Intermediate Hybrid Trophy

Software:

Chilipeppr and Laserweb

Machine Time:

1.5 hours

Bit or Laser Size:

1/8" endmill / 40w CO2 laser

Materials:

Hybrid wood/resin block / 1/8" cast acrylic sheet

I started the process of creating this hybrid blank using a Thermoset resin to penetrate the wood under a vacuum. This process is called stabilization and it's purpose is to help resist expansion, contraction,warping ,and cracking as the wood ages. I then created a mold and pressure cast the resin which has pearl mica powders and aniline dye.


On to machining, this was completed on my OX router and I was very surprised how easy the resin machined. the wood on the other hand was very hard and a noticable change in pitch was observed when the endmill came in contact with the wood after machining the resin.


This step of the process shows what the resin looks like after sanding through the grits of sand paper starting with 220 grit and progressing up to 2000 grit sandpaper paper.as you will notice the resin is opaque at this point


The full details and clarity were exposed in the resin after hitting it with a cotton flap disk that was connected to a cordless drill. The polishing compound used in the cotton flap disk was Plastex from McGuire's which is an automotive plastic polishing compound used to return clarity to headlight lenses and buff minor scratches out of plastic trim


Once the base was finished I proceeded to laser engraving and cut the cell cast acrylic sheet which results in the nice frosty white images seen on the logo and lettering.

I hope you all enjoyed this project and I hope it helps inspire people to think outside the box when finding new materials to cnc machine on their OpenBuilds equipment