With my exile from LJ, it seems I am fated to continue posting my BS exclusively here at Craftisian.
Let’s not get bogged down with the cons and pros of the gizmo loosely mentioned and unavoidably pictured in this post, and try to channel our direction towards the design of the box that encapsulates it… all be it laser cut... out of MDF… and for the naysayers, it’s not another puzzle.
People may imply I have a tryst with MDF, however, you can’t be further from the truth… I primarily MDF, as in my neck of the woods concrete jungle, even “C” grade ply is classified as exotic and charged accordingly, while “D” grade ply is basically MDF spelt different..
Armed with that perception and extensive modifications in Sketchup, it was destined for the laser to slice up some 3mm and 6mm MDF.
It all started with profiles of the desired shapes outlined on paper,
scanned and imported into Sketchup,
A few trial and error attempts were made before I managed to get a good fit for a “pass through” of the components in the profiles cut from 3mm MDF,
Once gruntled, it was a case of designing holders for the components and a containing box. I always had issues designing the lid for my boxes as they were mostly top heavy and I didn’t like protruding hardware that inhibited stacking. After a few what ifs, I came up with this “locking” method,
using a “sliding key” to secure the top fitted with dowels, with a protruding finger of one of the base layers… still not flush, but provided a “lift_off_able” lid.
The final design measured 262mm x 156mm x 83mm,
Then it was time for a full cut run,
Being a 1 off, practice runs were not convenient, hence the previous test cuts, and hoping the Sketchup design held up during assembly without the need for recuts/redesign… and it worked. I did have to flush sand the laminated layers for the cutting gizmo's cradle, due to imperfect lamination alignment,
Tested for fit,
prior to final glue up.
The box had no “traditional” finish applied and was only buffed using the BeallBuffing system.
The bottoms of the component’s cradles were flocked,
The gizmo requires a 20W (or greater) adaptor to charge it. I found that a lot of my USB chargers didn’t pass the muster, so I purchased a dedicated 20W charger for this. This was an after thought and had to brainstorm a way of storing it in the box. I came up with this profile to hold the two pins,
to the underside of the lid. It was a fairly loose fit, however, cut out of 6mm MDF and 3 parts laminated, provided sufficient friction fit to hold it in place,
I certainly don’t expect (or recommend) yazall to rush of and purchase this gizmo, however, the 3DW model might give some ideas for other projects,
and for those still interested but not into Sketchup, the A4 PDF file.
Don’t be crafty Craftisians,... SHARE your craft!
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
That is a terrific design and the execution is wonderful. I have never taken to using MDF in the laser because of the interaction of the material and the laser. How do you minimize the burning of the binder by the laser? Anything Ive done with the laser looks like I held it over an open fire to char it a bit. I really like the design. What is the tool it's made to hold?
Gotta give a tip o' the hat for the design! Lid lock is a great approach, but I don't have a clue as to an electric knife. As kids, my brother an I got mom an electric bread knife. Never used and always "lost" in the back of the drawer.
Have to admit, the best part of this item was designing the box and successfully executing it. Would have done many oopsies if it wasn't for SketchUp.
At the moment, I can't comment much about the gizmo as all it's been used for so far is a template for the box. However, I can imagine it being very useful for 3D printing enthusiasts, which I'll put to the test if I ever get motivated to fire up my new Creality. Did try it out on a piece of leather and it seemed to work great, however, the rapid blade movement burnt the cutting mat underneath. Nevertheless their NeoSander sounds promising for those hard to get at fine sanding... again, primarily in the 3D printing environment, thought I'm dubious about it's cost affectiveness.
I would recommend a kevlar glove in the other hand as the apparent "still blade" is always moving.
D_L, all timber short of MDF and DAR pine is criminal locally... what is occasionally available, is quickly snapped up by tradies that can pass the cost on.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
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