Desk Candy: an aluminum sneaker
The IPD 501 Desk Candy project was my first exposure to 3-axis CNC machining. I had used CNC machines before, but only in two dimensions - not in the z axis as well.
I decided to model the sneaker I had used to run my first marathon- a Nike Flyknit Lunar1. I learned to surface model in Solidworks to give the model of the shoe an organic, smooth shape. I imported this model into SolidCAM to generate the GCode for 3 axis machining.
I cut and prepped my stock, tapping a hole pattern in the bottom so that the shoe could be fixtured to the table in the HAAS Mini-Mill. I then fixtured this part in the Mini-Mill and started the milling operation. The part required a flip, meaning that the operation had to be paused and the part flipped over and re-fixtured so that the machine could cut the final geometry. Once the operation was finished, I sanded and polished the part.
 I designed my Solidworks model after the outline of one of my favorite running sneakers. |  I designed the shoe in Solidworks. |  I imported the shoe into SolidCAM. The box around it is the size of stock from which the shoe was milled. |
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 Another render of the shoe. |  Another render of the shoe. |  The shoe is cut in terrace-like patterns of varying amount of material removal. I took this picture just before the Mini-Mill made a finishing pass with a ball end mill. |
 A view of the finished shoe. |  A side view of the finished shoe. |