Week 5: Subtractive Manufacturing

The Axiom

To begin, I watched the Axiom tutorial that Madison sent to us which was on the assignment page on her website. This went over all of the important aspects of using the Axiom CNC, such as safety protocols, an overview of the parts and what they do, the software used to create projects, etc.

How It Works

CNC routers work by drilling and removing wood shavings to create the desired product. Different effects can be created with different bits. These bits are put in a collet which is then attached to a collet nut. The collet spins freely within the nut.

The nut is screwed into the CNC itself and tightened with wrenches.

The handheld controller is used to move the part of the CNC router that holds the drill around on the workbed. It moves across the x,y, and z axes. The usb containing the file of the design is inserted into this as well.

The sawdust that forms as a result of the process of CNC milling is contained within the dust shield, and is also sucked up through the tube of the dust collection system.

The origin of the workbed is set with the the blue focusing tool. It gets plugged in to the left of the Axiom CNC, and the tool gets maneuvered above it. The toolset button is pressed, and the bit will lower until it bumps against the blue focus tool, which causes that area to become the origin for the project.

Software

The software used to create projects for the Axiom is Vcarve. To learn how to use this program during my training, I created a test cut (although I don't have pictures detailing the creation of my actual design).
In my relative recreation of my test cut, I started by making a rectangle with the rectangle tool and specifying the dimensions.

I then added shapes to the center of the rectangle. Next, I went to the toolpath section and created a profile cut for the larger rectangle, which will cut all the way through my material. To avoid problems with a loose object once this rectangle was cut, I added tabs, which keep the profile cut attached to the rest of the material in small areas which can be fixed after the cut is done.

This can be shown in a 3d preview and a 2d preview. The 2d preview is shown here, with the arrows indicating the direction of the cut and the tabs visible on the corners.

I then created a pocket cut for the smaller square within the rectangle, which cuts into the material but doesn't cut through. A 3d preview of this is shown below.

For my test cut, I created another smaller square within the rectangle, but used the toolpath to create a profile cut instead.
Here's the finished product of my test cut! Bits of the tabs that held the separate rectangle can be seen in the second picture.

My Design

To start brainstorming a project, I looked up examples of CNC designs on both pinterest and google. I found some interesting images like these:

I really enjoyed the lines in the bench and the curves of the light.

When I first was thinking about making something, I knew I wanted it to be useful. I was thinking of other projects I had done, and was debating on making another version of a flower planter that my dad made when he was younger and I recreated for my grandmother. A similar style to the one we made is below.

Since I had technically made this before, although it would be a bit different for creating it this time around, I didn't really think it was creative enough since it was pretty much just a bunch of the same shaped pieces of wood. From looking at other suggested images, I came across this bowl

I thought this was pretty interesting and, for whatever reason, that bowl gave me the idea of making a basket. I had a vague idea of how I wanted it to look, but kind of made things up as I went along in terms of designing it.
I started by making the base, which was just a rectangle, which I offset because I was going to use a pocket cut on.

I then project the lines of the outer rectangle to an offset plane that was .75 inches above the first, since that was the thickness of the wood. Using those as construction lines, I used the three point arc slot tool to make the alternating curves of the 'woven' wood.

I then projected this layer on another offset plane of .75 inches to do the same thing, but the opposite direction to make the alternating weave.

I only needed to make these two sketches for this component of the basket, since I could just copy them to build up the sides of the basket. I kept these two sketches visible along with the base, and then added the smaller rectangles that would stabilize the intertwining woven wood pieces.

I then extruded my elements. Here's the base, supports, and first woven layer. The inner rectangle of the base is extruded .25 inches and the supports are extruded 4 inches, while everything else was extruded .75 inches.

For creating the alternating woven parts of the basket, all I had to do to separate them was select whatever face was next in the pattern and go to extrude it like normal, except I extruded it on an offset plane.

I copied each original weave once, leaving me with four layers.

Then, to finish it off, I created and extruded a rectangle above this, similar to the base.

Using the small square you can see in the screenshot above, I revolved this to the other side, creating a handle for the basket. After that was done, I filletted the edges.

My basket was done!

To create the drawing of how the piece would be cut, I created a new sketch in Fusion360 that was 2 by 4 feet. I then copied ans pasted my sketches for the base, woven elements, and top. I drew the rectangles that made up the supports and also drew the handle. Everything would be cut through except for the rectangle within the base, which would get a pocket cut.

If I were to actually make this, I would need either some wood glue or small nails to construct my basket, which would cost me approximately $6. I could stain the wood, but I think it would look better plain.

Here are the files for the basket and piece of wood to be cut!