A Semi-Manual Styrofoam ‘Turning Center’

Readers familiar with lathe use may know of machine tools that have two independent axes, one for the workpiece, and one for the shaping tool. Though these machines are generally precision instruments that can be programmed to work with metal, this inexpensive, 3D-printed carving tool shares a few of the same concepts in a Maker/hobby-level format.

The machine works by holding a piece of Styrofoam, or possibly wood, between a powered lower table that rotates in 48 steps, and a holder on the top to keep everything in place. A motor with a Dremel-style cutting bit is moved to cut different parts of the sculpture, using X, Y, and Z axes to traverse the entire face.

A joystick — along with other hardware including an Arduino Uno — is used to control cuts as needed, hopefully outputting what the user had in mind, such as a nondescript guy with glasses!

You can see more of this build on Hackaday.