Marco Invites – A private CAD/CAM workshop in the workshop in Vilsingen

Hello, I'm Marco, and I've been working at tapio as a Solution Team Lead for almost 2 years. If you've been following our social media posts, you've probably already noticed my passion for woodworking. During the pandemic, I started making my own furniture pieces. Over time, this hobby grew, and I eventually took the leap to acquire a CNC machine. As one of the few woodworkers in our company, I quickly realized it was time to show the entire team what woodworking truly means.

The Invitation

To convince the team of this idea, I got creative. I drew up a detailed presentation that included the idea, the planned agenda and the costs involved. After a short pitch of my presentation in our weekly meeting, it was clear - the event would take place, albeit in a shorter version and in a private setting. To have enough time for the workshop despite the shortened agenda and the changed setting, the team agreed to schedule the event on a Friday evening.

The Agenda

To offer all participants a well-founded insight into the process of creating a workpiece, I organised the Friday evening as follows:

4:00 PM: 3D Design (CAD) and Manufacturing Planning (CAM)

6:00 PM: Dinner

After that: Time to use the CNC machine

Not to be forgotten was the tour of my international "Moschtkär" (cider cellar) to expand my traditional group photo wall. The event was to be rounded off the next morning with a Bavarian white sausage breakfast. So, I had my hands full organizing everything.

The Planning

Originally, we had planned to design and implement our tapio logo together in a CAD/CAM program. However, my idea for the implementation involved several iterations with epoxy resin, making it unsuitable to present the entire process in one evening. Instead, the logo of our partner, Codeunity, worked better for this purpose.

Preparing the tapio Logo

However, it was clear that I wanted to create the new tapio logo with my CNC milling machine. For this, I chose an oak board that just fits on my milling machine. In three consecutive iterations, I did the following:

Carved a portion of the logo 10 mm deep.

Then, I filled the carved logo with epoxy resin in the appropriate color.

The excess resin was carefully removed with a planing cutter.

The final removal of the last resin part and the finishing touches, including the oiling, could be done easily on the event evening.

The Event Evening

On October 13th, it was finally time. Well-prepared and full of anticipation, I welcomed the team to my workshop on Friday evening after a tiring workweek. As planned, we started at 4:00 PM with the CAD/CAM training, which quickly turned into an open and exciting discussion about implementing the partner's logo. For dinner, I ordered finger foods so everyone could grab their meal conveniently while working on the logo implementation.

Once the final 3D design was determined, we proceeded with a brief introduction to CAM programming. We discussed the different milling cutters and their applications, as well as various methods for calculating the milling path. After the milling path calculation was completed, it was time to introduce the team to my CNC machine. To celebrate this special moment, epic music accompanied the ceremonial unveiling of the CNC machine from the adjacent room. Then we began implementing the first logo, where I used the raw material and started the process.

While the CNC machine worked diligently, I proudly guided the team through my international "Moschtkär" (cider cellar), and we took the opportunity for the obligatory group photo. Of course, a taste of my own cider was also a must.

The rest of the evening was spent in lively conversations as we watched with anticipation as the CNC machine processed the raw material layer by layer.

The Morning After

At 9.00 A.M., we met up again in my workshop for the planned white sausage breakfast and waited for my father to pick us up for the tour of the cider house that he had invited us for in the evening. Together with my father, we made our way to the village cidery, where the team received a detailed explanation of the individual steps of the cider process. Our little private event was slowly coming to an end.

That was our exciting adventure, during which I was able to take the entire tapio team into my world of hobby carpentry and cider making. I appreciate the numerous participants despite the private setting and am already looking forward to more such adventures in the future.