I've always appreciated the simplicity inherent in IKEA designs - parts simply fit together with no more than a few screws to create a very structurally sound piece. For this project, in a manner quite antithetical to my being, this minimal concept is what I pursued.
My inspiration came from a quick Google search for CNC shelf design. How organic and nice!
I decided I would make use of this design, but with many less parts. Less time, less probably for error. I do need a shelf. There is very little room in this city!
First things first, it looks good!!
I'm very happy with how this came out, it is just big enough to have space for all of my books, some photos, and more. It makes room for my art supplies in the shelf unit I already have, which is overflowing with everything I own at the moment. Yesss. Finally.
The production was fairly straightforward, even if I did have to finagle the machine a bit. But that happens sometimes.
I had to cut 3 "ridges" - as I call them - and then 1 ridge in different jobs (G-Code files) because I needed to cut on the outside of them and no matter what I did I could not get all the cuts to be guaranteed on the outside. For some reason MasterCam was hiding the direction of my arrows and even if I clicked to switch the directions it simply remained a single cross hair. I made it work.
I was also off by 0.17 in. on the depth measurement. So when the CNC finished the first job, it was not through all the way. I simply restarted the job, paused it, reset Z home slightly lower, and reran the job. It did take a while - but it worked. The next job I got my Z setting ri
Wednesday. Night. Three cuts.
Thursday. Morning. One cut
Some pretty shots, fit together quite nicely. And because I made sure that the space in between each side was the exact thickness of the material itself - with one side having an extra tiny tiny little bit more space - it hangs without losing any structure. There is no movement. Nice ply helps.
Ta-Da!
Finally, I cut some small 2x4 to be the pieces I would drill into the wall. I did the same process of pressure fitting. But also glued it up and taped it in place, it needed not much support.