From: Fabber, Paul Zank, on December 20th, 2009
Project Brief: I thought this project that I did not long ago for the TV show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition might be a good example of the kinds of things ‘Fabbers’ using CNC tools can do for ‘Makers’ with an idea for a project they want cut or machined. I was contacted to see if I would help with the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (EM:HE) house for the Girard family in Voluntown Connecticut. It would be my ninth project for EM:HE (see my previous Project Report) and it would be my first time working with Billy Roberts, an EM:HE production designer. It would also be Billy’s first experience with CNC and digital fabrication. Ty Pennington had recommended me to Billy. Almost all of my own fabber work has come as a direct result of a recommendation.
Least I should forget to mention this later, doing an EM:HE house is not for the faint of heart. The schedule is ridiculous; things change constantly; on site working conditions are poor; and failure, for any reason, is not an option.
 Line drawing of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house for Girard family in Voluntown, CT. Project Scope: The EM:HE room was for a little girl named Hannah. Her father nicknamed her Snowflake and that was to be the theme of the room. Billy and I met to explore what could be developed for the room. I brought about two dozen 8 x 10 pictures of other projects I had done. I selected the pictures to try to show as many different types of CNC work as possible. One never knows what might “click” in a customer’s imagination. Billy spent quite a bit of time looking at each picture and asked questions about several. I always feel better when a customer asks questions. It shows that they are willing to communicate openly.
Since I knew the theme was snowflakes, I also brought some clip art of snowflakes. Billy wanted a table with snowflakes cut into the skirt. He drew a couple of curves showing what the skirt should look like and where the snowflake should be. He then asked if I could do an oversized snowflake headboard that would be the focal point for the room as well as false shutters with snowflakes.
I asked if they had a drawing of the room. Billy had a line drawing of the overall house (below). Hannah’s room was part of one of the towers. Not having an actual drawing was going to haunt us later. I went back home to start the design process.
Fabrication Notes: Designing Billy’s table was straight forward. The only challenge was that it was going to be made of ¾” MDF which meant the legs needed special attention to make them strong enough for a child’s room and still elegant. Billy reviewed the perspective preview below and the table was ready for final design details.
 Design for table with snowflake.  Shape chosen for snowflake pattern. We went through several snowflake designs but finally settled on the one below. It is almost 7 feet across and it was a compromise of level of detail, strength, and machine time to cut it.
We finally got a dimensioned, detail drawing of the room. Much to our surprise, there were five windows instead of three and there was very little wall space. We still didn’t know how tall the windows were going to be because the special order windows were being produced at the same time that we were making the furniture. Since we didn’t know how tall the windows were going to be we could only make oversize “panels” for the false shutters and cut them to size on site.
 The placement of the windows, and the need to get good video footage of Hannah as she opened the door to her room, dictated the location of the bed and the size of the headboard.. A toy chest behind the headboard provided storage, a place to sit in front of the window, and a solid anchor for the 60lb snowflake.
 Preview drawing of headboard in 3D. The use of preview drawings was key to making the design, fabrication, and install happen over a period of just a few days. It allowed all of the stake holders to see what was happening, when it was happening.
The results were spectacular but not “over the top” like some EM:HE rooms. Billy got what he wanted from the CNC work and he blended it into the rest of the room. His selection of additional furniture, accessories and colors made the room “pop”. Hannah got a dream bedroom.
  
By: Jacqueline J. Bosley
Project Brief: The Cartesian Robot Job that was posted on the 100 K Garage Board by a Maker from Chicago Illinois.
Project Scope: The project was a very straight forward, requiring us to only cut the customer-supplied drawing files. After reviewing the files and noticing that there were several cuts and holes that were too small to be cut on our ShopBot, we decided to cut this project on our 60W 24″x36″ laser cutter. Yes folks, we have a laser cutter too!
Materials: We used 1/2″ thick MDF board. Because the base was slightly larger than what our laser would cut, it was cut on our ShopBot using a 1/4″ compression bit.
