Steph's Pumpkin

October 29, 20178 yr

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A close friend of ours that teaches at the local junior high, asked if I could help with a project for the upcoming Halloween carnival. She said they have no budget so she and her husband had bought a sheet of plywood and needed holes cut in it so plastic Solo cups would fit. The timing was tight, but I said I could do it. When I woke up the following morning, the plywood was laying on a work table I had set up in the back yard. Her husband dropped it off on his way to work. The kids had drawn the outline of a big pumpkin on half of the sheet so that is what I had to work with.

I have added some pictures of the project, but basically, the work flow went like this.

1) I measured and created a "hole" in some scrap mdf of the size needed for each cup. Then I drew off random circles all over the pumpkin. They were guessing about 20 but I got about 32 (lost count).

2) I created a template in VCarve Pro and cut it out on the CNC. Note that I had more than enough holes. I didn't want to be drilling new holes if I boogered up a couple. That proved to be a moot point. All went well.

3) Using a jig saw, I rough cut all of the holes.

4) Then I attached the template with two screws and flush trimmed the hole with a router and a flush trim bit. The template worked great and I got a perfect fit. Rinse and repeat 30 some-odd times and my part of the job was complete.

5) Using a ROS, I sanded the entire half of the sheet and all four edges to help minimize splinters so the kids wouldn't get stuck.

She was tickled beyond belief. And her husband gathered up all the cutouts. He said he didn't get to play outside much as a kid so these would keep him happy for a while!

This afternoon, she sent a picture of the finished project. It is ready for the carnival tonight. I am glad I could help. No charge for our friendly service!

Ha ha ha, I just realized they painted some of the cutouts to make the sign!