Rainforest Model

Objectives

  • Create a realistic model of a rainforest

Process

  • Cut base from 3mm plywood with jigsaw
  • Built terrain with spackle
  • Glued dirt to base, sealed with watered-down glue
  • Painted dirt and rock with airbrush
  • Built trees from wire and clay
    • Added texture to trunk with resin sand medium
    • Painted trunk with airbrush
    • Glued leaves cut from cardstock and then painted green
  • Built smaller plants from cardstock and wire
    • Painted with airbrush, then glued to base
  • Decorated clearing in the middle
    • Added static grass in the center
    • Made flowers from cut, painted construction paper
  • Added extra foliage with moss and static grass
  • Made a monkey from wire and clay, and parrots from cardstock

Conclusions

  • I am very pleased with how the scenery looks
  • Using paper to make the plants worked very well

Nativity Scene

Objectives

  • Create christmas ornament as gifts for relatives
  • Build process should be scalable so many can be made

Process

  • Stable and manger designed in Rhino
  • CNC toolpath for stable programmed in Fusion 360
  • Stock for milling cut from 2×6 with jigsaw
  • Workpiece milled with â…œ inch end mill at slow feedrate
  • Stable finished with sanding, wood stain, and varnish
  • Figures inside stable molded from air-dry clay
    • Looks more organic than 3D printed people
  • Painted with acrylic paint and sealed with varnish
  • Star in stable milled from brass on CNC machine
    • Used very slow feedrate with .8 mm end mill
  • Finished with filing and polishing
CNC toolpath in Fusion360
Brass stock after milling star

Conclusions

  • I am pleased with how these ornaments turned out
    • I will use clay again in the future as an alternative to 3D printing
  • I was able to make seven to give as gifts
    • Once the first one was done, I was able to make the rest in batches
    • This process made the painting of the figures much more efficient

Colgate Ornament

Objectives

  • Create a professional looking ornament of the Colgate University logo as a gift for my sister, a Colgate student

Process

  • Vector designed in Inkscape, based off of raster reference
  • Extruded (added depth) in Rhino
  • CNC-routed out of 3mm plywood
  • Sanded, then airbrushed and hand painted
  • Sealed with a matte varnish

Reflection

  • Looks good, but more sanding would have improved the finish
Final ornament
SVG design
Rhino render