Computer Controlled Machining

Designing Assembly using Solidwork, Creating an object out of plywood sheet

Assignments

  • To make something big using a 5 feet x 5 feet sheet of plywood


  • I started this week by understanding what is plywood and how is it made

    Plywood

    Plywood is a laminated product made up of numerous thin strips of wood laid in alternating directions and bounded with glue into strong, stable sheets. Because of this construction method, plywood is less susceptible to expansion and shrinkage. Plywood is much stronger in each direction than a similarly sized board cut from a single tree. (For more details : https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-plywood-3536689)


    For further details about plywood manufacturing process you can check below video on youtube. It covers entire lifecycle of plywood manufacturing from raw material to finish plywood

    Plywood Manufacturing Process

    Job design

    It took some time to decide as in what to make. Various ideas poped up like tree house, boat etc but decided to keep it simple and decided to make a Table - The objective was to design it in such a way that it can be easily assembled

    So it started with drawing sketches on paper

    Preparing design in solidworks

    Step 1 : Making individual parts






    Step 2 : Next task was to assembled the individual parts together in solidwork assemble mode : For my table to be completed I was requiring 2 number of side fixture, 1 top fixture and 3 supports









    Now the problem was support 2 needed to be fixed using glue/screw. So instead of using support 2, drawing was modified to use support 1 in place of support 2. Accordingly drawing of side fixture was changed.

    Then as the job involved fixing of 2 wooden material offset of 2mm was added into all female joints. The drill bit used for cutting was of 4mm so for proper fixing at joints 4mm circular cuts were provided at every edge




    Step 3 : Making the parts ready for cutting using CNC machine.


  • The sheet we were using for cutting was 5 feet x 5 feet. So individual part were allign on to the sheet
  • New assembly was created and using solid work option make drawing from assembly drawing was prepared
  • Drawing file with scaling 1:1 was giving as input to CNC machine


  • Step 4 : Job cutting on CNC machine

    First plywood was properly allign and made ready for cutting


    Cutting the plywood using CNC machine



    Step 5 : Sanding the Cut pieces

    Giving finishing touch and removing leftovers



    Step 6 : Assembling the parts together











    Output files

  • Job solid work assembly file
  • Job drawing file