COMPUTER-CONTROLLED MACHINING
Make something big (on a CNC machine).
After discussion with my family about which big object we can build something useful ... we finally decided to work on a birdhouse, for the birds of our garden. and my children started to work on the project, drawing the birdhouse of their dream :-)
| The aim is that this project is also the project of my chidrenbecasue I want them to fill in the feeder tank :-)
                         |  So they did the draws of the birdhouseand I took some ideas from their draws
                         | 
|  Here it is a birdhouse for several birdsand with several floors
                         |  And here is my first compilation of their draws
                         | 
 And finally here is the final ideawith some constraints in order to have it usable (access to the feeder tank and to the nests)
           
        
Here are the rules I followed when I did my Rhino file: - usage of layers: 1 layer in Rhino per Job with the CNC + 1 layer for the board + 1 layer for my joints models and the Mill Bit - the mill bit I decided to use is a 6mm diameter - the circular arcs of the mill bit on my schema are 6.05 mm (not 6.00)
| Here is my organization of layersregarding layers for CNC's jobs: 1 for pockets, 1 for inside cuts, 1 for outside cuts
                         | Here are my Joint models and the Mill bitvery useful to have it for copy/past
                         | 
| Here is the detail of my circular arcs6.05 mm (not 6.00) to be sure the mill bit can go inside, and to be sure Vcurve will manage it correctly
                         |  A lot of joints and a lot of pieces ...
                         | 
 And finally here is the final designwith my board outside (in red) and all the pieces of my birdhouseThere is several joints, I hope they are correct!! :-)
           
        
Once the Rhino file is achieved, here is the process to go to the CNC - export the Rhino file to .dxf (Autocad file), taking care of Autocad Export Scheme - import the .dxf file inside Vcarve Pro - layer per layer, define the job profiles, starting by pockets, then internal cuts, and finally external cuts - (save the Vcarve file for archive) generate the .tap file and put in on the CNC (using the USB key)
| Here is the settings of the Autocad Export SchemeRhino objects should be exported as polylines, max angle set to 0.5 and "Explode polycurves" should be disabled
                         | Here is the wood we are usingplywood, board is 1200x2500, 12mm thickness
                         | 
| Equiped and ready to start ... ;-)
                         | Starting with pockets
                         | 
| Then cutting
                         | Now CNC job is finished, my job is starting: sanding
                         | 
| Sanding is finished, now we will know about the result, will the joints work or not ...
                         | First test is ok :-)
                         | 
| Main structure assembly is working
                         | The doors of the nests are working fine, this is great, it was not so obvious to design
                         | 
| Now redoing it with internal pieces also, still going fine
                         | Here is my Big Object finished! all joints are Ok
                         | 
| I used nearly all the size of the board
                         | And the place is cleaned for the next worker
                         | 
Here is the final assemblysoon I will upload here the photo of the object installed in my garden
          