Fabrication Notes: We were merely the Fabber on this project, not the design and drawing analyst, so we simply imported the customers DXF file into Corel x4 for cutting. The only issue we had with the cutting was a strange, random hole that cut in the process. This was due to the file that was given to us by the customer
Cost: The total cost for the MDF board was $12.00 and I charged the customer $85.00 for the cutting, which worked out to approximately $1.75 per minute of laser time. Shipping was done by Flat Rate Priority Mail in the amount o 10.00, which the customer paid.
We have posted a video of this project being cut out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At9-afL4Te4
Project Brief: Develop a line of fun furniture and art utilizing the CNC router.
 Monkeys Workshop Bed Heads Project Scope: I (Jason Berghauer) am employed by LGM, www.lgm3d.com , a company focused on architectural visualization. We have in our shop, a ShopBot PRT Alpha with a special 16″ Z-axis that we use to mill terrain forms. Let’s face it, 2009 has provided some of us with extra time on our hands. I decided to utilize my extra time and our ShopBot to develop my own line of kid’s furniture and art. I decided to call this venture Monkeys Workshop. www.monkeysworkshop.com.
The furniture started with a few design excercises and protoypes. I worked the designs down into a series of animal shaped, brightly colored, twin size head boards. All of the 3d design and cad work was done using Form-Z. All of the tool path generation I did using Visual Mill. My main goals were to create something that was different, unique, and fun that had some dimensionality to it. I decided it best to utilize a standard twin size bed frame and just focus on building the headboard.
Due to the digital nature of my designs, I found it easy to apply the designs to different products. The same animals and designs used in the headboards are quickly adapted to hanging wall art. I also have plans for such products as coat hangers, toyboxes and chairs all using the same design elements.
 Lion Wall Art - Same Design as Headboard Materials: I debated between materials at first. I tried some Trupan Ulralight MDF for the Bed Heads. I wanted to give this material a try due to it’s “green” properties and the fact that it machines well. The first prototype finished well, but was not sturdy enough. (this is kid’s furniture so it needs to be kind of tough).
I switched to a furniture grade birch plywood and have had great results with it. The bed heads are made from a mix of 1/2″ and 3/4″ birch ply. One headboard basically comes froma single sheet of plywood. For the wall art designs, I am using a standard mdf. I plan on utilizing the birch ply for all of the other projects and products to come.
 Panda - Plywood Layout for Milling The headboard parts are laminated with a urethane glue. Some of the parts are mechanically fastened when they can be hidden. All of the edges are rounded using a router and a touch of hand sanding. Some of the small final parts (like the eyes) are glued on using an epoxy resin.
The parts are all finished with a light spray texture and then painted with a water-based, high-gloss interior acrylic.
Fabrication Notes: As I mentioned, the parts for a single headboard come mostly from a single sheet of plywood. We do not have a vacuum table on our ShopBot, so all of the material is either held down with screws or clamps. I used a 1/4″ two-fluted router bit to do all of the cutting. I usually do a cut depth of 1/4″. Due to our machine having a very tall z-axis, it can be prone to “chattering” if pushed too hard in dense materials. I run a speed of around 2-2.5 ips and about 11-12k rpm on the spindle.
There is some time that needs to be spent with hand finishing. Some edge sanding is done before gluing the parts, some is done after parts have been joined together.
Costs: I am retailing the Bed Heads for $325-$350. Material costs vary a bit, but run somewhere in the range of $100 per bed. I am not including a frame for that cost.
I think it’s worth noting that the costs on this endeavor are not typical becasue I was developing the product for myself. I have kept things in mind, but not quantified a number of the hours/costs such as: design time, mill time, finish time, and painting time. The first few were more difficult and time consuming. Now that I have a framework established and a process, it is less and less for each one.
If I were developing a design/fabrication project like this for a client it would depend on how much the client provided and how much they wanted to do themselves. Our standard shop rate is $85/hr. Taking a client’s 3d/2d cad and transforming it to tool paths could take as little as 1/2 hour. Cutting the parts for a piece like these would take about 1 hour, including set up time. Raw parts could be supplied to a client if they wanted to do the finish work. The design process is more time consuming. It all depends on the extent of the project.
