CNC Foamies ...

[GPW]

My good friend Vinney @ NOGC has a Big CNC machine , and uses it to cut out guitar parts for his Lutherie business... Many times I’ve watched it work and thought( dreamed) of how to cut out foam trailer parts , parts that would have ALL the cutouts ,doors windows ,recesses for hard attachment points , spar attachments , shelf and cabinet rabbets , wiring routes ... Basically EVERYTHING cut out on the machine ... PLUS have all the individual parts just “snap" together , like a big “kit” (self aligning ) ... Seems the concept is perfectly feasible , The complicated bit is designing EVERYTHING to be cut and aligned for a precision fit .. The drawing software is Complicated at best , and although I can draw like a whiz with a pencil , I’m totally befuddled with these drawing/tool programs ...
Would be nice to just take the parts , add a little glue and , hey, out pops a trailer ... foam cuts easily on a machine like this so it wouldn’t take up much expensive “machine time “ with an efficient tool path ... $$$...
A Daunting project , but unlimited commercial potential ...

[GuitarPhotog]

As you say, the big effort is in doing the drafting and CNC programming. I just doesn't seem worth it if you are making only one trailer.

Might be a cool idea for a mass-produced "kit" trailer

<Chas>

[eamarquardt]

Southern California Teardrops uses a CNC router to cut out all their plywood panels.

Cheers,

Gus

[GPW]

Yeah ... it’s only practical if you’re making quite a few of them ... It would have to be a business venture , or one expensive hobby to make just one ... sure would be cool to have everything fit together like that ... Just dreamin’ I guess...

[atahoekid]

Dave McCam had his side walls cnc'd. He's thinking about selling a kit with the walls and instructions. Great build

Here's the thread:http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=35081

[pete42]

wow just think tongue and groove foam snap together with glue cover with canvas done.

allan needs to make a tongue cutter and a grove cutter he seems to have more drive than I do.

let's see a round over cutter, a tongue cutter, a groove cutter, what else do we need?

pete

[GPW]

Pete , shouldn’t even need that ... the machine will cut round overs , etc. ... Could be a QUICK assembly huh ?

[eaglesdare]

wow just think tongue and groove foam snap together with glue cover with canvas done.

allan needs to make a tongue cutter and a grove cutter he seems to have more drive than I do.

let's see a round over cutter, a tongue cutter, a groove cutter, what else do we need?

pete

what more do we need? you need to come over and help me build my second one!!!!!!!!!

[vtx1029]

It depends on what software your friend has, but you really only need a 2d drawing for making a foamie. It's not that hard to convert a PDF into a dfx drawing and scale to size. So if you can accurately draw your stuff and convert it to a PDF it's possible to use it for cut vectors or trace the lines in his software... It takes a while to get some programs to do what you want them to but once you do it can be quicker then drawing by hand.

Someone talked about letting the CNC do round overs and such, while that is possible it's most likely much faster to use a shaped cutter and a single tool path vs the CNC using a ball nose cutter making the radius.

I'm currently building a 4'x4' CNC router that I hope some day to build a teardrop with, with my software i can flip 4x8 sheets making it possible to cut full sheets. The current plan is to make a wood teardrop cut 98% on the CNC mostly made from glued plywood. My plan is to use as little fasteners as possible by usining interlocking joints, it should be fairly light weight being 70% or so of each sheet will be removed making room for insulation.

[GPW]

VTX , he’s using Rhino 4.0 ... I have to investigate this process further ... Thanks ...

Please take some pictures while you’re doing yours ...