Orca Table Update!
If you’ve been following the CustomMade Blog, you probably remember our design contest from back in march. If not, you could catch up on the winner here and see the first design process update here. But this wouldn’t be a CustomMade Blog entry if we didn’t have some updates and some awesome flash animations to show you. So lets get to it. We caught up with CustomMade.com artisan Bill Amaya of Cimarron Lofting, Inc. and he graciously let us in on some details on the orca table’s progress. Here’s some of what he had to share with us!
Orca table design complete
My approach is to break this carving into components. There is the base, the body of the whale, the dorsal fin, the center of the tail fin and finally the tail fins. Each component is isolated, cleaned up and modified as needed. All of that work is done using Rhino 3d. Lets look at the body of the whale for more detail on the process.
Body only
Here you can see just the body. Note that I split the dorsal fin so that part of it is carved along with the body. It is along that split line that we will rejoin the parts. The next step for us to export this component to a program that will drive our CNC machine. The program I am using to do that is called FeatureCam. FeatureCam will help me figure out the size of my block of wood. You could also call that the billet or the stock. I will also figure out how to fixture the piece and the orientation of the piece on the CNC table.”
In this first picture you can see that I am going to machine the body laying on its side. I have to do it this way because I think the router motor would hit the work piece while carving it if I carved it from the top. I have given the router a boundary that will confine its path and cutter. This means that we do not have to spend time cutting away all of the stock. Leaving some of the stock allows us to fixture the piece and in this case will help us when we flip the piece to carve the other side. If You look close you will see what looks like a 3 way arrow. That is the “origin” when the billet is mounted on the router.
Computer rendering of the body
Bill continues by showing us some of the computer based aspect of the job.
In this picture you can see how FeatureCam does a 3d simulation of the cutter actually cutting the part. We are going to cut 2 rough passes followed by a finish carving pass. The first rough pass will remove material that will get in the way of the machine. The second roughing pass will carve the body and quickly remove material. At this point the whale body will be pretty rough but will begin to emerge. The final pass is a finishing pass that should leave the body in a state that will require some hand sanding to finish it up.
(I have created a flash animation to display the carving passes A. to better illustrate the process, B. for simplicity’s sake, and C. cause lets face it. animations are awesome and fun to make.)
This is the shot of the billet before carving. (Fig 1)
Here is the FeatureCam screen shot showing the second roughing pass. (Fig 2)
This final screen shot show the right side of the whale body carved out. (Fig 3)
One of the challenges is fixturing the part, holding the part in the correct location, holding so it does not move, and holding it so that we can flip it over and carve the other side. In the picture you can see that I am leaving corners and that the bottom of the part is also left alone. Additionally we are not carving all of the way to the center of the part. This will leave a 1/4″ thick “tab” all around the part, thus holding it into the original billet. Here is a picture of the Billet in clamps being glued up.
Clamped and glued
The billet is 7″ x 6 7/8″ x 29 15/16. Glued up from solid walnut. Stay tuned for pictures as we carve this on the CNC.
Thanks to Bill for keeping us in the loop with this great update. As Bill said, stay tuned for the next orca table update; we at CustomMade can’t wait to see how its progressing. In the meantime, leave Bill and his shop some love in the reply box and let him and us know what you think of how the table is coming along!
Cimarron Lofting is doing a great job of translating this design to their tooling application and fabricating it as well as working very closely with the designer and keeping him informed of every step. However, wouldn’t it be important to continue to remind people that the designer/artist, Bryce Van Dyke, actually not only designed the piece, but engineered and created the design in Rhino 3d before sending it to them for fabrication?
That seems to have been forgotten in this blog.
Most definitely. We are going to catch up with Bryce shortly to show everyone what he is up to. We figured instead of being referenced in a blog, we would dedicate one specifically to him and the design process. Look for it soon!
In no way were my comments about our process meant as a slight to Bryce. Allow me to apologize if they came across in that manner. After working on this orca table for most of last week let me say that I think Bryce did a remarkable job with proportions, shapes and sizes. It is a really cool table. Wait until you see photos of it finished. What is important here is that all members of a team acknowledge the contributions of every member of that team. Without the designer, without the craftsman, without the client none of these projects would become real. We all have vital roles to play. This table is an example of my good fortune to be a member of a great team. Bryce Vandyke, the crew at Custommade.com, the finishers at Archive Decorative finishing, the glass providers, Glassmasters and the senior craftsman in my shop Mike Rice.
All the best,
Bill Amaya
Cimarron Lofting Inc.
I just have to say, Bill, that you are doing an amazing job! It’s exciting to see the table take shape, become reality, and reflect the challenges you’ve both (designer and craftsman) had to face throughout this process. The slight changes that Bryce has made to make it more “real” looking (like an orca) have improved the design overall. But your deeper understanding of what works and what doesn’t work has been important in the design process as well. We can’t wait to see it in color…and eventually in reality! (We’ve got a spot picked out for it already!)
One question (I’m not sure who knows the answer) which I have been getting from many of our friends: once this one is finished, what is the likelihood of future creations of the same table? There are people interested in one of their own, but the cost to make it might be a prohibitive factor for the general public. And I’m not sure how Bill would feel about mass producing this thing!!
Will there be a future for the orca table design? Just curious! 
Bill and crew, you certainly deserve a feather in your cap(s) for this creation! Keep up the good work!
Gratefully,
Bryce’s thrilled wife and future co-owner of Orca Table!
[...] we’ve been keeping in touch with Bryce Vandyke and Bill Amaya, designer and builder of the Orca Table, and I wanted to share with you some final images of the Orca Table‘s construction, and of [...]
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