Slowly (slowly, slowly) learning Fusion360 with my OneFinity Woodworker (classic). My goal was always to learn 3D carving and cutting these birds has helped me learn some fundamentals.
@dado.dovetail these are great and bet you learnt a lot about your machine and processes! were did you get your STL from?
Great project and final outcome. I have the same CNC, and similar plans for future 3D carving. Thank you for sharing what may be possible - they look great.
incredible work. We love it!
Crikey. They’re good.
Forgot to ask if you found any F360 videos that were particularly relevant/helpful for completing these carves?
I searched for it, using STL finder and other sites. There are a couple different ones floating out there. You want the one with the low poly count. It is usable without modification. The others you need to try to reduce the poly count before converting it to a model. I was never successfully doing that.
As for videos, there is some really great content. I’d say my favorite is Product Design Online. He uses useful examples, presents all the steps in a very clear way without a lot of extra fluff. I’ve been considering paying for his full course as a way to really understand Fusion360 as I work my way to more advanced concepts such as sculpting and assemblies.
And experimentation. Lots of experimentation. Double and triple checking your CAM speed and feeds, retraction code, and simulation. And the occasionally sacrifice of a hold down or dust boot. OneFinity is a powerful machine, it will shear off a 1/4" thick aluminum hold down without much of a complaint! So far, no major cutting tool crashes. Knock on wood.
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Kevin Kennedy has been my virtual teacher for a long time, and I agree with your description of his presentation skills. I will revisit his collection to see if there are specific videos relevant to two sided 3D carving.
What kind of holding jig did you use? I have been hesitant about carving as you have, thinking that getting flip jigs or whatever to relocate effectively is quite tricky.
It’s actually super simple. Just drill holes at the corners of the rectangle you draw around the model, all the way through into your waste board. (this is shown in my Medium post). Then use some dowel pins in those holes to keep your workpiece in place.
When you flip the workpiece, so long as the model was centered in your rectangle and is centered in the stock in the Z dimension, it will remain precisely aligned. In your CAM setup make sure your WCS origin is at the rectangle point at the lower left for both top and bottom cuts. I can send you some files you you like.
Additional hold downs are almost unnecessary, but I usually use a couple at each end of the stock just in case. Just make sure they are out of the way in case you set your machine to return home after the job runs (Fusion360 changed the default behavior on me, you have to now change the safe retract to just stop vs. returning home. I didn’t notice, the machine hit my hold down and destroyed my dust boot).
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Awesome project,well done. Please share some photos or video of your setup and process!
Thanks
These are great. I hunted around and found some free 3d models on the Vitra website. Vitra | Eames House Bird | Official Vitra Online Shop
They own the rights for selling reproductions. I copied the .fbx file into Fusion and it had 3 separate mesh bodies for the bird body, legs, and eyes.
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Those look amazing. Well done Sir!
Thanks for sharing that link, @SkyKam! 5+ years running a CNC router and never yet tackled a true 3D carve. This project has enticed me just enough to look into it. 
The birds look great. I noticed your offer to share the Fusin 360 files, If you’re up for that I would appreciate it.
Thanks
DM me. I have a model I made in Fusion. I did not like the stl files I found because they triangulate all the surfaces - makes for a lot of sanding. This is step file - fully smooth. If you can import a step file.
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Hi ChrisM,
Thanks for your kind offer. I’m not seeing the message button on your profile. Did this do the trick?
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