The assignment of this week was to do something big with the ShopBot CNC router. When thinking to do, I note that it was not going to take home, as I am in another country. Then I thought of designing something for Tecsup, in Lima the sun radiation is very strong and I realized that in front the cafe it's a square with many trees with the best shade, but without benches.

Design and Test

Before starting to design, test the machine milling two different joints. With this exercise learned to consider increasing the size of the subtractions for irregularities that may come to have wood, either moisture or other things. And the design of the joints more useful for my project.

The next step to begin designing, was consult the book "Human Dimensions - Panero" to take anthropometric dimensions appropriate for the banking I'll design. To later adapt my sketches to the anthropometric dimensions and the plate to be milled.

The design tools used was Autocad to 2D drawing, rhino to check the design in 3D and keyshot for rendering the model. First time i was doing the 2D drawing in rhino, but when i export the archive in dfx. the dimensions changed. For this reason change for Autocad.

Milling and assembly

Once finished designing, prepared the cutting file in Partworks. Before loading the file to the ShopBot console, calibrate the X, Y and Z. For bench used 15mm plywood the gauge detects some areas with 15,8mm thick, and 1/8 milling cutter.

Before loading the cut file, you should hold the plate with screws, to prevent it from moving while the router is operating. It is advisable to recalibrate the Z axis after the screws.

When assembling, need the help of rubber hammer, because the inserts were fair. When testing the resistance, I realized that was missing a support for the central bench, because it tended to sag. Therefore, the residue of my board cut the profile of a leg more support in V. With these changes could solve the problem.

In the pictures you can see how fit three people comfortably, and four a little tight.