Board to Be Wild

Project Overview

For this project, Board to Be Wild, students aimed to design, CNC, laser-cut, pour resin on, and polish a custom cutting board. This project largely centered on the woodworking aspect of engineering, introducing new skills and tools to learn. At the start of the project, each student received a large and rough wooden slab, with dimensions 9.125" x 12"; I leveled and sanded the wood by utilizing the drum sander, jointer, and planar---all of which are essential tools of the woodworking room. Next, creating a CNC design in CorelDraw, I employed the CNC Shopbot and ran two distinct profile toolpaths.  Concerning the juicer channel, I did a 2D profile on the line, with a .125" cutting depth. As for the cut-through handle, I ran the CNC machine on the inside with a .75" cut depth. After sanding the newly CNC-ed board through the drum sander, I utilized the laser cutter with a traced bitmap design to create a deep engraving: I ran the same job 4-5 times without moving the board to achieve a satisfactory depth. Next, I applied a hot-glue wall to separate the outline from the main body (both of which were painted with a base layer of clear resin), mixed two colors for the resin, and poured them accordingly (done over several days). Finally, for polishing, I used a series of grits, ranging from coarse to fine, on an orbital sander; I ran the sander on the top and bottom of the board until it was smooth, before watering the entire board down. Completing a similar process of orbital sanding the next day, I finished by generously applying mineral oil to the board; this would serve as a water-repellent and add a natural gloss. Overall, this project involved new concepts such as deep engraving, creating CNC design files/tool paths, as well as pouring resin. Students ultimately grasped how to use fundamental woodworking tools, including the following: the band-saw, the table saw, the router, the CNC machine, the orbital sander, the jointer, the planar, and the drum sander.

Using Three Types of Sanding Tools

Final Product

Problems Encountered and Solutions

• After applying the hot-glue wall to the cutting board (done during the resin process), I found that it was quite difficult to scrape it. I used several chisels and flathead screwdrivers to remove it; however, there was still hot-glue residue around the edge. Ultimately, to solve this issue, I carefully ran the board through the drum sander, rotating the handle by 1/8 of a turn, as opposed to the regular 1/4. While this sanded off the excess resin from the outline and removed the vast majority of the hot glue, there was still a thin white outline that remained in the final product. If I were to experience the same issue in the future, I would use a heat gun to soften the glue, before scraping it off.

• While sanding the inside of the handle, part of the cutting board's backside started chipping. I initially smeared wood paste (sawdust and wood glue in a 1:1 ratio) on top of the crevice to seal it; however, when I started polishing the back, it completely fell off. I used stronger glue and a glue accelerator to piece the board and the chip back together.