CNC2025 — 2026

Making

Four parts I drew and cut

Two brass dies that have pressed real paper, and two weapons that do not exist.

Fusion 360 · CAM · Tormach 770M · ShopBot PRSalpha 96-48 · brass, marine plywood, MDF

MAY'S ANCHOR

No dimensions exist for a fictional weapon, so I measured May’s height against the anchor’s in pixels and scaled from the ratio.

All of the CAD was hand drawn. The manufacturing was the easy part.

marine plywood · ShopBot PRSalpha 96-48 · July 2026 · mays-anchor v38

v38 — I treated Fusion like git

May's anchor: the finished model in Fusion, grey shaded isometric — the model

May's anchor: the same part inside the CAM setup, stock body in yellow — setup, stock and toolpaths

May's anchor: the machining simulation, colourised by operation — the simulation

The finished anchor cut from marine plywood, laminations visible at every edge — the anchor, cut

Marine plywood on the ShopBot. Every laminate shows at the cut edges.

MAKERSPACE INSTITUTE DIE

A foil stamp die for the Institute. It pressed the notebooks people took home.

The detail was small enough that most of the work was picking faces by hand, one at a time.

brass · Tormach 770M · July 2026

the Makerspace Institute die: the finished model in Fusion, grey shaded isometric — the model

the Makerspace Institute die: the same part inside the CAM setup, stock body in yellow — setup, stock and toolpaths

the Makerspace Institute die: the machining simulation, colourised by operation — the simulation

The finished brass die, its lettering mirrored, green foil still in the recesses — the die, cut

Brass on the Tormach. The lettering is mirrored so it reads the right way round once it is pressed.

IDEAS BECOME IMPACT DIE

Cut from round bar, so the flat had to be milled before anything could be lettered.

Getting sharp corners out of a chamfer bit took a strange manoeuvre. It worked. The die pressed the paper at the scratch-robots event.

brass round stock · Tormach 770M · April 2026 · stamp2 v9

the artwork the die presses

the Ideas Become Impact die: the finished model in Fusion, grey shaded isometric — the model

the Ideas Become Impact die: the same part inside the CAM setup, stock body in yellow — setup, stock and toolpaths

the Ideas Become Impact die: the machining simulation, colourised by operation — the simulation

The finished Ideas Become Impact die, pixel lettering milled into the flat top of a round brass bar — the die on round stock

Brass round bar. Only the top face is milled flat and lettered. The half round back is raw stock, not a design decision.

RENDING SCISSORS

I had a reference STL and had to rebuild the whole model in Fusion. A mesh has no edges to build from.

It was meant to be flip machined. That was too difficult, so the other side of the handle got cut out instead. First large-format job on the ShopBot PRSalpha 96-48.

MDF · ShopBot PRSalpha 96-48 · April 2025 · combine v2 v4

the Rending Scissors: the finished model in Fusion, grey shaded isometric — the model

the Rending Scissors: the same part inside the CAM setup, stock body in yellow — setup, stock and toolpaths

the Rending Scissors: the machining simulation, colourised by operation — the simulation

The finished Rending Scissors cut from MDF, two halves joined at the pivot — the scissors, cut

MDF on the ShopBot. Two halves, joined at the pivot.

FIFTEEN MONTHS

Same machine, same kind of part. The difference is fifteen months.

APRIL 2025

Rending Scissors

started from a reference STL
first large-format job on the ShopBot PRSalpha 96-48
flip machining abandoned mid-project

JULY 2026

May's Anchor

started from nothing, drawn by eye
six-operation setup that ran
the manufacturing was the easy part

May is Arc System Works. The Rending Scissors are Trigger. The machining is mine.