I've been interviewing a lot lately, and it's been making it hard for me to concentrate on building the airplane. To relax, I thought I'd write a little program to generate CNC instructions for a grayscale image. Here's what the machine cut. I used 1/8" laminated MDF, the kind they use to make whiteboards.

Ari.

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Cool!!

You should sell those Ari.  You could do customs for car shows, airshows, businesses, etc...  Unlimited potential.

What are you cutting those with?  Is it a CNC router or some sort of desk top mill?

Randy, it's a ShopBot, a 48"x48", 3-axis CNC router. I used the same machine to cut many of the plywood parts for my minmax. http://www.sawdustshop.com lets me use theirs a couple of hours a week.

Here's a short video of the router doing its thing: http://deb.lib.aero/ari/mov00915.mpg

flynlow, how much would you pay for one of these? Let me know if you have a photograph you want in mind. Also take a look here: http://www.lib.aero/~ari/mosaics/

Ari.

Very cool Ari.  My muse and I are impressed.  It looks like the possibilities are limitless.  Somplace like e-bay could be a good test market.  Makes my mind swim thinking of what I would like to have made.

Thank you Doug. Let me know if I can make something for you or your muse.

Ari.

Now a wall covered with my minimax would look great?

I can hear them ........all saying...across the board....Me to, me to...

regards Arthur

Ari,
  That is indeed very cool!! I'm Curious though  is that a Me 109 with Israel markings?  If so I find that fact very interesting.  Rich

BTW, Me too, Me too
                                       Rich

Do you scan the image of intereset?  What are the limitations?  Cluttered image background, hole size to create image verses size of finished product.  And anything else I may need to consider?

Too cool.

Richard, you are entirely correct. That you recognize both the aircraft and the markings, even in an unusual combination, means I've done my job! It's one of these weird twists of history. Israel Air Force's first fighter was a Messerschmitt. The Czechs assembled a number from leftover German parts after WWII, called them Avia S-199 and in 1948 sold 25 of them to Israel. Israel was fighting its war of independence against Arab armies. No other nation was willing to sell weapons to Israel at the time, so they took what they could get. Google it--it's a fascinating story.

As far as limitations go: the machine can cut 48"x48" panels; with some effort, I could cut 48"x96", but I have no idea how I would ship that to you. 48"x96" is the largest size that's easily available. I work from image files--scanned, original artwork, digital cameras, whatever you've got. Some images work better than others. Portraits work best even in very small resolutions, humans can recognize faces even with a lot of noise. If you send me a photo and your desired size, I can make a soft preview copy that you can look at to decide if you want any changes made. Here's a sample I threw together in a few minutes. This would be 26"x30".

....or you can build your own CNC and do the job yourself: http://buildyourcnc.com
Knut A

That is so cool.  Have you thought if you are you going to charge by the square foot, material used, ??

I might have to charge by the pixel, actually. I know this sounds funny, but the most scarce resource is router time. The image I made took 5 hours to cut. I have some optimization ideas, but it does take time. Pixels counts are related to size, of course.

Since I have no idea what the market would bear though, I have no idea how much to charge. As I said, let me know how much you would be willing to pay for one of these.

Ari.

I just saw an add for this consumer grade Sears CNC last night.  About $1800.  Still spendy, but the world is changing.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00921754000P

Wow Ari, I didn't realize the amount of time it takes.  I'll talk to the little woman to see if she squeaks or giggles.  This would make cool gifts for my brothers who own airplanes and hot rods.

I made another image--a USAAF P-38 this time. It's 24"x16" and took 2.5 hours to cut.

These mosaics get progressively better the farther you step away from them, sort of like impressionist paintings. You can actually see more detail from farther away than up close!

Ari.

Unfocusing gives much the same result as stepping away:

Quoted from iter

Google it--it's a fascinating story.

You got me curious on that, Ari, so I Googled it.  Fascinating story...I thought it was interesting that since they had to rebuild with whatever parts they could get....the prop/gun wasn't always synchronized that well.  Some pilots were shooting off their own props!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_S-199

And the Czechs made their props out of wood, so you can imagine how that would make the problem worse.

Ari.