Hi everyone! I’m doing a demo for a middle / high school and I’m looking for suggestions to show off the XCarve. Any suggestions of cool design / art / “neat” projects I could carve in advance?
I’d like to get students excited about design, art, woodworking, etc and show how an XCarve could supplement other disciplines in school, especially the wood shop (without putting the ship teacher out of business. LOL!)
Thanks for any suggestions! 
Make a tool which would be useful in shop class?
Locking register calipers modeled after H.O. Studley’s — Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable
Drawing it up involves a bit of geometry, and it’s an artifact from an historic toolbox by a Civil War veteran: H. O. Studley Masonic Tool Chest so good for cross-curriculum
(I used F-engrave to engrave the dial)
maybe a bit complicated,
but this is what you might call a full stack STEAM project
I am a fan of boxes 
A version of the poker card box is nice and fairly quick, though you do need hinges to finish it. As well as variations on the fitted lid box or heart box.
These are nice because you can have the students customize them with their own choice of artwork / text for the lids.
The box with spline joints or a box with dovetails is even better as it can fit together off the machine.
I am also a fan of the “Flat Pack” projects. Things that use thin material to jigsaw together larger objects. Like the dear or dinosaurs or various furniture items.
I would think through what Middle-school/Highschool kids are interested in.
Maybe a smart phone stand/dock? (Just about anything from this electronics accessories collection - Electronic Accessories | Inventables)
Mini Arcade Cabinet (using a raspberry Pi)
Customized Sign with School Name/Logo
I think above showing off something cool, they should see this form of digital manufacturing as a way for them to quickly solve problems and come up with new ideas.
Sounds like a great opportunity, Have Fun!
Blair
We (I) took the logo of the department that would house the X-Carves and cerved them out of foam blocks. The top one is 22? inches across, the middle 18?. I also carved one of the school’s mascot images.
That second image of the seal in foam is gorgeous 
Agreed! Super cool! Thanks for the great replies so far!
As in the above mentioned post, I second the arcade machine. This was cut from a single 4’x4’ sheet of 1/2" MDF in about 2 hrs.
do you have any plans for the arcade ?
That’ll certainly work. The one I cut is a modified version of degenetrons’ work. If you Google WeeCade and Degenetrons, you will find the dxf file.
SVG file for Half of arcade cabinet
For this cabinet, I use the Zero Delay Arcade encoder. In my opinion, this is the best little encoder ever made. It is super affordable ($11 on eBay) and it is very dependable.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/251874929586?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true
The method to installing the encoder is easy. In the photos is a diagram of the inputs on the encoder. There is an input for up, down, left, right, and 12 button inputs. All you need to do is take on of the included wire sets, pop in the white connection end to the encoder, and attach the other end to the corresponding control you want.
Take a look at the photos I included of common arcade controls. If you look at the buttons, you will see two common styles. On the left is 2 pin button with built in micro switch, the other is a standard button with an attachable micro switch on it.
All you have to do is take the metal connect ends of each wire set, and plug them in to the metal tabs on the switches. For the 3 pin switch like the one pictured to the right, you will be connecting to the outer two pins and leave the top pin open. The same goes for the micro switches on the joystick
Now all that is left is to plug in the USB wire to the encoder, and plug the USB port into your computer. It is completely plug and play with windows, and will read your arcade controls just as if you plugged in a USB joystick.
But, you will probably want to buy joystick and buttons. Here are a list of online shops for arcade controls that I frequent. They are reputable vendors:
And lastly, here are a couple of my joystick recommendations:
Sanwa JLW - A good, well-rounded joystick
Mag Stick Plus - Has a cool 4-way mode for those classic games like Donkey Kong.
Sanwa JLF - A great joystick for fighter games.
Seimitsu LS- 32 - A great Joystick for vertical shooters.
Zippyy Joystick - If budget is on your mind, this is a good joystick for a cheap price.
I used the Zero Delay i think the I PAC is to expensive lol
I build couple of bartop before but i had to cut the wood manually
I now want to use my xcarve to cut the wood
single controllers cabint
Xin Mo single and dual controllers are great too. They work for PC, Raspberry Pi, and PS3
I think i like this design better, 2 plater controller ? and what size monitor this will take ?
