Month: March 2024

03/21/2024- 03/22/2024

After I completely built the base, It was time to start cutting the the skin of the seat which Is a very crucial cut. This piece of wood would have to bend to the seat of then seat with out bending. First thing I did was screw down the ply flat to the cmc machine and line up perfectly. I screwed down everywhere where it wouldn’t cut to ensure it would stay completely flat. The first run went bad since the screws I used where to big to where they lifted the wood and cut through it and messed it up. Luckily I got a big enough sheet to where I can just move the cut to the other side. So I did and made sure I used the correct screws to hold it down. The 1/4″ contours went well. Now were the crucial cuts which is the v bit just on a 1/4 which piece of wood so the piece can bend. It has to be so thin so it can bend. The V-Bit cuts worked and now was bending it. It wasn’t bending smoothly so I soaked the wood and started pressing it into place slowly. After it set I screwed it in and now my seat is done.

3/18/2024-3/20/2024

After my base and seat supports were cut and sanded, I decided to stain it. I went with a dark blue. Ended up being a little darker than expected but it’s fine, still had tomes of blue which I liked. The stain held well and actually the one I bought had a sealant in it, so no poly after.

3/18/2024

After the first sheet I got right to the second sheet because of how smoothly it went. That’s when the cmc machine start to give errors. It had forgot its home point which was an exact cordinate. Which caused slight mistakes. Also the machine kept going beyond its limit. The first run of contours using the 1/4″ bit went fine, but the 1/8 dog bones gave slight problems. I had mentioned the machines home point was off by a few coordinates. So for the second cut for dog bones it had more them all slightly off. Just by 1mm or 2. Nothing to really scrap the whole project for.

3/18/2024

The sheets had 2mm holes that the machine was suppose to drill out but there aren’t really 2mm bits that are deep enough to go through this pieces of wood with out snapping. So I decided to used to 1/8 bit and just have it slightly mark the places for 2mm holes and I’ll drill the rest which worked perfectly. Now was the dog bones. Started the machine and it made the contours with out any problems

03/14/2024

After the first test went successful. I was ready to start my first sheet. The first sheet was going to contain the actual seat and base components. It was also going to use the 1/4″ for this run for the general contour cuts. I started the machine and it started cutting. The total cutting time was around 3 hours just for the general cuts. At the end the cuts were clean and correct and all my tabs held up.

3/10/2024

I had found the correct bit and simulated it on the dog bones on fusion and it ran perfectly. Now we had to do the real life test. We used the same test block for the 1/4″ contours because this component of the sheet we picked had both cuts on it. We started to run it in passes to play it safe. The bit ended up working great and did the cuts perfectly.

3/13/2024

I was ready to start a sheet but before I ruined my whole 4’x8′ sheet, I decided to test it on a small block. We started the contour of one piece of the sheet on a small piece of plywood. We used the 1/4 bit for the exterior contours. This is where I discovered my first mistake. As the machine was making its final run to finally cut the piece, it ended up throwing the whole ply half way across the shop since there was nothing holding it down. This is where I learned about tabs and how to add them to sheets so they are not complete free after cutting. Tabs are like what hold parts on model set part sheets.

3/6/2024

One key component to my cuts were these interlocks in the wood called dog bones. This actually caused a bit of a hiccup in our contour cuts because at first we didn’t have a bit small and deep enough to go all the way through, so now I had to pause all cutting and find the correct bit.

FEBUARY 2024-

The files are loaded on fusion 360 and I have to extrude them to size and depth. I had to make each contour with a specific tool bit. For the exterior contours, I used a 1/4 end mill bit. This bit was responsible for most of the cuts. Then I had the a 1/8 bit I used for the smaller holes and more complex cuts.