For those who don’t know, the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine was adapted for cutting ice by Iceculture Inc. a number of years ago. CNC machines are widely used in other sorts of manufacturing industries and it was likely just a matter of time before someone applied it to ice carving. Still, the introduction of the CNC represents a quantum leap for the ice carving industry and its use has opened up a number of new opportunities in ice sculpture. The precision and straightforward repetition that CNC offers has made it possible to easily create ice sorbet pieces and small table centerpieces in the large numbers required for large events. The precise cuts of a CNC enable production of complex color logos and curved attachment points in an assembled sculpture. Because the information required to produce ice pieces is preserved on a computer, the pieces can be consistently recreated, over and over. This consistency of product is very attractive to companies interested in marketing their products and properties with elaborate ice displays.

    The CNC  machine that I used is at Ice Carver’s Choice in Memphis, TN. Sometimes I ran the machine myself and sometimes I emailed designs to be run.  This CNC is unusual in that the table itself originally came from iceculture Inc., whereas the software and control elements are from Dean Carlson’s I-Sculpt. It’s based on an early model, so it doesn’t run as fast and newer machines, but it gets the job done. iceculture Inc. is in Hensall, Ontario and is headed by Julian Bayley. I-Sculpt is Carlson’s (NICA national champion ice carver) brand and he is based in West Palm Beach, Florida. While iceculture was the first to use CNC, Dean has innovated by being the first to produce CNC machines that can almost cut an entire sculpture while the block stands upright. Only a small amount of  human intervention is required. Most sculptures that are cut on this machine are hand-detailed as a finishing touch.

    The CNC that I used is a flatbed model and consists of a large metal table over which a computer controlled router bit can travel in any direction required. The depth of the router bit (Z axis) can be controlled over a certain distance and the height of the router can be adjusted as well to enable a wider range of cuts. However, you can’t work on a full 10” thick block on that machine; the maximum ice thickness is about 7 inches. For the most part, however, you work on 4-5 inch thick slabs of ice that are secured in place while the router engraves the programmed design.

    The carving pictured at the top of this page was cut on  that CNC. For some reason it had a little trouble on this carving with the lettering while the image of Huey Long (a former governor of Louisiana) ran fine. Even though it didn’t do as well as usual, it still looks better than most hand cut snowfilled lettering. After you’ve seen enough of it, it’s usually easy to pick CNC cut lettering out from lettering that’s been engraved by hand. Hand cut lettering just can’t match the precision of CNC robotics. However, there are those that feel like it’s cheating and that it detracts from the art. I respect that opinion, but I only feel like you run into problems if you’re saying that something’s hand cut, but it’s run on a CNC instead.

cut primarily on an iceculture/I-Sculpt hybrid CNC machine

The following comment was on the original blog entry. After some technical difficulties, the blog had to be reconstructed, and this was the only way to keep the original comments.

Darren

I think that it eliminates alot of time consumiing tedias work for those who can afford a machine but am afraid that as the technology of these machines progress they could eliminate the majority of hand carved pieces

Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 08:20 AM