This week I tested out a joint design that I am hoping to use to connect the base to arm and arm to head of a lamp I am designing for light and interactivity. I decided to go with a dogbone design created to hide as much of the joint as possible. The vertical piece of wood slides into the base from the bottom using the weight of the base to hold everything in place. Miraculously, a tolerance of .01 ended up resulting in a very satisfying tension fit where the base needs to be pushed down with force onto the vertical piece but cant be pulled apart without lots of back and forth wiggling. The end result includes just a little bit of empty space at the side of the joint. In the next version, I want the outside edge of lamp arm to be flush with the base perimeter. I am planning on insetting the bottom of the arm and using the routing table to chamfer the edges of the arm so that it can slide in without having any empty space visible in the joint. Additionally, the joint is much larger than necessary. I designed this with a .25 inch bit but it can be reduced to a .125 inch bit with the dogbones smaller and closer together.

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This week I created a test plate with dichroic tiles arranged in different configurations to do some testing for a light and interactivity project (making a light fixture). I first created a file in vectorworks with pockets and cutouts for insetting tiles and letting light pass through. Then imported the file into mastercam, set up the pocket and profile parameters for a 1/8th inch bit, then generated g-code and saved it to a usb.

Next, I inserted the USB into the CNC, screwed my plate into the spoilboard, fit the bit into the collet, zeroed the axis, put the vacuum cover over the bit, and cut the piece.

The piece came out exactly as expected, although it had some burrs that needed to be sanded off. I always use the standard plywood feeds and speeds for PVC, I am sure I could get a cleaner finish tweaking the values a bit or using a finishing pass but it is really quick to sand. I was able to gain the information I was looking for for my light fixture design from the test piece.