Parametric Wall Decoration

In this project, I made a parametric wall decoration out of plywood using Fusion 360 and a CNC machine. This project will require a lot of sanding, so be prepared for that. I am a Senior at Piedmont Hills High School and created this wall decoration to add a bit more fun to the walls of our school.

For this project, you will need a CNC machine, a Fusion 360 license, plywood to cut with the CNC machine, and sanding tools. The size of plywood you need varies with size of parametric wall you are creating, but I used a 4 ft x 8 ft x 0.75 inch plywood. For sanding tools, I recommend that you have a belt sander and spindle sander, but you can do everything with an orbit sander (it will take a longer time).

Create the body of the parametric wall. I followed this tutorial to create the object in Fusion 360. URL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltqmIIbAoVE

Once the body is created, scale accordingly. Make sure to take in account the spacing between each parametric wall piece. The final product will be longer horizontally than the object you created in Fusion 360.

On one of the sides of the parametric body, create two boxes.

Extrude these boxes all the way through to make space for the support brackets

Create another sketch to make the support brackets. Make sure the length of the brackets are longer than the parametric body (to account for the extra space taken up by the gaps).

Extrude it to the same height that you made in the parametric body.

Create another sketch and select the back of the parametric body as the sketch plane. We will be using the split tool to cut up the parametric body into cuttable pieces.

• Make rectangles like shown in the picture. For my project, my plywood is 3/4'' thick, so the distance between my rectangles will be 3/4'' wide.

In the modify tab, click split body

• For the body to split, click the parametric body
• In splitting tools, click the lines that you created in the previous step and click OK.
• Label each section of the parametric wall. This will come in very handy in the future to find the order of the pieces.

Create a sketch with the same dimensions as the wood you are using. This box will be used with the arrange tool to arrange the pieces.

• I am using a 4' x 8' piece of plywood, so my dimensions will be that size.

Click the arrange tool in the modify tab

• For components, select every piece of your parametric wall and your support beams
• Go into the envelopes tab, and for sketch/face, select the sketch you just created with the wood dimensions. Then click OK.

On the top left, you should see a dropdown menu. Go into your manufacturing tab and program your G Code.

• Click on setup to create the stock of wood you will be using and select your machine

Choose 2D contour and select your tool and the speeds and feeds

• Go to your geometry tab and select the bottom contours of the parts.
• Turn on tabs and check the rest of the settings.

Right click your 2D contour tab and select post processing to program the code

Simulate the program to see if it is correct

I highly recommend you to tape the area you are cutting with tape. This will reduce splintering and save a lot of hassle later.

Import the G-Code onto your CNC machine and start the program.

Remove the tabs, but leave the pieces in the slots. I used an oscillator multitool to cut the tabs.

Get a sharpie and label the part number on the back of each piece. You can reference the parts in the arrange tab (step 3).

This step will take the longest. Grab your sanding supplies and sand off the tabs, sharp edges, or any imperfections.

If you have a router table, you can save some time with sanding the tabs by rounding off the edges.

Note: In step 5, I did not tape down the plywood before cutting with the CNC machine, which caused a lot of splintering. I sanded the plywood down more until the layer below was visible.

Arrange all the parts and grab your support brackets.

Grab some wood glue and some scrap wood as spacers. For my parametric wall, my spacers were 0.5 inches.

Grab the first piece, and apply a generous amount of wood glue onto the backside of it where the support bracket touches the piece.

Press the piece firmly in place on both brackets and hold it in place with the spacers. Repeat this process with the rest of the pieces and leave it to dry for a few hours. I recommend you check up on this project while it is drying in case the spacers fall over.

Get a nail gun to secure each piece tighter from the back. Be careful that the nails don’t go through the piece by selecting a nail of appropriate length. These nails go through the support bracket and into each piece of the parametric wall.

Grab a finisher or some clear coat and apply it onto the parametric wall.

Congratulations! You made a parametric wall decoration. Find a place on a wall and attach it with a some screws through the support beam or with strong double sided adhesive tape.