2020 Coronavirus Themed Ornament
Introduction: 2020 Coronavirus Themed Ornament
As is fit for the year, I decided to make a specially themed ornament to send out for Christmas! This was also my first (successful) project using my new CNC machine (a Shapeoko), though I also used a laser cutter for engraving. Throughout this project I will quickly detail how I created the design, and then show the process that I went through to make the ornament.
Supplies
Consumables:
* Wood, roughly 4"x5"x0.5" (I used Oak and Walnut)
* Wood Stain/Paint (I used Barn Red and Antique White)
* Wood Finish (I used a polycrylic finish)
* Brushes
* String
Tools:
* CNC Machine (I used the Shapeoko)
* Laser Cutter
* Drill
Step 1: Creating the Design: Inkscape
I started in Inkscape, creating the the basic shapes that I was going to make the ornament out of. Notable elements include:
-The virus, which is based on a number of examples you can see when searching for "Coronavirus Vector" on Google images, just modified to be symmetric.
-The snowflake, which is a basic snowflake shape that I guessed would be CNC friendly.
-The text on each side, "Merry Christmas" on one, and "2020" on the other. I found a cursive font that I thought had a holiday feel, the used the "put on path" function to warp the text along a circle
-And the outline of the ornament, which is basically a circle for the snowflake/virus shape, plus space below for the text
I also used Inkscape to design a basic mold to be made out of MDF that has the function of holding wood "blanks" in a specific spot so that I only need to center the machine once, and then can make 4 of these ornaments at the same time. This also makes it easier to flip over to machine the other side of the ornament.
Attached here is the Mold and design I used for the next steps (you don't need this unless you want to make your own edits.
Step 2: Creating the CNC File: Carbide Create
Since I have a Shapeoko CNC, I used Carbide Create to make the actual CNC Files. I used Inkscape to "place" all of the ornaments in the mold where I wanted them. 644
Then in Carbide Create, they key elements I made were:
-For both the snowflake and virus side, in the Model tab, I used the shape option to first define the base of the ornament as a "flat" 0.2" thick. Then to give the virus/snowflake shape, I used an angle shape parameter at 35 degrees with a max height of 0.1" and a base height of 0.05" to slightly raise it off the ornament base (this will make it easier to paint later). See the applicable screenshot in this step (pic 3) to help understand what I just described. Each side has a 0.15" feature raised 0.05" off the 0.2" base, meaning the ornament will be 0.1+0.05+0.2+0.05+0.1=0.5" thick.
-Last up, in the toolpath tab, my order of operations were:
* A rough cut with an 1/8" endmill to remove most of the material
* A finish cut with an 1/8" ball mill to make the finer features on the snowflake/virus
* On the snowflake side only (which is the second side I do), I cut out the ornament shape using the 1/8" endmill.
Unfortunately I can't directly upload the Carbide Create files I made, because ".c2d" files are apparently not allowed on Instructables. So you can either recreate it yourself using the vector file I shared the previous step, or as a bit of a workaround, here is a link to Google Drive where you can download the Carbide Create files:
The Mold to Hold the Wood Blanks
The Snowflake Side of the Ornament
The Virus Side of the Ornament
That's basically it on the design side, time to run the machine!
Step 3: CNC'ing
Because I was making a number of these, my first few steps were actually setting up the process to make the ornaments:
-I started by making a 4 piece tool/mold out of MDF. This is to be used later to hold 4 wood pieces that will be made into ornaments. 776