Digital woodworking comes with a lot of
moving parts: new hardware; new software; new methods and skills. But it’s the
machinery itself that gets most of the attention. CNC Routers, Laser Cutters
and 3D printers are all impressive machines. Watching them work, and the
resulting precision, is the main focus of this new way of woodworking. With all
that amazing machinery magically moving around, it’s easy to miss the most
important part of digital woodworking. As you get more used to this new world,
you start to realize that the most powerful tool is not the one you thought it
would be. Yes, the hardware delivers all the expected benefits of precision and
repeatability. But it’s really the software design tools and how you use them
that really opens up your mind to new methods, new ideas and a new way of
thinking. Despite computers and the fancy digitally controlled machinery, this
is where the real power resides in digital woodworking.
Case in point. Each year in late
spring, I teach a five-day class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking that’s a hands-on
introduction to digital woodworking. Besides the basics of how the
software and machinery work, the main objective is to build a project using
these new tools. For that, each student makes a modern hall table — the
parts of which will be machined on a CNC Router. In a typical class, this would
mean building just one table design. But as a designer equipped with good CAD
design tools, I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. So I created six
different table designs for the students to choose from – and one of them is
simple; it’s meant to be a stepping-off point for motivated students to develop
their own variations.
Six Tables are Better Than One
Creating six table designs is
definitely more work than one, but the tools for creating designs in CAD
software are very powerful. Once you realize that you can clone one table and
use its general layout and dimensions as a starting point for a new design,
things start to get interesting. And, because the process of creating a new
design based on an existing one is so flexible, you resist the natural inertia
to stop with just one. Creating in CAD is quite a bit different than sketching
out small thumbnail designs in a sketchbook where you naturally want to be
loose. I sketch and draw all the time. But once in CAD, you are working on
full-scale working drawings that, if created precisely, can be used for cutting
parts on a CNC Router. The big benefit is that you can produce lifelike 3D
renderings of different variations to evaluate before you commit to building
them.
You can take it a step further. With CAD
software and a CNC Router machine, it’s easy to make something you can see and
touch in the real world. Once I completed the six hall table designs, I thought
it might be useful for students to look at actual tables. So over a couple of
hours, I made half-scale versions of all six of the tables out of poplar.
Because I have to ship the models to the school, I made them knock-down so they
fit in a small case to be assembled on site. Now, students have a chance to see
the tables in person before making the choice of which full-size version to
build.
Learning More by Doing More
And that gets to an important lesson
about digital woodworking. Because of the power of CAD software, you can create
more than one design. You can create variations that you can try out on screen
in renderings or scaled models that can be machined on a CNC Router machine.
Renderings are terrific, but there’s nothing like seeing and touching something
in the real world. From a designer’s perspective, the benefits go well
beyond making alternate versions of the same table; it’s also about refining
your design. Any tool that encourages you to hone in and tweak the design and
the details is very powerful. If you’re methodical, your designs get better and
better as you refine them. This is the secret of automobile designers. They
develop their designs with highly skilled hand drawings, take them into CAD for
precision and to refine and tweak them. Next, they’ll make scaled clay mock-ups
to further evaluate and refine the design. Finally, they make full-size
mock-ups to see the work in different lighting situations and refine the
designs even more.
Digital Woodworking Tools are Powerful Creative Tools
The power of digital woodworking tools
in creative hands is considerable. Never is this more apparent than in the use
of CAD drawing software. Going beyond your first design, developing variations
and continual refinement are powerful techniques a designer uses to make a good
design into a great design. As I’ve said in the past, you don’t have to own a
CNC Router to get most of the benefits out of digital woodworking. Good CAD
software is a powerful tool that makes the process of variation and refinement
much easier. And that makes your designs better. Good design and CAD software
are the real secrets of digital woodworking. And whether you’re a hand-tool
woodworker, a hybrid woodworker or a newbie digital woodworker, using digital
design tools to develop and refine your designs is just as powerful.
No comments:
Post a Comment