A box with a whole lot of ‘space’

Today I fired up EnRoute to build the files for the sides of the box. Building files for the Plasma cutter is so much simpler than the CNC router. I only have to think in two dimensions. I imported the sketch I had drawn of the four sides and then used the vector drawing tools to accurately recreate the files. Because all of the lines were the same width I simply drew all of the single lines and then used the offset tool to create thickness.  I neglected to grab a screen shot of the vector lines. Sorry.

Once I had the vectors I sent the CNC files to the MultiCam plasma cutter and watched the magic happen…

The plasma cutter sliced through the 3/16″ thick mild steel plate like butter and in only a few minutes per piece the cutting was done. They all turned out perfect and require only a teeny bot of sanding to get rid of minimal dross. I suspect it will be a whole lot more work to grind the paint off the two pieces and also smooth out the welds on the corners.

I decided that the corners of the box are to be rounded which I’ll accomplish by welding in a quarter section of pipe This meant I needed to make the sides a little thinner on the edges. While I had the plasma cutter all warmed up I also cut the ODYSSEY lettering.

Published with permission from precisionboard.blogspot.com. Source.