Hi all.
Somewhere in this forum I stumbled across a cutting board the rim of the kitchen sink with a hole in the middle.
I am hoping to replicate that by creating a cutting board that has a lip on the bottom that fits snug in the sink.
The problem is, the sink is an irregular shape. It is somewhat square with rounded edges. Does anyone have any idea how I would go about measuring this so that I can cut it on the CNC?
Thanks
My first thought would be to contact the manufacturer, they may have a builders profile for it.
Another method would be to use a piece of cardboard or thick paper. Cutout the size of what you want and trim it to the correct shape.
Then either using a separate piece of paper upon which you can transfer the shape you’ve made, or just do it on top of the piece that you’ve shaped, use a pencil and ruler to divide it up into squares. You’ll end up with the shape you want, overlaid with a grid.
You can then create a grid in whatever program you’re using to design your jobs (Easel, VCarve etc) and then as best you can, freehand the design. Once you’ve got the best approximation, smooth out the curves so that the overall design looks ok and you’ll be pretty close. Just make sure the grid squares are the same size as the ones on your paper template.
If you’ve got some old ply or mdf, it’d be worth test cutting it to try things out, but you should be able to get pretty close with some trial and error.
Let me know if this doesn’t make sense…
Once you have a template you can use your XCarve as a digitizer.
Secure your template to the wasteboard. Jog your XCarve so the bit is at a point on the template. Write down the machine coordinates. Jog to the next point on the template. Write down the machine coordinates. Jog to…
These points can then be entered into a drawing package of your choice and joined with lines/curves.
I did this when I needed to duplicate an instrument panel for a friends glider. It was slow work but did a good job.
D’oh! Never thought of that…
Take a picture of it with the lens perfectly centered and as high as you can get it. Import that image and trace it to get a vector that matches the profile. Then take a few measurements and add reference lines of the same length in your drawing program that you can use to scale the new vector to the correct size. This won’t produce a tight tolerance exact match, but it should be really close and adequate for what you are going for.
Hah I like that… to make the idea even simpler, just cut a piece of cardboard to capture the edge, and use tinfoil on that.
I like David’s idea and I think I can simplify it. Just cut the shape you want with white plain paper (tape some together if needed). Trial and error until you get the shape you want. Then set that on a dark background/table/etc. snap a picture and import into Easel. Once in Easel, select outline/outside cut then size that shape to the size you need. Cut.
you’re going to need to learn how to use CAD. Cardboard Aided Design.
can you probe something and capture points in 3d space?
