After two years of researching and rejecting production possibilities, Kevin zeroed in on CNC routing as the best of all possible techniques to reach his goals and satisfy his quality requirements. "I have a passion for the art form and for working in wood," he says, "and it was very important to me that I select a method of design and manufacturing that allowed me to create the quality of handmade artwork at production quantities."
Kevin bought a CNC 28" gantry machine and a seat of Mastercam. Learning on his own in his spare time, he began to import the 2D images he drew and to generate the toolpaths within a couple of hours. "One nice thing about Mastercam is that I can go from a photograph to a completely machined piece in two to three hours, so I have new pieces on the market almost instantly."
"Although Mastercam's toolpaths run exactly as programmed, I may find I've positioned a piece differently from what I'd really like, or I want to alter a shape," Kevin notes. "Since Mastercam files and their toolpaths are associative, I don't have to re-toolpath every time I make a change in a design. It's done automatically." Once Kevin has successfully completed a stock design, his crew takes over for production runs.
WoodenNature has been growing exponentially. Kevin says, "It's growing because customers appreciate our artistic abilities and craftsmanship at prices which remain affordable thanks to CAD/CAM production. The reactions we receive from customers make us proud of our quality." |