New FREE Project - CNC Stencil Art Making 3D Stencil on your CNC

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Olly
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New FREE Project - CNC Stencil Art Making 3D Stencil on your CNC

Post by Olly »

Here at Vectric we love to make stuff and in this month’s “In The Labs” project, fledgeling Vectric maker Olly downs his website authoring tools to test his woodworking skills and bring you this inspirational ‘Let’s Get Making’ 3D stencil. Find out how to create this FREE project and turn something you feel passionate about from 2D into inspirational 3D art.

Olly shows you how this fun project gives you the tools and concepts to design and make your own 3D stencil on your CNC using just a font and an image! Olly shows you how quickly he creates this multi-layer kit from scratch us drawing tools in Cut2D to individually create the letters for his message. To create the spanner he downloads an image and traces over the bitmap to create vectors, using the snipping tool and node editing to delete overlaps. He then splits the design into layers for each colour pallet and uses a piece of MDF to machine each stencil using profile machining with a 3mm v-bit tool. After sanding down the corners of each letter, Olly gets to grips with his new stencils to spray some super hot designs on upcycled wood and canvas.

Each project comes with the file(s) for you to download highlighting some of the key important steps to help you get through your project. Go ahead, explore the project files then see how your stencils work on clothing, walls or wood, in the workshop, on spoil boards or even local art events. Whether it’s wall art or wear art, try channelling your own Leonardo da Vinci and see how easy it is to use your CNC to make tools for your own amazing art projects!

For those of you yet to try our software packages, why not download our FREE trial software and give it a go!

If you’ve been inspired to make your own stencil art project, we would love to see what you’ve made so don’t forget to share them here or tag us on our socials.



Happy making!

Click here to download the files from your V&CO account: https://www.vectric.com/vectric-communi ... StencilArt
Attachments
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FabLab Wageningen
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Re: New FREE Project - CNC Stencil Art Making 3D Stencil on your CNC

Post by FabLab Wageningen »

Been there, done that - sort of...

...except that we used a laser cutter and did not spray but used 'reverse graffiti', where you spray away dirt on a surface using a high pressure cleaner. And it was 100% legal: we were actually contacted by the local city council to promote a bike awareness event.
fietstelplan_gemeente_wageningen-48746.jpg
fietstelplan_gemeente_wageningen-48748.jpg
Getting a seriously large water tank into a van to have sufficient water for the pressure cleaner proved to be the most difficult part of the project. You would be surprised how dirty road surfaces are, by the way.

Marcel.

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Olly
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Re: New FREE Project - CNC Stencil Art Making 3D Stencil on your CNC

Post by Olly »

Hi Marcel,
Looks good, cool idea! I have seen this done a few times in different cities, very effective and nice effect.
Yes, I can see that being a bit of a logistical nightmare for some spots.
Would love to see if you have done any other stencils on the CNC!
Thanks
Olly

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FabLab Wageningen
Vectric Craftsman
Posts: 208
Joined: Mon May 09, 2022 8:17 pm
Model of CNC Machine: Ooznest Workbee 1500x1500
Location: Wageningen, Netherlands
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Re: New FREE Project - CNC Stencil Art Making 3D Stencil on your CNC

Post by FabLab Wageningen »

We prefer lasercutting stencils to CNC'ing them.

Three simple reasons:
1 - Sharp corners are no issue.
2 - The stencil plate needs to be relatively thin. We used 3 mm. hardwood in this case, which was necessary because of the brute force of the cleaning thing. Cardboard or even MDF would not survive a weekend of work (believe me, we tried...). Thicker material, however, makes it quite difficult to work with as you don't get sharp countours around your design. Stencils for spraypainting we do in 1.5 mm cardboard, normally - not something you CNC by default.
3 - We do have a lasercutter ;-)
Lego masters zomerkamp logo .jpg
This is a stencil for spraying on a t-shirt. The local church has a youth camp every year with a different theme. I make the stencils for them. The youth themselves do the spraying... so much fun.

Having said this all, i love your idea of making the design 3D. Great idea and nice tutorial project.

cheers,

Marcel

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