We leveled up!

Exciting times for us as we level up our toolset: we received a Revopoint Miraco Plus 3D scanner and a Shaper Origin handheld CNC router with accessories!

We have a long list of projects lined up for these but first we’re getting to know these tools which both have steep learning curves. In the picture above I have been testing with some on-tool CAD design like slots and circles to test things like helix cuts, auto trace and the auto-pass features. It all seems relatively straightforward until you get to positive or negative offsets doing what etc.

The next test is a workflow we never did before: the dash of our Jeep has hardwood veneer which is splintering. This is on a curved surface. We could 3D scan this but then in CAD we need to unwrap it to a flat surface in order to cut the veneer, which is a couple steps further than we dare to take. So instead we made an old fashioned pattern of plastic patterning foil, put that flat on the table, marked it with two circles in random spots and took a picture. We imported this picture in Fusion as a canvas and calibrated that with the measured distance between the two markers. Now we sketched the lines, curves and splines with CAD tools and exported that using the plugin from Shaper Tools and uploaded it to the CNC router. Hard to believe this will work but the 3D scanning is way more crazy than that so we’ll find out soon.

Real projects we have lined up is making more ceiling panels without making any more patterns, then redesigning and replacing the cabin soles as well as the pilothouse windows. Also we want to try some funny puzzle piece joints instead of time consuming scarf joints and many more things that come up. To be continued…