For work I have a need to test out several different bass shaker transducers.  I prototyped up a few different test stands from rough parts to get a general idea of what I wanted.  Then this weekend I decided to spend some time designing up a proper test stand and cutting it out on my CNC.

The stand has 30 pounds of weights on it to keep from rattling around.  On the bottom I have an accelerometer to measure the intensity of the vibration.

On the top you can attach a shaker to the test stand for testing.

Finally I cut out a series of base plates for the various shakers I have access to so I can quickly switch them on and off the test stand.

Oh, and I modified my chair to also take the same shakers so I can switch them around when developing new effects as well.

It was really nice being able to go from a design to a finished product in a couple of days.  There were some pluses and minuses to the experience.  

On the minus side it took quite a while to put together the drawings and verify things.  It also took a while to cut the parts out.  If I did not care about the details I could have banged out something about 4x faster myself with simple hand tools.  Even just cutting out a part is much faster with a skill saw or band saw than the CNC, however those are mostly only good at making straight cuts.

On the plus side, with less than 2 days of effort I was able to make something that approached a professional quality build without needing the woodworking skills to actually pull it off. I was also able to add a lot of precise features with little effort. Not only can I add precisely aligned holes, but I can add curves and intricate cutouts without any thought to how hard it will be to cut out.  I ended up with a level of precision that I would never be able to get on my own (I know from experience on this!).  Finally for repeat cuts it was possible to churn out parts very quickly.  This is where the CNC really shines, it is capable of churning out the same part over and over with exacting precision.