Captain America Shield From Wood With a CNC Machine

What do you do when your daughter wants a Captain America shield for a costume but you live thousands of miles from your nearest Walmart? Make one from wood!

Supplies

Fusion 360 CAD program Download Fusion 360

2 x 12 plank

CNC machine

Masking tape

Spray paint

Step 1: Use Fusion 360 to Draw or Import a Shield Drawing

You can draw your own shield or there are many shield drawings on the web such as this one from grabcad.com that you can import into Fusion 360. One of the many nice features of Fusion 360 is the ability to scale. Scale the drawing to the size of your CNC machine's capability. I had to scale the full size version of over 30" to 70% in order to get the diameter to 23" which is the maximum size for my X axis.

Step 2: Manufacture in Fusion 360

Step 3: Glue and Clamp Your Wood

I found it difficult to get pressure on the inside of the two layers of 2" planks. Next time I would put it under a car and use a jack to add pressure to the middle of my gluing.

Step 4: Cut the Inside First Then Flip Over and Cut the Outside

Step 5: Paint

It would have saved me some taping if I had painted the red first.

Step 6: Add a Handle and Strap to the Inside

A piece of an old belt and any handle will work for the inside.

Step 7: Enjoy Your Creation

The smile on your child's face when they use their new shield will be worth your effort. The shield also makes a nice wall hanging.

Comments

[kingbrandon14]

Could you post the final version of your CAM file from Fusion 360? Also, I was wondering what tools you used to smooth out the ridges from the CNC rough cuts shown in Step 4

[philandmarimanning]

I added the file to step 4. I finished it with the 1/4" ball nose end mill pictured in step 4 (that is just getting started so it isn't apparent that it is the finishing step. You can see the details in the CAM file.

[kingbrandon14]

Thanks! Looking at the different setups for the front of the shield, the Adaptive setup appears to do just about everything except the smoothing with the 1/4" ball nose end mill... Which operation would come next after that Adaptive clear? The only 1/4" ball nose end mill (finishing) operation I see for the front seems to only cover the star center, not the rest of the shield ridges... I may just be missing something though

[philandmarimanning]

I made a 1/4 scale model first before cutting into my big wood. It only needs a 3/4" thick scrap about 8" square to do that. The finishing operation goes all the way to the edge.

[Steve Tyng]

You win CNC dad of the year! Nice job!

[Penolopy Bulnick]

This is great! Do you have any closeups of the finished shield?

[philandmarimanning]

I added a few closeups.

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Looks great! Thanks :D