OTHERMILL

For our first time ever working with the Bantam Othermill, I teamed up with Lauren and Leia and we decided to make some very simple cuts and engraves. We learned very quickly that this software... was going to be a pain. 

I. MATERIALS AND VECTOR FILES

After finding some scrap plywood, Leia expertly cut a large scrap down into some smaller bits that would fit inside the othermill well. While I did that, Lauren and I put together some SVG files. *NOTE* We learned later that every single element must be its OWN svg and you can’t simply turn on and off the layers and export the same file over and over again. This was learned much later but it feels more relevant to relay this info here.

II. THE ISSUES 

So yeah, after trying two macbooks we realized there would not be an ER Apple Machine that would work for us. So we said okay let’s try a pc!

PC didn’t work. We downloaded the new version and were going to see if it would work with the Othermill (even though Ben said it wouldn’t), but before we could set up, Ben came to the rescue with an ER laptop that was running the proper OS and hooked up to the Othermill. HOORAY! Right?

Then this started happening. We restarted software, did everything (Except restart the othermill upon reflection...). We had downloaded the proper bit profiles and were just trying to get the Othermill to prime everything up, but everytime we started to move the bit to a section that would work, it would crash like this. And then once again, Ben walked in the door, did the EXACT SAME THING WE HAD BEEN DOING FOR 15 MINUTES AND IT WORKED. 

So okay whatever fine it’s magic i dont care i dont care i dont care. SO now we’re cooking with gas right?

WRONG. Remember that SVG Layer issue i spoke of? Here’s that. Luckily we are resilient, chill, and dare I say not interested in spending any more time fighting this machine, so Lauren decided this shape was pretty hip and went with it and added some engraving of her own as well. With all the issues worked out, I modified my Illustrator file to work as I envisioned while Leia and Lauren finished up their pieces. 

Our last issue was a silly one. I’m personally still not sure what happened. Maybe Lauren’s tape got cut through, maybe the depth of the wood wasn’t right, not sure. All I know is some wood launched out of the Othermill but it really does stop immediately when the windows are removed so that’s pretty cool.

III. READY TO ROLL

Got the bit placed, wood taped, file size tweaked and arranged

LETS GOOOOOO (<- HIGH OCTANE MICHAEL BAY DIRECTED VIDEO HERE)

MY RESULT :)

It’s funny, I was trying to lowball/round down the dimensions of things so as to not damage the bit by hitting the surface or have any weird complications. But in doing so, I didn’t make it all the way through! Huh! WHOOPS!
But anyways, after some sanding..

Ain’t it purty?

And look! Happy accident mode. It’s see through from the back... Many ideas.