Fabricated 3D Maple Tree Build Project

This maple tree project was inspired by the tree sculpture that was built in the Lincoln Electric booth at FABTECH 2015. The maple tree was chosen for its distinct leaf design. We started the design by drawing the maple leaf and its spine in Torchmate CAD/CAM. We then designed the branches to accommodate 15 leaves per branch. We used the basic weld tool to fuse the leaves to the branches.



The base of the tree took on many different designs. The final design (pictured above) took some time to engineer in CAD, but it turned out great. It's sturdy, symmetrical, and represents the trunk of the tree well!



The machine's accuracy is really accentuated in this design. The plate marking on the maple leaf spines must be done before the plasma cutter cuts the entire branch out. If there is a single misstep by the motors the entire branch could be compromised.



Once all of the cuts are completed, you'll want to grind off any excessive dross accumulation on the backside of your branches. This will also prepare the metal branches to be tack welded together. In the video and in these pictures we used a support structure so that we could easily bend and weld the branches together. We ground the structure off when we were ready to weld the new base (trunk) to the branches. With the design that you will be able to download, you should be able to weld the base together first and then assemble the branches onto the trunk from there.



Once the structure is fully welded together you're able to bend the branches into the shape of a maple tree. There are nearly 150 leaves combined, so there is a ton of opportunity to make the structure appear very full.



The final step is to weld the structure together!

To cut out your very own maple tree, feel free to download these files.

The Torchmate CAD/CAM file:
http://torchmate.com/uploads/downloads/Lincoln Electric Maple Tree Project.CDL

The ACCUMOVE Visual Machine Designer file:
http://torchmate.com/uploads/downloads/Lincoln Electric Maple Tree Project.gm

Please post pictures of the maple trees that you've built!

 

Sure thing! We went through three revisions of how the trunk was designed. The final design is in the files that are attached above. Here's a picture of our second design before it was welded to the branches.

 

We designed it to fit on a 4x4 sheet, and we cut it out on 16 gauge mild steel.