CNC SIG Meetup Recap - 4/2/23

Space Teams CNC
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Hello all,

We did have a winner of the April 2023 SIG meeting competition: @SteveW !!

He truly blew us away with a bundle of his epoxied, beautifully flush CNC art. And whenever I say a bundle, I do mean a bundle! Before we get into this, let’s discuss the meeting.

James came with a gorgeous 3D-cut picture of his tattoo. It looks like the compass star you’d see on a map. Unfortunately I was unable to snag a picture of that but @jamesfreeman does have video of the meeting. I’m looking forward to seeing this amazing video I know he’s creating!

For my project I made a laser-cut AI generated image–thanks to Zack’s suggestions at the prior meeting. I used spare MDF & laser cut the raster after modifying the image in Lightburn.

CNC SIG - AI Generated Face on MDF.HEIC
CNC SIG - AI Generated Face on MDF.HEIC1512×2016 1.16 MB

Last but not least we have @SteveW . Holy hell he brought THE GAME! See below to understand why he’s the winner of our CNC SIG April Meeting:

Death Star.HEIC
Death Star.HEIC2716×2493 1.6 MB

The Death Star!

Galaxy-Looking Art.HEIC
Galaxy-Looking Art.HEIC2691×2650 2.13 MB

Galaxy-looking Art!

Mountains.HEIC
Mountains.HEIC2369×2979 1.75 MB

3D Cut Mountains!

Geo Blocks.HEIC
Geo Blocks.HEIC3017×3506 3.3 MB

Geometric Blocks all expoxified!

HoneyComb.HEIC
HoneyComb.HEIC2898×2637 2.2 MB

Honeycomb art!

Weird Geometric Shape.HEIC
Weird Geometric Shape.HEIC2684×3497 1.99 MB

Geometric Shapes!

Hexagons.HEIC
Hexagons.HEIC2974×3435 3.02 MB

Hexagons!

All Pics.HEIC
All Pics.HEIC2482×2479 1.72 MB

Everything at a glance!

I can assuredly say we were all astounded! Excellent job @SteveW !! The artistry of the epoxy blew me away! Steve even mentioned a different type of CAD/CAM software he’s using besides vCarve. Maybe he can share more with us about it at our next meeting…?

Because of this, @SteveW gets a $50 credit to Asmbly to use for classes :slight_smile: @valerie, could one of you make sure @SteveW gets the $50 credit? And congratulations to @SteveW --I know he learned A TON since we last met up.

Our Next CNC Excursion into the Unknown
We learned a lot, had a great time, and are even more excited for our next CNC adventure on 5/7/23 at 9am !! Note that this meeting date will be at 9am. 9am seems to be a better time for a Sunday meet up for most of the folks.

Theme of the next CNC SIG Meeting is twofold: “A Hero’s Journey” or “Stuff that Works Well in the Kitchen.” Pick your favorite theme & go with it. Or, as Steve will probably do, just do both :stuck_out_tongue:

If I missed any other projects shown, please feel free to post them here.

I’ll see you guys at the next event. Keep on CNCing!!!

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Thanks for the recap @Joaquim and congrats @SteveW! Really cool work by all!

I edited the post to clarify that the $50 is specifically to go towards a class. @ashleyrlee can email @SteveW the coupon code.

And just to make sure we’re all on the same page, Asmbly isn’t providing a prize for the May challenge. For May we are awarding an entire class for free through the hanging planter competition – Maker Competition - Plant Edition 🪴

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Congratulations, Steve! Amazing work!

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Thanks for the review. I was sorry to have missed it. And Congrats to @SteveW. Unfortunately I’ll be traveling and miss the next meeting too. So I’ll be interested in picts of that one too. Thanks again!

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Thanks! I’m working on a writeup on these that I will try to share during the next CNC SIG meeting (notes I’m writing for myself to go back and refer to). It really was a way to push myself to try different materials, design softwares and finishes. I ended up using F360, Carbide Create, VCarve, Carveco Maker and Lightburn for various parts of these. Materials wise - I used plywood, cedar, cherry, mdf, acrylic, furniture tacks, epoxy, shellac, spray paint, poly, a butane lighter for the burning, hardwax/oil and poly. During the idea phase I spent a good amount of time on MidJourney thinking through ideas (many of which did not come to fruition). Thingiverse ended up being a great source for STL files for some of these as well.

I’m already working on my project to bring to the next meeting and am excited to share my learnings from it. It involves walnut, epoxy and two-sided carving.

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You have definitely set the bar high! And digging into all those different CAD/CAM programs! Curious to see what you’ve learned.

Can’t wait to see what you make. And now that I know there’s some mad (but healthy) competition, I’m looking forward to seeing what I make!

The next meeting is gonna be fun!