This project was very interesting in that I had more guidelines than before, but I also had to be creative with it. My task was to create a maze using the CNC router, and it had to be 3/4 in thick, 1/4 in deep lines, and there had to be a 3/8 in border. What was up to me was to create the inner design. I started with my path in Inventor, and stemmed the rest of the maze off the original path. Then, in order to get it ready to be cut out, I put the file into Fusion 360, setting up the stock box to the middle and making sure the tool path was correct.
Once the file was correctly set up, I put the file onto a flash drive and brought it down to the CNC router. The first step in setting it up was jogging the bit into place over the mid-point I had previously marked off. We had to jog the bit to the correct spot, zero out the x and the y, and then we used the sensor to find the z and zero it out. Once that was set up, we started the router and it cut it out.
Once the maze was completely cut out, all that was left was to laser engrave my name on it. This engraving was set up correctly and didn't melt my foam! Once the laser was done, I had a finished marble maze!
The things that I learned in this project were and will be very useful to me. The most important thing that this project taught me was how to use Fusion 360, which I had to use for the CNC mill as well. In addition to this, I also learned how to more effectively use the Inventor software, something that I will undoubtedly be using again in the near future. Finally, I learned that it pays off to work at breakneck speed, because I was used as an example for this project, and I was also one of the first ones to finish, if not the first.