This week, we learned about using CNC machines to cut materials, and using molding and casting to create objects. I decided to CNC a sign for my friend and create a mold to make chocolate ducks.
I decided to create a sign for my roomate's boyfriend since she's been asking for one, and I decided I wanted it to be something that you might find in a 9-year-old's room. I went for a soccer ball and his name in comic sans. The design was actually a bit tricky to make, and I ended up installing Adobe Illustrator to be able to do it well, as I had to make an initial hexagon, then clone it in a certain way, and finally hide all of the grid that wasn't contained in the circle of the ball. The final design can be seen below:
The process of transferring this to the CNC was a lot more difficult than I expected. At first I wasn't sure why the route was not calculating correctly, and it ended up being that I didn't have big enough letters, so I expanded those. Then I went through and assigned different depth cuts to different parts, allowing a bit of an image to be visible in the wood. I then set up the CNC machine and went ahead with the cut! It ended up taking about 5 minutes total, and the cut quality was pretty good! I think the only thing I might have done differently next time would be using a nicer type of wood to allow a clearer image.
I decided I wanted to make a chocolate version of a rubber duck, so I started by making a mold of the duck. I used sorta-clear because I want the result to be edible, and started by setting up a container for the duck to swim (drown) in. I repurposed the FlyBy container I ate chili out of and added a bit of duct tape and cardboard to make sure it was big enough. I then attached the duck to a popsicle stick and after making sure I had enough room, poured in the molding mixture. Here are some pictures of the process:
Next, while waiting for the mold to set, I bought some dark chocolate. Once the mold was ready, I removed the duck, cleaned it out a bit, and then added some melted chocolate. Here's what the tasty finished product looks like!
