Bronze Robot Warrior Apple Watch charger dock stand

thingiverse

I made this for a 2-day workshop in evaporative casting in bronze using a styrene foam model. While others carved their foam models by hand, achieving beautiful and rustic results, I wanted to make a part that worked with my Apple Watch and charging button, so I had to be more precise in my model development. That's where the Roland MDX-40A Benchtop CNC Mill came in. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the MDX-40A (and rotary attachment) reproduced my 3D model and by how the casting method made a part that was sufficiently faithful to the model so that it required just a basic clean-up to fit the charger button. The bronze piece relies on its weight to stop the cable from pitching forward rather than sitting flat on a surface. To counter this in a 3D printed part, you could use double-sided tape to try to stick the cable into the channel or stick the piece down to another surface. I've designed a companion base cap piece to contain the spring force from the cable. There is a 0.3mm tolerance from the surface of the main part for a snug fit. To design this, I measured up all the parts and modelled the piece using Rhinoceros. Then, I milled the part a few times out of blue extruded insulation styrene board, trying different end mills, stepover and toolpath options. The bronze pour was pretty exciting to watch. Look closely and you'll see the fumes from the evaporating foam coming through the sand.