutting machine that moves in 3D and cuts (drills using a drill bit) pieces as 2D from above, the dimensions it works at are (x,y,z) : (120,240,1.2)cm, this machine can make beautiful wood pieces for attachments and pressfit pieces
Components¶
- Sacrifice Sheet
- Fixing Sheets
- Dust Collection
- Tabs (Fixing Material - size of 3-4 mm)
- Collet
- Drill Bits
Drill Bits Attachments¶
- End Mill
- Ball End Mill
- Sacrifice Cutter
- V-carve Bit
- Straight End Mill
- Bal End Mill
Collet Parts Components¶
- Collet
- Nut
- 1/4*
Materials¶
- Wood (MDF/ Ply)
- Aluminum
- Gypsum
Techniques¶
- Kerfing
- Parametric Designing
- 3D Roughing
File Format¶
- .DXF (Favorite, keeps Parameters/Size of piece)
- .SVG
- .AI
Safety¶
- Wear Safety Glasses
- Wear Safety Shoes
- Keep 1 meter distance
- Not touching the machine while it operates
- Wearing tight clothes
- Wearing old clothes (not fashionable are recommended))
- In Case Of Emergency, it is possible to hit one of the machines stop buttons to stop it from cutting
- As a Safety measure, the CNC Machine can only be turned on by a certain key to turn it on.
- The Material Added on the sacrifice sheet is drilled with screws to guarantee that it will not move during the process.
- The Vacuum/Dust-Collection is switched on from behind the room, there is a switch for it safe in distance from the CNC Machine.
Letters (Group Task)¶
Setting Origin - zero axis¶
Before we start the machine, we need to set the origin, the distance at which the drill meets with the material that needs to be cut, in order to do that we need to connect the circuit of the CNC drill bit to an electric piece so that when it reaches the surface of the material it becomes open circuit then it stops moving (we get the value from when it stopped), which helps in guaranteeing the safety of the CNC machine’s drill bit from damage.
Fitting Test¶
In Order to Test how the machine works at its best (Proportions), we had to test it with Different Alignment, speed vs feeds and different toolpaths.
Cutting¶
Sanding¶
The Pieces had a lot of excess wood splinters sticking out of the material which requires us to sand the pieces we have to make them reach a better shape that is presentable,
Before¶
After¶
Aftermath¶
For more details regarding the group task, please refer Zainab’s Website as she is the person responsible for this week’s group task.
Shoe Shelf (Individual)¶
Reason¶
I decided to make this design since one of my classmates in the Fabacademy mentioned the idea and I found that I need it as I do need a Shoe Shelf (my shoes were unaligned)
Concept - Parameters¶
At The Beginning, I Started by planning how to cut and the sizes I would need, this required me to know/measure the wood sheet, my shoes dimension and how much of the wood sheet am I allowed to cut (approximately 1/2 of Wood Sheet). Thus, I made a parametric design consisting of the concepts and the parameters.
Joints¶
There are many joint types to use, but the idea I had for a joint was connecting them through a hole in one of them which is the most similar to Mortise and Tenon Joint (only difference is that mine pierces the whole piece), More Details.
Dogbones - T Bone¶
reason It is necessary to create T Bone or Dog Bones on the design from the CNC machine program before proceeding to cut the material to make the piece able to fit well without issues.
Design 2D (fusion 360)¶
Issues¶
I faced an issue where I used mm unit when scaling my sketches instead of cm which cause me the need to scale my sketches with the scale factor of 10, figureing the steps to do it took me some time, after I figured it I noticed that there is a modify scale in the sketches and I gave it the scale factor of 10, there is also a scale in 3D where you can solve it by scaling the factor to 10 which makes the solutions simple.
Design 3D (fusion 360)¶
Program¶
I uploaded the .dxf file into the fablab share email (fablabbh.share@gmail.com), then the files were added into the program used for CNC Machine, the dog bones were added after adding the file in the program.
Cutting¶
Sanding¶
When Connecting the Pieces After Sanding, the pieces were not able to connect simply, which required the use of force (Wood hammer), after using it the pieces did fit magically and all the parts did fit together without the need to modify the finished parts.
Issue & Nail Gun¶
While I have the pieces connected, they lack a bit of support since the shelf wood pieces are a bit long, this requred the use of a Nail Gun which in order helped support the system I have.
Result¶
It Fits for about 20 shoes, while I have 9 shoes which is very good (having excess space for visitors).
Files¶
.STL File -
.DXF File -
.F3D File -