The Golden Disk - MAGifacturing Process
Starting with the concept of a Sun and ending with a finished product. The disk is made from a lighter colored hard wood because Mahogany used on the cabinet would be too dark and not show the details as well.

The concept for the artwork must be created. This involves "seeing" the finished product before it's made then building it in the computer. After experimenting with various spacing and sizes the pattern to the right was finalized. These photo shows the Vectors from which the program creates shapes. They can be pyramids squares, domed and/or sweeping shapes that are at various heights with or without multiple textures.

The design process took approximately a week (exclusive of the cabinet) because dozens of samples were required to test their suitability. There is a big difference between designing a relief carving on a surface (such as a logo on a sign) as opposed to an item that must be a certain thickness.

This next photo is the computer simulation as it shows how the path the bit takes. The cutting bit travels over 250 revolutions to carve the main body of the disk. Other "pathways" are needed to remove the center and cut the part free from its host material.

Here is the simulation that was finally selected after days of cutting samples. If we posted all the pictures of previous simulations the internet provider would claim we were using too much band width.

Each simulation can be viewed a process at a time, meaning that each machining strategy can be checked separately from each other. Some tool paths are circular and some are horizontal. You have to know what you're after to choose the correct speed, feed and directions of the tool.

The program can also change the appearance of the simulation to appear like different surfaces. In this case it's wood but it could be metal, plastic or colorized.

The sun disk's are machined like the panels on the other page but they also need flipped over to machine the opposite side. This requires additional knowledge to center/hold the material and sometimes different tool paths altogether.
Main page | See how the cabinet is made | See the older versions