CNC Tool Caboodles
CNC milled tool organizers made from reclaimed architectural lumber with mindful designs towards upcycling scrap material. Each piece was an opportunity to test out different milling operations done by my Shapeoko XL CNC router.
YEAR: 2018
ROLE: Machinist, Designer
STATE: Finished Product
COLLABORATORS:
Independent Project
Strategy
The design of the tool holders had to be built around 1x4 sheets of painted reclaimed lumber that was taken from a demolished town home in Palo Alto, CA. Each piece was modeled in SolidWorks. To provide a firm interface between the top and bottom halves, the organizers were machined within a tolerance of ±0.025”. Given the quality of the wood, working with knots and imperfections were expected, which led to a conservation CNC milling approach.
Photo: The Shapeoko XL CNC Router used to cut and engrave the tool organizers.
FINAL DESIGNS
Three tool organizers were made during this exploration: A Shapeoko maintenance kit, an organizer for end mills, and an organizer for metric taps. The intention behind the different designs of the box labels were so they could be used as tactile differentiators.
To help with spotting the organizers in low-light situations, glow-in-the-dark epoxy was casted into the engraved labels. An example of the glowing labels can be seen above ✨
