some fancy cnc work

a while back, we worked with our neighbor, steve holman, on two large conference tables, one 9' x 26' and one 8' x 20'. we had to set them up in my garage as neither of our shops was large enough to hold them ... this fall he got a commissions to build two more 'smaller' tables, a 16 footer and a 14 footer. those both fit in his shop and were simpler in design, but we still helped by cutting the table and base pieces on our cnc.

one of the other parts of this project was a fantastic reception desk, designed by steve and paul molinelli, that was full of curves and different levels and was pretty complex as you can see from the photo above. click the pictures to enlarge them ...
so, how did we get from there to here ... it was easy for us. all we had to do was the full size templates, curved plates, and bending forms ... steve and his crew did the rest. i'm sure it could have been done without the cnc, but you would have needed some pretty big french curves to lay out the full size pieces. and then, the small adjustments ... it would have taken some time and some really intense bandsaw work ...
we started by scanning the scale drawing actual size and then drawing over it in our cad programfrom there, trevor imported that into the cnc router program and he added the elevation sections shown above ... next step was the 1/4 scale model you saw in the photo at the top. trevor constructed it by stacking layers of mdf of the proper thickness to correspond with the section drawings at each slice.from there it was a simple matter for him 'scale it up' to full size ... (increase; proportional) and then cut the full size patterns, counters to be veneered and their curved solid wood edges, and the plates from which steve and his crew created the curved walls and curved laminating forms.here are the walls, 'unskinned' ...
in some cases they were covered in wacky wood and veneer panels made with the curved forms, and in some cases, vertical 'siding' of 5/8th" thick solid lumber
next paul carved the 'car element' (this project went to an automotive company) and added the hood element from, i think, a 1937 ford or chevy ... cool ...
and then there was the other part to the project; the two conference tables. one 14' long, and one 16' long ...
this one is makore veneer and cherry. after i did the cad drawings, trevor programmed and cut the vertical elements of the base and the 'outriggers', the horizontal elements that receive the cross bars that support the top. he also cut the top sections to shape and the matching solid wood borders, as well as the holes for the power/data fixtures.
this is a section of the walnut and walnut burl table. ditto for this one except for a little adjustment to the thickness of the inlay panels. for whatever reason, the pockets trevor cut in the top sections were a little too shallow (there were two sets of burl panels made as the first one was 'too dark and burly', so, i suspect that was part of the problem. anyway, it was a quick, though somewhat nerve racking fix. after milling pockets in the spoil board he took a few thousandths off the backs of the panels so that the 1/40th inch veneer panels were just a shade below the surface of the 16th" veneered main table panels ... i'm glad i wasn't the one to level them up ...
but level them up they did ... and below, the solid wood edges are added to the top panels ...
the tables are probably finished by now, and maybe we'll see them before they go, or maybe we won't. anyway, we always enjoy working with steve and his crew. their projects are inevitably a rewarding challenge.