Wooden Fox Board

Originally, I had never heard that Instructables held contests until my Engineering teacher showed them to me. He recommended that I join one and with the materials we have (we always have random bits of materials that anyone can take), we decided that this would be a good option. Then, I got to work thinking of what I could creatively make from a single board that also looks aesthetically pleasing since I enjoy making my projects look aesthetically pleasing.

Tools Used: Boss Laser cutter, Band Saw

Materials Used: Wooden sheet (2ft x 1ft x 1/8 in), Spray paint (can use acrylic paint instead), Super Glue and Accelerator

I decided to do a type of land mammal because I wanted to incorporate trees, rivers, and mountains. However, the difficult choice was choosing which animal I would use. So I made a list and eventually decided to make one out of a fox.

After browsing the internet of different silhouettes, I found clipart of a sitting fox and thought it would be nice because of all of the potential empty space that I could fill in with the river, trees, and a mountain range (photo of clipart is below along with a sketch of what the final product would be). In addition, on the picture, there weren't any thin pieces that could easily break, so it would be easier to work with.

Note: Pictures above are the online clipart and my sketch of what my final project will look like respectively

With your photo or sketch, you will want to upload it into a CAD program with the desired dimensions (but you can always size up/down the sketch when you are about to lazercut it). I personally used Fusion 360, but most CAD programs will work fine. Next, you're going to want to trace the outline of the silhouette then freehand a border in the inside of the silhouette. Then, once you trace (you can import more clipart of trees or mountains to trace) or freehand the inside. After that is completed, you are going to extrude each individual part (make sure you extrude them to different lengths so the lines show up).

Note: Pictures above are my CAD sketch and the final extruded CAD respectively

On the CAD software, you should be able to turn the finished CAD into a drawing. Next, make sure all the desired lines are in the drawing.

Note: Pictures above are instructions showing how to turn the CAD into a drawing on Fusion 360 and my CAD drawing (from left to right)

Once you have successfully turned the CAD into a drawing, you will want to export the finished drawing into a DXF file for the laser cutter to be able to successfully read the drawing.

Note: I attached my DXF file

Honestly, all you need are 4 equal pieces of wooden sheets that will fit into the laser cutter, but I used 1ft x 1/2 ft since I didn't want the board to be too big. To cut the wood, I used a band saw, but a jig saw or circular saw will also work.

Using the laser cutter, you will want to cut all of your pieces so you can build the board up. I first cut out a backing using my outermost line, which was the original line that I traced from the online silhouette. Next, I cut out a boarder, the mountain range, the clouds, and the grasslands. Then I cut out another border and the grasslands again since I would be stacking them. Then I continued to cut my pieces until I got everything I needed (Pieces I Used: solid back piece, 3 boarders, 1 of each cloud piece, 1 mountain range, 1 mountain snow tip, 2 grasslands (1 without the river cut and 1 with), 2 tail tips, 2 zig zag pieces).

If you're wondering how I spray painted the sunset, I just layered pink and yellow paint then wiped excess with a paper towel until it looked nice.

I first started with the backing then glued one border and everything in that layer together then worked upwards.