Simon's Cat

Post date: Jan 1, 2016 9:57:03 PM

If you are not familiar with Simon's Cat, it's a great series of animated films. If you like/own/or appreciate cats in any way, I would suggest checking out the videos.

Here's what my Simon's Cat looks like:

He likes to hang on to metallic things thanks to his magnetic paws. :)

I started by tracing a bitmap of Simon's Cat using Inkscape, and then used iDraw to scale and adjust as needed. I then printed him onto card-stock. The design was then exported as an SVG, and brought it into Fusion 360 to create the CAM.

To build the cat, I started with 1/4" MDF and used Mod Podge to glue down the printed image. I then used Mod Podge again to seal the top surface, and cut him out on the CNC. I had to go around with a utility blade to clean up the edges a little (the card stock became a bit frayed on the edges, but the MDF was nice and clean). Perhaps if I had a better suited bit this step could be avoided. (I tried a 1/8" downcut bit but it worked well for only about half of a cat. Perhaps it was not great quality.)

I then used the CNC to cut two pockets to hold magnets in the paws (I used Easel App to make this simple cut file), glued them in with epoxy, and used Mod Podge again to completely seal the sides and back. Here is a view of the agents in the paws: