Make Complex Wood models With Laser Cutting
Altho we at Macoma Tech are specialized in 3D Printing Manufacturing. We decided to do something different for a change.
One of the customer requirements was to make a house model but only using wood and laser cutting.
This was the first time we made a wooden house model so it was a good challenge but we made a great model on our first try.
Below is the process of how we made it:-
Step 1:- 3D Design
The manufacturing strategy was straight forward. It was to make the whole model in 3mm MDF with laser cutting. If there are any complex parts like furniture and curves then those can be 3d printed as an exception.
3D design was already provided by the client. However, it was a SketchUp file which is always a drag when it comes to manufacturing. Hence we had to do some file fixing and re-modelling of the design so we can make the laser-cutting file. This itself was half of the work.
The laser cutting file we made in Rhino software which made the process more faster.
The above model had to be cut in half so only 50% of above model had to be manufactured. Size of the model is still 1.6m in length which is a big model for display.
Step 2:- Laser Cutting
We cut around 7 sheets of MDF to cut all the parts. Large parts on the industrial machine and small parts on the diode laser machine.
For ease of assembly, we added some recesses on the base layout which shows the exact alignment of the walls. It also provided extra mechanical strength with glue joints.
Step 3:- Assembly
There were a lot of parts so we had to search in a whole pile of MDF blocks and find the location according to the 3D Design. Most of the parts had good fitting and few of them had to be modified.
Step 4:- Adding Details
At first we thought to make the arch wall with multiple pieces of curved wood and stacking them on top of each other. While this may have sounded easier but it was a hassle, time-consuming, and imperfect way of doing things.
So we did some cutout on the MDF wall which enabled it to bend easily. I like this technique and made our life easier.
The client wanted to add some details like the wheelchair which was a 3D part so we converted it into a simplified 2D version from laser cutting.
Step 5:- Furniture & Details
Finally, we added some furniture to fill the inner details of the rooms. This includes chairs, sofa, tables, shelves, beds, and a treadmill.
We were getting close to the deadline so we cheated our way to using 3D printing furniture and by the next day morning, we had all of our pieces ready.
Step 6:- Ceiling
The ceiling was supposed to be a separate independent piece that has all the details of the ceiling of other floors attached to them.
Here there is a section of cutout and line patterns like in the model design.
On the top of the ceiling, we added some thick 18mm MDF structure to give some strength. Since the ceiling was just 3mm thick and its length of 1.6m made the part flimsy.
Since the inside if the ceiling will be facing towards the people during the display so it was not a problem in aesthetics.
Conclusion
Finished. We completed our project after attaching on the thick MDF base and it was delivered on the same day.
This is the biggest house model we made and it led me to appreciate the technology of laser cutting. The machine was able to cut this whole model in just 2 days. Something which wouldn't be possible in just 3D printing.
That being said, laser cutting and 3d printing combined can lead to a much better quality of model. The Flat parts of the model can be made in laser cutting and complex geometry is made in 3D printing.
Take care and keep on building stuff!
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Sultan Morbiwala is the Co-founder of Macoma Tech. It is a manufacturing company which is specialized in 3D printing. We make custom products like Sculptures, Scaled Models, Engineering parts & Corporate Awards.
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