Prompt: Identify 2-3 examples of products that make use of CNC milling in the process of creating the product. Look closely at the product and the specific production processes involved.
Youth America’s Cup Trophy
- What is is?
- This trophy was part of a project I got to work on around the Youth America’s Cup in 2013, which featured the best emerging sailors in the world. The trophy was designed and fabricated by Jeff Tiedeken, who is a badass aerospace fabricator that builds ridiculous things in his free time. The base of the award shows contours of the bay, over which the race took place; the wing is a miniature replica of the fixed ‘wings’ that the AC45 boats used for propulsion.
- How is CNC milling used?
- CNC milling was used cutting contours of the under ocean topography out of a 110lb block of solid aluminum and was also used to replicate the wing out of aluminum.
- Would the product design be possible without CNC milling?
- The contour lines may have been doable with a manual mill and a lot of patience and time. The sail, on the other hand, due to the compound curves would have been near impossible.
- What materials are used in the product?
- Milled aluminum, acrylic, carbon fiber.
- If you were to replicate the design, what do you think the workflow looks like from design to prototype?
- Generate CAD model from available government data sources
- Simplify topography to make it more easily millable and reduce complexity
- Program the cut paths for the topography
- Cut the giant block of aluminum
- Model the wing in a cad program
- Program tool paths for the wing
- Cut the wing
- Anodize the wing and base
- Laser-cut acrylic to fit the contours of the base
- Assemble
- Is the product parametric in any way? If not, could it be and how?
- No, not really because this design generally relies on existing objects and geometries, and trying to replicate them as closely as possible.
Apple Macbook
- How is CNC milling used?
- Since 2008, apple began milling the body of their laptops, out of a solid block of aluminum. During the process, 90% or more of the material is milled away during 13 operations. The aluminum scraps are then collected and recycled into future laptop bodies.
- Would the product design be possible without CNC milling?
- No. Due to the complexity of the cuts, and the volume, this process would not be sustainable through hand milling. Before this innovation, the laptop cases typically were pressed into shape. However, the current milling process creates a lighter, more robust, and more streamlined final product.
- What makes the product unique?
- At this point, the solid body construction isn’t as unique; however in 2008, when it launched, it was pretty revolutionary.
- What materials are used in the product?
- A solid block of aluminum. Some plastic inserts are used at the joints to ensure that the tolerance around the screws secure.
- If you were to replicate the design, what do you think the workflow looks like from design to prototype?
- Take apart a laptop, and remove all of the computer components until just the shell was left
- Carefully measure everything, and recreate in a cad program
- Work on tool path programming. Based on the complexity of the design, the piece may have to be moved, and the cuts be broken up into many multiple passes.
- Round & polish edges
- Clean and finish the aluminum; it is likely anodized.