 Teddy Bed Head
 Lion Bed Head
Project Brief: At 2018 Customs and Studio we specialize in designing and fabbing custom guitars. For this build, my Maker wanted a custom race car guitar body that he designed which will be painted up like the #18 M&M’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race car. The design was sent to me on a sheet of paper at full scale. My Maker wanted three guitar bodies made in total. Two guitars will go to the race team. Each guitar body needed to fit existing Epiphone Les Paul Jr. hardware, electronics and neck which were supplied by my Maker.
Materials: Each body has a fixed bridge with a 1 humbucker pickup made of Alder, which is a realitively inexpensive domestic wood. The neck pocket was to be made so that an orginal Epiphone Les Paul Jr. 6-string neck would fit.
Fabrication Notes: To get started, a model of the guitar needed to be created in the computer using modeling software so that it could be transferred to the ShopBot CNC for cutting. Since my Maker supplied me with a full-scale design on paper I scanned in the image so that I could use that as a guide when creating the solid model using Lightwave in the computer. Once I had developed a good model, I used CAM software to create what is called a toolpath or Part File. Toolpath files are instructions that the ShopBot digital fabrication tool uses to cut out the parts.
Before cutting in actual wood styrofoam was used to check the scale of the model and to also provide a proof of concept to the Maker.
  
Several pieces of alder were cut to the correct length for the body blanks. Since the wood wasn’t wide enough to accomodate the width of the guitar body each body blank was laminated with additional wood to create body blanks that were wide enough and then each blank planed down to the correct thickness. At this point each body blank is ready to be cut. The digital fab tool will cut the shape of the body as well as the neck pocket, pickup pocket, and electronics cavity on the back. There is also a contour on the back where the neck attaches to the body to make it more confortable when your hand is playing the guitar in that location.
  
Once each body is cut all the holes are drilled by hand and then sanded. My Maker was going to get each guitar body painted by an artist local to him, so no extra finishing is necessary on our end.
    
Costs: In this build the cost of the wood to build three guitar bodies was around $195. The hardware and electronics were supplied by my Maker. About 8 hours were spent on the computer creating the model and toolpath files and around 10 hours of digital fab and hand work. The final price was $800. Shipping costs came to about $30 and was an additional cost to my Maker bringing the grand total to $830.
Additional costs for the Maker after receiving the bodies include soldering the electronics and having each body painted. Since each guitar body was receiving hardware and electronics from an Epiphone Les Paul Jr. that cost must be factored in as well. A new Epiphone Les Paul Jr. sells for $130. So a total cost for the Maker would be in the range of $1250 to $1300 plus the cost of getting the electronics wired and soldered, and getting each guitar body painted.
 Teenagers "Bubble" Bed. Project Brief: A Maker approached us about designing a bed for her teenage daughter. The challenge to this project was that she wanted something unique and feminine but that also reflected her daughter’s personality. We drew out several designs for her to mull over and it was what she coined as the ‘Bubble Bed’ design that she ultimately decided on. When we created the original design, we also included storage cubicles underneath. The idea was to add medium sized baskets that could slide in for her to keep books, slippers, and other teenaged paraphernalia in. Upon finishing the bed, we then realized that other ‘Bubble’ furniture could be made and added a bubble table to go with the bed. It was then the Bubble Furniture Collection was born.
Project Scope: The Bubble Bed and Bubble tables are original designs consisting of symmetrical circles cut out of the head and foot boards for the bed, and the legs and edges of the tables. The idea is to give a feminine, yet whimsical feel the furniture. Once we drew out the design, We created a toolpath in Aspire (CAD/CAM design software). The parts were then cut out using a 3/8” compression bit. Once all the pieces were cut, they all had to be sanded smooth. Because of the nature of the design and all the individual circles, all of the sanding was done by hand and was the most time consuming aspect of the project. After all the pieces had been sanded, they were primed, painted and assembled.
 More "Bubble" Furniture - a Table. Materials Used: We used 3 sheets of ¾ inch plywood for the bed and 2 sheets of ¾ inch plywood for the matching table. The plywood was great material to use for the bed as it kept it light and easy to move and assemble and store away in a flat pack manner. It has also, over time, proved sturdy enough for a teenager. The bed and table are completely interlocking so other than some sandpaper and paint no other materials were used.
