When I lent my services to a collegue who was working on a film about 12 years ago, I was introduced to the world of cnc. I remember watching this huge machining centre milling out a slab of mdf and turning it into a fantastic set of gears. I knew that it would have taken me hours to achieve the same thing with traditional power tools. I decided then that I would invest in a cnc router for my own business Oxenham Design. At that time I could turn on a computer, but even to check email seemed like a crazy set of operations. I persevered and learned every piece of relevant software I could get my hands on. I am now fortunate enough to be using Vectric's ASPIRE software, and Techno cnc routers, which has helped us to create some amazing projects, both in part, or in full. I thought that this blog would be a great place to share "behind the scenes" adventures with the software, materials and equipment we use, as well as the projects we build.

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Sometimes the 11th hour can feel like 24!

With the light and tables nearing completion, the only major component left to do was the table trays. These got a simple, repeating, Hockey Canada logo graphic. I had these printed on vinyl, and we stuck them onto the trays that form the bottom of the display boxes.

 There were quite a few steps to the table tops, and I ended up color coding the drawings as not to get confused between all the sections!



I am quite grateful that we have our Techno cnc router. That I can draw any shape, or angle on the computer, toolpath it in Aspire, and wait for our best employee to machine it out of whatever material I jam under it's gantry! Even though the old days of layout/ skill saw/ jig saw and sander are miles behind me, I can certainly appreciate what automation brings to the table! Of course, it was about this time that I pondered how well the welded steel table frames were fabricated. We were supplied the rough dimensions, and I allowed for even more room, but with the actual frames being in Ottawa, I guess "surprise" could be the install word of the day!

In the end, it always gets done! Even though the driver had to wait for about 30 minutes for us to finish up the last minute details, we finished pretty much right on time. We helped him load our stuff, than waved a goodbye for his trip to Ottawa that night.



 The production company sent us these images of the install. They were very happy, and so were we! I think the light looks amazing! I wish I could have seen it in person!
8)
JWO

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