CNC wood... and other materials - Shapeways Blog

CNC wood… and other materials

June 3, 2010

Something I must share with you all….
Last Friday I have visited Roland DG (Digital Group)
I wanted to see how their CNC machines work…and I must say I got very happy seeing how it works, the end results and the potential this has.

I got a demo of one of their bigger machines with an automatic tool changer and a rotary axis unit.
Not sure who of you have any experience with CNC and designing for CNC production but in general you can state that the level of details in a product is defined by the layer height and smallest tool used. Smallest tool defines the smallest inside radius.

Here are some pictures of some of the samples they made for me.

What do you guys think of this? Do you like it? Why ….? How…??
Peter Paul

Comments

  1. Michael Williams
    June 3, 2010 at 12:48 pm
    Very nice looking, I think pricing will be interesting, and the number of rejected models will be high as a CNC can’t do hollow. (be sure to turn it off on all existing models.)

  2. Madox
    June 3, 2010 at 1:20 pm
    Like it alot! Would the pricing be reversed? Priced on material cut from a rectangular bounding box?

  3. Peter Paul Cornelissen
    June 3, 2010 at 9:10 pm
    HI, Pricing a good point… There are various variable that could determine the price. layer height, min inside diameter, bounding box, etc… Apart from the pricing, what would you like to use this (material, technique) for? Materials are multiple that can be used. the pics are from plain wood coming just out of the mill. If you use harder material you can get more / better details.

  4. Stewart Dickson
    June 11, 2010 at 3:24 pm
    Helisys Laminated (Paper) [Object Manufacturing] is a free-form fabrication method using a recyclable material — or, at least you can use recycled paper as the build material, rather than first-generation wood. And laser-cut paper takes on the appearance of wood when finished. http://www.cubictechnologies.com/Helisys.htm

  5. Philippe Garenc
    June 3, 2010 at 2:31 pm
    We’re waiting for your offer (max. size and pricing). What kind of wood is used? Surface texture seems to be soft? Is this out from CNC? How long does it take for this object?

  6. Eric Finley
    June 3, 2010 at 3:45 pm
    Nice. I have access to a Roland MDX-15, which is their tiniest model – the size of an inkjet printer, not even an all-in-one. (The software even loads in Windows as a simple printer driver, which is beautifully apropos.) Which is cool, but the absence of things like a tool changer and a fourth axis have always made it hard for me to utilize effectively. I would certainly expect better results from their higher-end models.

  7. P van Nieuwpoort
    June 7, 2010 at 2:10 pm
    Awesome, Really looking forward for all those materials. Keep on going 🙂

  8. julien Lefebrve
    June 14, 2010 at 12:19 am
    Hi CNC that’s sound like a great idea especially for bigger pieces. Wood, foam, styrofoam so many new possibilities….please do it 😉

  9. Jesse Kaufman
    June 8, 2010 at 1:24 pm
    The larger Roland mills may be fine, but you might also take a look at MiniTech and Modelmaster CNC mills, they’re typically more robust and mechanically solid than the smaller Roland machines. I use a 13 year old Modelmaster CNC 1000 mill to cut wax for jewelry prototyping.

Feel free to share your experiences!