Cost: The cost of this project was minimal. 5 sheets of plywood total were used at $40.00 * 5 = $ 200.00 a sheet, plus the cost of the paint. The Bed and Table took a total of 3.5 hours to cut @ a cost of $85.00 per hour machine time. Sketching, Design drawings and tool-pathing time 2 hours at the same rate for a Machine / Design for a total of $467.50. We rounded the price to $650.00 and we have a Happy Teenager in Elkton, Va.
 Finished custom guitar. Project Brief: At 2018 Customs and Studio we specialize in designing and fabbing custom guitars. For this build, my Maker wanted a custom guitar body that was a variation in its design and construction from an Ibanez Fireman, a guitar originally designed by guitarist virtuoso Paul Gilbert.
Materials: The body was to be a fixed bridge with a 3 single coil configuration, similar to the original, but made up of exotic and domestic woods. The neck pocket was to be made so that an orginal Ibanez Prestige 6-string neck would fit. Purpleheart was used for the middle. Bubinga was placed on each side of the purpleheart. White hard maple was placed on each side of the bubinga, and African mahogany was placed on each side of the maple.
The body was to have a clear pickguard, which was also custom cut from 0.090″ thick clear Lexan. The rear electronics cavity cover was custom cut from 0.200″ thick clear Lexan. Electronics, minus the pickups, were Switchcraft products, and the bridge hardware was made by Gotoh. Both Switchcraft and Gotoh are high quality parts and are found on many high end guitars.
Fabrication Notes: To get started, a model of the guitar needed to be created in the computer using modeling software so that it could be transferred to the ShopBot CNC for cutting. I used Lightwave for the modeling and made use of models of several different shapes for the adaptation. Once I had developed a good model, I used CAM software to create what is called a toolpath or Part File. Toolpath files are instructions that the ShopBot digital fabrication tool uses to cut out the parts.
  
The different wood pieces were first cut and precisely glued together to produce a laminated body blank which was planed down to the correct thickness. Once the body blank was planed to the correct thickness it was then ready to be cut to shape and to machine out the neck pocket, pickup pocket, and electronics cavities using the digital fab tool.
  
Contours were sanded by hand using a belt sander on the back of the guitar where the neck attaches to the body and where the body touches the lower torso of the body (commonly referred to as the “tummy contour”). Usually there is also a contour of the front where the forearm touches the body, but this build didn’t have that. An angled output jack along the bottom of the guitar body was cut by hand using a handmade jig.
The pickguard and electronics cover, made from Lexan, were carefully fit and mounted along with the hardware. Then the body was taken apart so that it could sanded and finished using tung oil. In this build the tung oil was applied to the sanded body in numerous coats. Each coat was hand rubbed and the polished to produce a lustrous shine.
   
   
Costs: In this build the cost of the specialty woods was around $90. The hardware and electronics came to about $80. Time was a factor as there were a lot of things done by hand including the time spent on the computer creating the model and toolpath files. I had several hours of computer time and around 10 hours of digital fab and hand work in it. The final price was $500. (The piece was picked up by the Maker so there were no shipping costs involved.)
Additional costs for the customer after receiving the body include buying the pickups, wiring and soldering and buying a neck suitable for the body. Pickups range in price depending on what brand and model you buy. A decent pickup would cost around $65 each. The pickups and electronics would need to be wired and soldered, so that cost would need to be factored in. An Ibanez Prestige neck can go for around $360. So a total cost for the customer would be in the range of $1000 to $1100 plus the cost of getting the electronics wired and soldered.
 Early concept drawing. Project Brief: My Maker wanted a simple, light, and quick-to-assemble display cabinet for trade shows to help market a new line of women’s creams and beauty and bath products. The unit needed to ship flat on a small palette and to be able to be assembled by one woman with no tools. No specific design layout was provided other than the display be un-cluttered and with compartments for special products as well as plenty of places to add accessories such as flowers. The display units were to fit into a 10′x10′ booth.
 Slotted parts.  One of the shelving units.  Shelving details. Project Scope: This project involved both design and fabbing of the parts. I worked with the Maker to design a slotted cabinet/shelving arrangement that suited her needs. Each display unit had two parts that were stacked one on top of the other to limit the weight and length of each section. After the simple CAD drawings were approved, I created the toolpath files and cut the project.
