CNC Game Set
We were given a simple prompt, “Design a game table and chairs with one 4’x8’ sheet of plywood.” We were given the freedom to choose whatever game we wanted and however many chairs we wanted, while keeping in mind we had only one sheet of plywood to work with. Seems easy enough…right?
GAME POSTER
DESIGN INSPO:
The first step in any project is the research phase. I needed to figure out what what design aspects I wanted to incorporate. After gathering som inspiration, I know I wanted to have a rocking element to the chair and add some type of soft good to either the chairs of the game board itself
GAME CHOICE:
After the design research, I needed to figure out with game I wanted to build. My first choice was a game called Ludo, which is a four player game.
PROTOTYPE 1:
I began making a rough prototype as to what I thought I wanted my game to look like. I wanted to incorporate a soft good element with the plywood.
What I like about this first design is the fabric seat which draped across the chair. For the table, there were four distinct areas where the player could sit. Although I liked my initial design and game choice, I needed to keep in mind the limited material I had, one 4’x8’ plywood sheet. I decided to choose and new game that would be two players only so I only had to make two chairs.
NEW GAME & CHAIR DESIGN:
In order to have enough materials for my game and chairs, I decided to switch to a two player game called Sling Puck Game, which involves using an elastic band to sling your pucks to your opponent’s side before that they can do the same to you. I also decided to explore a difference chair design.
PROTOTYPE 2:
In order to have enough materials for my game and chairs, I decided to switch to a two player game called Sling Puck Game, which involves using an elastic band to sling your pucks to your opponent’s side before that they can do the same to you. I also decided to explore a difference chair design.
COMPUTER NUMERICAL CONTROL (CNC):
This whole project revolved around using a CNC machine. During the beginning of this project, we were set to use our TECHNO LC Series 4896 machine. The drill bit we used is a .25 diameter compression bit. However, towards the end of the project our CNC was upgraded to a newer Laguna SWiFT, which I will show later in the process.
TECHNO LC Series 4896:
There are two main types of motors in these CNC machines, servo motors and step motors. Servo motors always know its position even if the cut is stopped and started. Steppo motors are unable to take the drill bit to its original position after the cut is stopped and started. The two main cuttings paths these machines follow are conventional and climbing.
FINAL DESIGN SKETCH:
I decided to abandon the knee chair design because I saw too many complications and it wasn’t working out the way I had hoped. I decided to take a step back and remember the my core design traits for the chair. I wanted the chair to be minimalist with some type of rocking feature so the chair didn’t have to always be stationary.
In order to give the chair a rocking feature, I wanted to make the legs curved at the bottom. As for the backing and seat, I wanted to continue the simplicity that allowed all four pieces to fit together easily and be taken apart easily. As you will see next, I later decided to round out all the hard edges to match more with the game table.
FINAL DESIGN / SCALED DOWN FINAL MODEL:
After many design trial and errors, I finally landed on chosen look. I created the layout using a computer program called Rhino 3D over a 4’x8’ template, the same size of our plywood sheet. I downsized the final layout and layered it out onto a sheet of foam poster board to make sure the pieces all fit together.
NEW CNC (Laguna SWiFT) / FINAL CUT:
After many design trial and errors, I finally landed on chosen look. I created the layout using a computer program called Rhino 3D over a 4’x8’ template, the same size of our plywood sheet. I downsized the final layout and layered it out onto a sheet of foam poster board to make sure the pieces all fit together.
SANDING / GLUING:
Now that the CNC cut out all of the pieces, it was time for me to put in some elbow grease. I had to sand all my pieces down, including the edges and faces. After I finished all the sanding, I had to glue two seat pieces together so the chair could hold more weight.
ADDING EDGES TO ROUNDED CORNERS / TEST FITTING:
Once all the sanding and gluing was complete, I needed to start test fitting my pieces together. The drill bit cuts in a circular rotation, meaning we were never going to get sharp corners in our final pieces, which is what we needed to fit the pieces tougher. Before I could test fit, I needed to use a square chisel to sharpen the corners.
FINAL GLUING / ELASTIC BAND:
This whole top part of the game isn’t meant to be taken apart so I glued the whole thing together. Once it was glued, I drilled holes and added a chamfer to the sides so I could feed the elastic band through. I made sure each side had the same tension and then cut off the excess elastic band ends.
FINISHING TOUCHES / POLYURETHANE
Polyurethane is a clear protective liquid coating that is added to wood to seal and waterproof it. I added nails to the table top to make a separation between the polyurethane covered wood and the table top surface to make sure nothing stuck together. I did two coats of poly to make sure the wood was fully covered and properly sealed.
