MK3 CNC Bobcat: Not Ready for Prime Time (yet!)

David Newman has a really cool MK3 Bobcat on WoodMarvels.com so I wanted to make it available as a CNC project. Here is the assembly animation to refresh your mind.

MK3 Bobcat: 3D Assembly Animation (720HD)

So with the new ShopBot Desktop, I converted the files over, make the t-bones and scaled it up… t-bones are needed because a round bit cannot make inner square parts and scaling it up allows the model to stay “mostly” intact quality wise even if I am cutting it using the same wood thickness as the model would be available for CNC. Here are the results (this is the second version after further refinements were completed).

So… you notice the wood is ROUGH! This is due to several reasons… one is I bought very cheap wood which splinters and I’m not a big fan of sanding. Second is the bit is about ready to hit the dust (it’s worn out making the cutting rough) and third, model needs a few more refinements. If you can get over the looks, you will notice that most of the pieces fit rather well together, when testing stuff on the ShopBot Desktop, my sole focus is testing the model – looks come secondary as this isn’t meant for any child to play with. That being said, when you got a sharp bit, good wood and a clean design – it can really make some incredible looking stuff with minimal to no sanding.

As you can see, CNC has many advantages but also disadvantages to lasers but it does have an important place I believe in just about every shop out there, the cost of entry and ease of use are a big positive. I know when I settle down somewhere, I’d want both to test and refine models with… it’s great fun developing projects for both technologies!