Several years ago my mom bought a tide clock for my dad. At the time, the company didn't have the proper frame for it, so my mom went out and bought a shipwheel frame. The wheel didn't fit that well, so I thought it would be fun to make a better frame for the clock. Finally, I decided to make a frame for the tide clock on a large robotic router called ShopBot.
First I made a design in Pro Desktop, a CAD program. Then I did a test of this design in foam.
http://chadconway.pbwiki.com/f/trideb1.dra
I did not like the original design with regard to the depth that the side was rounded. I decided to reduce the depth to a quarter of an inch instead of a half inch. I changed my design and cut it out in foam again.
http://chadconway.pbwiki.com/f/tideb2.dra
I liked this design so I made a model using some scrap wood to make sure the shop bot could cut it without any problems, since the foam is much less dense than wood.
After this test, I made the backing out of a piece of pine that I had planed.
It came out very nicely so I proceeded to apply a coat of polyurethant to it and attach it to the tideclock.
The back came out great. My dad was really happy with it. This was a real achievement for me in learning how to use the ShopBot. In just a few short months, I learned how to make many adjustments to the ShopBot, even changing router bits in between cuts. This taught me a lot about how to bring a design from concept to completion through CAD.
Questions
Name of project- Tide Clock
Who worked on the project- Myself
Goal of project- To create a frame for a tide clock.
What was your role in the project- Design and production
What role did CAD play in the project- Facilitated the design process. When I started the project, I developed the design in CAD and was able to show my mom what the finished product would look like before I started. This saved time so I wouldn't have to make several different frames.
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