Computer-Controlled Machining

Hooray! Make (design+mill+assemble) something big! I'm seriously pumped up for this!

1.1 Assignments of the Week

• Group assignment:

Complete your lab's safety training

Test runout, alignment, fixturing, speeds, feeds, materials and toolpaths for your machine

Document your work to the group work page and reflect on your individual page what you learned

• Individual assignment:

Make (design+mill+assemble) something big

1.2 Group Work

Here is the documentation.

1.3 Individual Work

Since I've always been a fan of rocking chairs, but the ones on the market are pretty traditional, I figured I'd make myself a cloud rocking chair!

1.3.1 design

• Since I'm testing the wood before finalizing the design, parametric design is crucial. I'll be using Fusion 360, which I'm not very familiar with (encountered a lot of issues during the design process, but learned a lot).



• To make the backrest more comfortable, I'm considering handcrafting a backrest using yarn. I found a reference image on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese social media platform similar to Pinterest).



1.3.2 Dogbones

This is crucial because during milling, the round cutter cannot reach right angles, causing a 1/2 cutter diameter gap during assembly. So, I need to create Dogbones. Here's a detailed guide and download link. Then, in Fusion 360's add-on module (shortcut Shift+S), import Dogbones, select the shape, and change the cutter diameter to 6.2 (originally 6, but I added 0.2 for better fit).





It's parameter



1.3.3 VCarveProShopBotEdition

Here are some important settings during the process:

Length : 2440 mm

Width : 1220 mm

Depth : 12.07

Tool Diameter : 6 mm

RPM: 18000

Feed Rate : 4 in/s

Tab: 10-15 cm

Start Depth : 0.0 mm

Cut Depth: 12.07 mm

Here is the process of obtaining the parameters:

1.In the newly created file, adjust the wood board's dimensions in the Job Setup to length (2440), width (1220), and depth (12.07). The board's thickness is 12mm, and due to wood board precision, we added 0.07 to ensure complete milling.

2.Import vectors from a file. This machine can only open vector files with names in English letters.



3.Modify Cutting Depths: Start Depth: 0.0mm; Cut Depth: 12.07mm.

4.Edit Tool: Adjust Diameter to 6mm. Since the board is thick, milling all at once with a depth of 12mm may break the tool. RPM is set to 18000, and Feed Rate is set to 4.





5.Add Tabs: Pay attention to the spacing, which should be around 10-15cm to prevent the wood board from warping or splintering. Avoid setting tabs in curved areas or too close to each other.Then,Rename and calculate the cutting path



1.3.4 Shopbot

Under the guidance of Nancy and Sarviro, Safety was emphasized the most, as it is crucial. Moreover, it's essential to have two people working together when using a machine! Safety should be ingrained in our DNA! With excitement and caution, I began!

Then, I used a vacuum cleaner to clean the surface where the wooden board would be placed. I appreciate my teammate for helping me positioned the wooden board at the bottom left corner of the surface (the origin point), ensuring alignment along the edges. Next, we secured it with screws, leaving a distance equivalent to the size of a thumbnail between the screws and the edges.



Since I was the first one to cut, the XYZ had already been calibrated during the initial testing. So, we proceeded directly. Unfortunately, a scary situation occurred when the Z-axis unexpectedly lowered, resulting in a loud grinding sound and an unintended path. I immediately clicked STOP and recalibrated the Z-axis. After starting again, the result was perfect.