UW HCDE 598 — Digital Fabrication Assignment 5: Subtractive Fabrication and CNC milling
Time to box all these feelings up… in a CNC milled box.
I spend all of this week in work-related travel, so with a compressed timeline, I optimized heavily for fabrication and materials.
My box would be as simple as possible — to the point where the entire box can be made using a single part fabricated six times.
Unfortunately, I relied on butt joints, that are quite unreliable, but at least they were something that could be milled and assembled quickly.
The initial sketches focused on a part that would fit multiple times
To plan for the edges I measured the FR1 to ensure the joints would work well together.
I then created the actual part — starting with a 5 centimeter square, that I later changed to 4cm (to optimize for material) because each FR1 board was 7cm * 10cm — this would allow me to do 2x parts per FR1 board.
After extruding the part for the 1.5mm that the FR1 measured, I had the main part for the box.
Before manufacturing, I verified that the part actually worked.
It did!
I exported the DXF into KiCad to create a Gerber file.
I imported the Gerber file into Bantam Tools, which looked right.
Once at the Mill, I followed the recommended instructions to prep the job — e.g. creating the FR1 sandwich and using double-sided tape. I then entered the resulting measures in Bantam Tools.
And off it went:
https://malvenko.github.io/HCDE598SP19/A5-assets/A5_10.mp4
The outcome of the milling was pretty nice.
After some light assembly
Added more sides:
The final box resting fully assembled with all the sides holding up.
The box fit really well, but needed some careful touch to stay assembled.
Note to self: BUTT JOINTS SUCK (for this assignment).
Source files for the box:
