Model Making with Lasers!
When the shop isn’t humming with customer projects, I like to take some time off and get my hands dirty with some model making… the journey that started CNCROi.com has been a long one and it’s roots are in model making – if you go further back, industrial 3D animation but that’s another story.
I was in South Korea with nothing but a laptop and an eagerness to begin a woodworking shop. I was hit by the model making bug but without any experience other than my industrial 3D animation business I had before I left to go abroad for what was 7 years to travel around the world while I was still young and didn’t need to know where the major hospitals were in each city before departing.
This was among my first models, very easy and straight forward and this ended-up growing into a business that sells models to other people with CNC machines all around the world, led to me publishing 4 books on the subject and – to this day – gets me free advertising around the world from the Globe & Mail to Make Magazine. When you are in a foreign land unable to speak the local language, CNCKing.com is what happened to me (rebranded from WoodMarvels.com to expand beyond just wood models).
So, how is this stuff made? First the design is built virtually in a CAD-like program where all the testing is performed. I have accuracy down to a fraction of a mm which does come in handy when you have a series of interlocking parts with movement such as the model below.
Once the model is tested, it’s time to build the parts out and make a 3D assembly animation.
Then the final step is actually making it in real life! Remember I was in Korea (then China, Philippines, Australia, Japan etc… ) so up until a few years ago, I wasn’t able to test my models in the real world but I had friends with CNC lasers all around the world, if they found a fault, I fixed it! Now that I have my very own awesome model making laser – the only Speedy 400 flexx in Canada – I can share my experience to a whole new level!
Notice the burn marks around the front edges? I do thing right, I put masking over the board, which means once I peel it off, all the soot is also removed. Way easier than sanding each piece one at a time and gives a far higher quality finish as well. Spend a bit of money on a fantastic machine (I have a vacuum table, 2HP extraction + gas kit pushing 25-50 psi on the head where the laser is cutting). Imagine if I didn’t invest this money – you’d end-up with models looking like what you typically see at flea markets. That isn’t want I want.
After the pieces are taken off the bed and the mask taken off, add a bit of glue and it’s all done! The glue dries clear but I also remove some extra (why not?) to have a better finish.
The results speak for themselves…
How much fun is this stuff? Watch the video!
Oh yeah, since we are having so much fun, here’s another one!
Can’t get enough? Here’s another… will take me a few years but I should have over 300 soon enough!