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When my kids were toddlers, I wanted to give them toys that were more than just store-bought plastic—something handmade, imaginative, and durable enough to last through years of play. So I turned to my desktop CNC machine.
After sketching ideas, I modeled the objects in SketchUp. Then exported them into G-code, transforming my digital sketches into precise cutting instructions.
At the CNC machine, blocks of reclaimed wood became the canvas. As the router whirred to life, the machine carefully carved out the forms I had imagined, shaving away layers of material until toy-sized shapes emerged. There was a quiet magic in watching raw lumber transform.
Afterwards, I sanded down the edges and sealed them with beeswax. I left them raw and simple, celebrating the beauty of the wood grain. Each toy carried a blend of digital precision and handmade warmth—a small fusion of design and craft that my kids could hold, chew, roll across the floor, or stack into teetering towers.
What started as an experiment in learning CNC became one of my favorite creative memories: turning lines of code and blocks of wood into toys that sparked my children’s earliest adventures.
