Laser

I was asked to provide a sample of custom etched cutlery with a certain logo. One trip to the dollar store, and another to the internet later, and we have the beginning of a custom kitchen set, ready to be made.

I’m thinking that if I go with a better and harder wood, the etch would look much better. The handle of this cheap knife had very soft wood… which now that I think about it, may not even be wood. Something like pine or even maple would give a much more defined, and dark raster.

I should get a store up somewhere and start listing all the different things that can be made. Hmmm….

This happened one night when I was bored and sitting in the garage.

“Give a man a hammer and he will build many things. Give a man a laser and he will label his hammer.”

A few months before I got my laser cutter, I had seen a pair of glasses for sale that had mimicked the infamous Look of Disapproval. ಠ_ಠ

I loved them so much, that I had decided to buy the set from the seller, Tim Saylor. After I had my laser set up, I wanted to try my hand at designing my own pair. I opened up Inkscape and just started drawing out what I could.

While I still think that Tim did a much better job on his than I did on mine, when I put the file on Thingiverse it almost instantly obtained a lot of attention. A few people asked me if then could buy a pair, so I put the glasses up on an Etsy page for users to buy.

This was probably the first time I had a run-in with this issue. I hadn’t thought about it at the time, but what I was effectively doing was stealing business from Tim Saylor. While I may have created the design of the glasses that I was selling, I was taking away business from somebody who had inspired me in the first place.

This may be an effective business model, but it’s not something I agree with, nor is it something I would want to happen to myself. I started redirecting users away from my Etsy shop and back to Mr. Saylor’s.

I will most definitely have to start thinking about things like this in the future when making designs that may end up being sold.

As one of my first project cuts on the Laser (which still needs a name btw), I cut out the Old School Rocket, created and shared on Thingiverse by Mathieu Glachant. I first cut it out on card board to see how well it would work, then after I was happy with the results, I cut it out on MDF. Had a blast making it.