Garin Gardiner
Tigard, USA
Like many I have many devices I need to keep charged all the time. I wanted a station that looked as cool charging devices as it was to have fully charged devices without hunting for cables.
I am new to the CAM world but loving it!!
| Material | Description | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Walnut (×2) |
6" × 12" × 3/4" Walnut |
$22.86 |
|
|
|
Walnut (×3) |
6" × 12" × 1/8" Walnut |
$27.27 |
|
| Add to Cart |
$50.13 |
|||
I wanted to make a charging station to plug many of the electronic devices we have around the house in one spot. We keep losing charging cables as kiddos look for a place to charge their tablet when its near death. Due to my love of walnut and playing with my Shapeoko 2, I had a fun little project on my hands.
In the next few videos I will show you how I created the model, show you how to make edits to it in Fusion 360, create g-code send it to a Shapeoko2 or X-Carve machine.
If you want to get right into the meat, jump ahead to the second video.
Charging Station Fusion 360 Model
I have made some slight changes to the model you will see in the video to make sure you can use stock lumber. I removed one vertical slot and made them a 1/2" instead of the 3/8" I used.
I have added a link below to the Fusion 360 model that you can import into Fusion 360 and make adjustments to personalize it for your own needs.
In Fusion 360 you can edit the parameters to adjust board thickness and size. You can also edit the Top and Side sketch to add or remove components to personalize the charging station.
From the Fusion 360 model you can go to the CAM environment and run the tool-paths to see how I set up this model. If you want to make changes you can edit in the model and update the tool-paths. If you create new components you can create a new setup to add stock, define origin then specify the features you want to create tool-paths from.
Once you have the model set up like you want and have tool-paths set up, you can export the post process to send over to your machine. I use a tool called Universal Gcode Sender that imports the .nc file used to run my machine. Once imported I set my starting location, reset zero and hit Send to start the process.
30 minutes
Once you have cut all of the parts out you can sand each piece and start the assembly process. I fitted each piece and did a little extra sanding to make sure the Anker charger was snug. I also wanted the back bar to be snug after putting in cables but not too tight.
Once things fit fine I put a little glue in each slot and pressed the vertical board in place. I added a few staples to keep it in place and let it dry for a few hours before messing with it.
I am still trying to decide what finish to put on it so perhaps I can get a little help here on the best finish to make the walnut pop without adding gloss to it.
Hope you enjoyed!!