 Finished display at show. Materials: To keep things simple, light, and affordable the display was cut from 1/2″ Baltic Birch plywood that was then painted white by the Maker. (Approx 6 sheets of 1/2″ plywood were used for 2 shelving units and a credenza.)
Fabrication Notes: This was a pretty straightforward project to cut. I used 1/4″ downspiral cutter. Time for set-up and cutting was approx 10 hrs.
Costs: $1625.00 included materials, cutting and design time. Design time (5 hours) was charged at $65.00 an hour. Project was picked up by the Maker so no shipping was involved.
From: Fabber, Paul Zank, on October 15th, 2009
Project Brief: One morning a couple of springs ago, I checked the voicemail of my cell phone and found a message from Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. “Hi Paul. This is Ty Pennington and I was wondering if you would ….” Well, they had a pair of solid interior doors to his “SECRET PROJECT” which needed to be carved. Ty called because I have a ShopBot digital fabrication tool. Ty also owns a ShopBot and it is run by his long time friend, Rob Williams in Atlanta. Rob had already done the door design. But if he cut the doors, they would have to be shipped from Atlanta to New York on a very short schedule and I was close to the set. I agreed to make the doors from Rob the Part File that Rob would send.
Materials: On a Friday, I drove over to the “Makeover house” in Somers, NY to pick up the doors. This was the same day the old house was being destroyed. We soon discovered that the doors which were delivered were not solid wood; instead, they were solid core. (They were veneer clad core and we didn’t know what the core was). Ty joined us to discuss the problem. Ty is a highly accomplished carpenter in his own right and quickly proposed a few options. We decided the best option was for the show’s people to find solid wood doors and get them to me. If we used the doors that were delivered, the current design would completely remove the veneer and expose the unknown core material. But, just in case, I left the house with the solid core doors.
 Drawing from Nancy. It got even more interesting for me because Saturday, I received an email from the show’s lead artist, Nancy Hadley, asking me if I could handle a second project — would it be possible to design and cut large appliqués from a picture she had attached. Since I was waiting for the solid doors, I agreed to make the appliqués as well.
Fabrication Notes: The design producers soon discovered that businesses which would have solid wood doors were not open on weekends. Through multiple phone calls and emails with the producers, I could sense a growing panic and Sunday morning I started to redesign the pattern to keep almost all of the veneer on the solid core doors and still maintain the same overall look. While I was busy re-designing, my digital fab tool was cutting the first set of Nancy’s appliqués. And, I was starting to worry that this project might be turning into a prime candidate for a disaster — and we had a three day deadline. Anything and everything could go wrong and we had no backup for anything. (I was only beginning to appreciate this was the nature of the show …)
 Pattern to be carved into doors. By Monday morning it was apparent that we would not have solid wood doors. We would have to use my design for the solid core doors and hope the core was not scrap wood (which would show through in a few areas of the pattern). Each door would take more than 3 hours to cut/carve. The pattern would show the slightest error; and we were completely out of alternatives and time.
Amazing! Both doors were finished by early Monday afternoon. The core of the door turned out to be a single piece of particle board … we were lucky. The second set of Nancy’s appliqués were done before midnight.
 Final carved doors in original material.  Nancy's Applique on other doors. I delivered the doors Tuesday about noon. At this time the exterior of the new house was completely done! When the doors were stained, the particle board core of the door sucked up much more of the stain than the veneer did. It made the doors look like they were stained with two different but coordinated stains and they looked great! Nancy used the appliqués on the backs of the doors and the walls in the home’s new nursery. The show’s designers were happy, the producers were happy, Ty was happy, and I … I was just incredibly relieved. The pressure was off, and my first major Extreme Makeover project was a success.
Costs: I keep in touch with Ty, Rob, and the show. I have now worked on almost a dozen Extreme Makeover houses including two houses in one week. I have been asked why I volunteer so much time and effort. When I was small, we were very poor and many people helped us. I am simply paying it back.
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The placement of the windows, and the need to get good video footage of Hannah as she opened the door to her room, dictated the location of the bed and the size of the headboard.. A toy chest behind the headboard provided storage, a place to sit in front of the window, and a solid anchor for the 60lb snowflake.
