Custom Wall Light Display: 5/8″ MDF
CNCROi.com recently completed a custom wall light display for an interior designer using 5/8″ MDF, as with many projects we do, we cut it out, they assemble it on site.
This custom wall light display started life as a series of digital files, I layed them out on 4 ft x 8 ft sheets from which I optimized the cutting paths then told the CNC router to cut it out!
The bed size of my Thermwood CNC router is 5 ft x 10 ft, that’s why there is a foot left of table at the end and 2 ft along the side, it’s a perspective you don’t get to see too often at the shop but it just shows you how huge 5 ft x 10 ft really is!
For this project, I’m using a compression bit, which basically “lifts” the bottom of the MDF and “pulls down” the top of the sheet in order to produce the cleanest cut possible.
MDF isn’t the lightest of materials, as such, it tends to hold itself down by shier weight but I still use the vacuum table just in case to make sure nothing moves during production, an accurate cut is as important as a flawless one.
In my previous life, I designed a ton of projects big and small, and some of those were lamps of course!
The CNC router is a neat tool, cutting straight lines is as easy as curves but having all 3 axis engagement when doing these rounded parts is really a neat thing to watch for a tool that weighs more than a pickup truck to move so effortlessly!
CNC routing is no different that waterjet cutting or other type of projects CNCROi.com cuts using CNC equipment, they all have 3 axis (X, Y and Z) and have their own quirks but the precision and accuracy is interchangeable pretty much, which is why we can pretty much cut anything from wood to metal in the shop, even if it’s the same design file.
The custom wall light display is made-up of many layers of MDF that will be glued together by the customer and painted before addin the electronics in order to transform it into a very cool lighting display for a room.
Slotted lamps look cool just about anywhere and everywhere, now that I know how to weld, I look forward to making some of these using metal.
I tried nesting these custom wall light display parts as best I could in order to minimize the amount of waste, initially, the design actually called for these parts to be one-pieced, but for shipping and transportation ease, and MDF is super-easy to glue together, everything was split in half and it saved on a tremendous amount of MDF scrap as a result.
Once all the nesting is complete, paths are optimized, then the cutting can begin at CNCROi.com to transform the sheet of MDF into a custom wall light display.
I enjoy this type of work, it’s very straight-forward compared to some of the more complex work we do at the shop and relatively easy to pack and ship.
LEDs have come a very long way through the years, I did this project back in 2018, it would be so much easier nowadays!
When it comes to MDF, because we are using our router, we could have (though not necessary for this project) added identification numbers and sort orders for easier assembly if you had a project that was made-up of A LOT of pieces, I did this a while ago for a huge MDF job I did with my first full sheet CNC router.
This was a fun project to do but my shoulders paid for it for several months later due to the repetitive motion I had to do, everything had to be counted and accounted for 3x before shipping via freight!
My first full-sheet CNC router was a Shopbot PRS Alpha, it was also a 5ft x 10 ft but without a tool changer and a bunch of other bells and whistles, it’s night and day compared to the Thermwood I use daily now at CNCROi.com but the operation is basically the same.
CNCs are a lot like driving a car, once you know how to do it, there are a few nuances between different cars but the basic operation is the same, some are manual, some are automatic, some have a bigger engine and so forth, but at the end of the day, there isn’t that much “more” to learn before getting the hang of it.
Lights add a whole new dimension to workpieces, I look forward to doing more lighting time work in the future.
There are lots of cutting tooling options possible with this project if they were so required, for instance, instead of a straight edge, we could have added a chamfer before cutting the pieces out.
Once the entire project is cut out, it’s time to measure things out to make sure everything was cut accurately (it was) and make an inventory of all parts, making sure none are broken, damaged or below spec at CNCROi.com.
When it comes to custom fabrication, a lot of things can be oversaught, so it’s always good to review projects that involve many pieces to make sure everything is right before shipping it out ot the customer who ordered this custom wall light display.
I sell custom tea lights over at SandboxRanch.com if you are intersted for something that makes for a unique gift for any and all occassions.
Above are the offset parts that fit between each of the MDF panels that hold the LED light strips along the edges, this is what produces the effect the customer is after between each panel.
To give you an idea of scale, each table on my CNC router is 5 ft square, so this custom wall light display is a little less than that but not by much, hence cutting it in half all the way through, otherwise, there would have been a lot of wastage of material and as a result, the budget would have had to be increased accordingly.
Everything very much fits like a big sandwich, glue and clamps will make it into one solid piece!
MDF is easy to cut, easy to sand, easy to glue together and easy to paint, if you need anything made out of it, contact CNCROi.com right now!