CNC Experience

 CNC Machine Drawing

    I started this project by sketching a series of organic shapes directly in Rhino. My goal was to create a flowing, biomorphic composition that felt almost like a topographic map or a cellular structure.



 Then I jumped into Grasshopper to generate the toolpaths. This part involved tweaking settings like Z-clearance, XY resolution, and feed rate. I also used logic to sort curves and skip ones that were too short to make a clean drawing and streamed the gcode.



Finally, I exported the toolpath into G-code using Grasshopper. This text file tells the CNC machine exactly where to move and when to lift or lower the pen. Once this was ready , I took it to the CNC machine to bring the design to life on paper.


Once the G-code was ready, I moved over to the CNC computer. I used AvidCNC’s interface to import the toolpath and verify that the drawing aligned correctly with the paper dimensions.


With the machine zeroed and the pen lightly touching the paper, I began the job. You can see the software tracking the position of the machine in real-time as it follows the plotted coordinates.


Here’s a close-up of the path preview every green line represents a movement of the pen. The red and yellow lines indicate transitions and pen lifts. It was really satisfying to see the whole pattern mapped out in motion paths.


A close-up of the drawing in progress. Watching the pen move so precisely and begin to bring the digital design into physical form was super rewarding.








Here’s the full drawing done entirely by pen using the CNC machine. The piece merges digital parametric design with physical drawing techniques, resulting in something that feels both organic and machine-made.


Challenges 

   This process wasn’t without its hiccups. One major issue happened after I set the pen’s position and zeroed out the axes the machine suddenly reset itself and sent the nozzle all the way to the far end. After that, I couldn’t move it anymore. I had to fully restart the machine, which was frustrating but taught me how to handle unexpected glitches during CNC use. Another challenge was that my first drawing attempt started in the wrong place, overlapping part of the design onto itself. It happened because I didn’t align the machine properly to the paper corner. I had to stop the machine, reposition everything, and start again. It took trial and error, but eventually I figured it out and got a clean final result.

  This project helped me better understand the bridge between digital design tools and physical making. Working through the process from Rhino to Grasshopper, from G-code to machine calibration taught me not only technical skills but also patience, flexibility, and how to troubleshoot under pressure.















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