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Surprised I could use my CNC for model making

2K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  4DThinker 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I never expected to use my CNC for model making, but it turned out to be a helpful tool for this little project.

The back story (every good project has a story) is that one of my favorite New Orleans area buildings is in a neighborhood that is rapidly changing. Urban renewal means its demise is probably on the horizon, and I wanted to make something to keep it alive ... at least on a small scale.

One corner of the building is curved at the top and with a door at a 45º angle. I had trouble figuring out how to model the corner and make things line up correctly. Then I realized I had a tool that could solve that issue.

I cut a bottom and top support for building the walls out of 1/4" MDF. The top piece was cut two-sided to make the slight overhang above the main door. Those pieces let me make a framework to wrap the 1/8" foam-core for the walls.

The overhanging roof also needed something to simplify the modeling. I cut 25 supports out of 1/8" birch plywood with the CNC. I would never have succeeded in making that many pieces to a consistent size if I had tried cutting them by hand.

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#7 ·
Yeah, for the most part, but this was the first time I considered the CNC for such a small-scale project. V Carve made it really quick and easy to design these small parts. The model is roughly 1:48 scale. I would have made it larger but it would take up too much shelf space. :D
 
#10 ·
Beautiful work. Thanks for the process photos. With the availability of 1/16 and even 1/32" end mills and .001" precision a CNC is easily capable of tiny details and making 1/4, 1/8, 1/32, etc. scale parts. I've used mine to make 1/4 and 1/5 scale models of furniture designs. The good photos here are 1/3 scale models of a saw horse design. The chair models shown here are 1/4 scale models of my designs. Parts for all were cut using my CNC. That link is my essay on the value of scale furniture models. I had my furniture design students make 1/4 scale models of their designs for their initial critique.
4D
 
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