Advice on wood project

Hi…I’m looking for advice on what best to use to get a wood cut-out of Haida Gwaii


…any help would be appreciated…thanks.

That looks like a pretty straightforward job for the laser cutter, as long as you don’t need thicker than 1/4 inch.

Have you been trained yet?

yea trained…but about 4 years ago…so no

save your offcut for alignment purposes

Are there any training sessions coming up? What machine would I use if I want it more than 1/4 inch?

Anyone want laser cutter training? - #202 by willphillips Sign up quick!

What machine would I use if I want it more than 1/4 inch?

You could make multiple 1/4 layers on the laser and glue them together if you’re making it out of plywood.

Alternatively:

If it’s small, scroll saw. If you want it to be big, you could use the laser cutter to make a template and then use the router/router table to do the cuts on your final material.

Perhaps Dusty (the wood CNC) would also be an option?

2 Likes

I did something just like this on the laser cutter last year. I imported the picture into SolidWorks (Any CAD package will do), and traced the outline with splines. Sounds hard but you just have to zoom and it becomes super doable. You can connect the little islands where you want to so the cutout is one continuous piece. Then extrude the closed contour and you can generate the DXF for the laser cutter!

Hope that helps -
Sam

2 Likes