CNC cutting TESSELLATION TILES

We want to make quick collaborative prints, like they did during the SCREEN PRINT SOCIAL HOUR at Remarque Print Workshop in Albuquerque.  We can do that -- WITHOUT using knives -- by pressing into Expanded PVC Foam with Ball Point Pens.  If we gouge into the "hat" shapes, we can make collaborative  EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Prints, similar to what the Surrealists used to do:

Our second quick collaborative EXQUISTE TESSELLATION Print

from "hat" shapes of Expanded PVC Foam

CNCing HARD FOAM

At Quelab in Albuquerque, Adam used the Big CNC to cut Expanded PVC Foam into "hat" shapes -- which we use to make a collaborative EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Print.

Expanded PVC Foam -- Tessellation Tiles

Adric and Adam at Quelab

cutting down Expanded PVC Foam

into "hat" tessellation tiles

VECTOR FILE to upload to the CNC:

• EinStein.SVG (689 KB) -- single tessellation shape

VCARVE FILE -- the CNC file with the layout for 24 x10 sheet (1/8 inch thick), to cut out six Ein Stein "hat" tessellation shapes, with a 60 Degree V Slotting cutter bit:

• Ein_Stein.CRV (42 KB)

CNC Cutting Expanded PVC Foam

 "HAT" RESULT

The resulting "hat" shape,

7 inches at the widest points,

cut by a CNC from Expanded PVC Foam

Adam CNCed a big stack of "hats" at Quelab on May 20, 2025.  The idea is to hand them out to a group of artists at a bar, and let them each create an image, and then piece them all together to make a big collaborative EXQUISITE TESSELLATION Print like the Surrealists used to do.  In this way we follow the example of the SCREEN PRINT SOCIAL HOUR at Remarque Print Workshop:

Stack of "hats" from the Expanded PVC Foam

ready to pass out to artists

NO KNIVES NEEDED!  The artists at the bar can gouge into the Expanded PVC Foam with ball point pens, to make a relief print plate.  Whatever line is gouged into the foam will not print, and come out as a white line:

Henry Morales made this wonderful portrait print using this method, of pressing hard into Expanded PVC Foam with a ball point pen:

Printmaking -- Second Wind

Henry Morales drew into Expanded PVC Foam

with a ball point pen

to create the plate for this print

CNC PROCESS

We used the big SHOP SABRE CNC and a Drag Knife to cut Expanded PVC Foam on May 14, 2025 at Quelab:

SHOP SABRE CNC at Quelab

In the VCARVE software, Adam multiplied the "hat" shape to fill the Expanded PVC Foam sheets, 23.75 x 10 inches:

• Ein_Stein.CRV (42 KB) -- the resulting CNC file

Six "hat" shapes (7 inches at the widest dimension)

fit on a 23.75 x 10 inch sheet of Expanded PVC Foam

Adam used double sided Woodworking Tape

to hold the material to the CNC bed

60 Degree V Slotting Cutter bit

The cut "hat" tiles

(Adam made two passes)

The "hat" tiles 

before they are unstuck from the CNC bed

DRAG KNIFE

Adam first experimented by using a Drag Knife to cut the Expanded PVC Foam:

We used this SST drag knife

attachment on the CNC

"Focusing" the Drag Knife attachment

to the proper height before CNCing

Video of the CNC

cutting with the Drag Knife

The Drag Knife paths 

did not turn corners very well

The predicted shape

from using a Drag Knife

The corner and edges

were not pretty using the Drag Knife

The Drag Knife

did not cut out a perfect tessellation shape

This was our first try using a Drag Knife.  There are probably correct settings to make a perfect tessellation shape.