Week 4 is to make something for yourself, so I decided to make myself a wood sheath for a small pocket knife I have.
Step 1) the=is project starts out from a shape I drew up with sketch up a Android app on my phone, I then brought in to XCS with the image button. The first thing was to copy and paste the object. I then made the second on a touch smaller than the first. and placed it inside the first one. Once this was done I had 3 objects 2 the same and one a bit smaller.
Step 2) I then created a rectangle the same size as the opening on the sheath, I placed over lapping the one end and with the combine feature I selected subtract to remove the area to open the object. This piece will be the hard maple and will be the spacer so the knife blade slide into.
Step 3) once this was all in place I set the setting for all cutting, this doesn't take long as the plank wood cuts far easier than most plywoods so power and speed can be increased. Once the machine has finished there is a lot of sanding once the 3 pieces are glued together. It was much effort to allow the shape of the outside of the sheath to take its shape and to smooth off all the darkness the laser creating while cutting, 100 grit sand paper and then 220 grit sand paper looked after that quite easily. Once the shape was sanded it was time for a clear coat and blade fitting. Well it turned out perfect.
Step 4) Some pictures of the sheath in all it's glory......was a fun project.