Im not really sure how to determine what type of plastic it is, or if it’s safe to use on my laser. Obviously, if its PVC, its a no go. If its something I can use, then I think I may have just found a good source for cheap sheets locally.

I gave it a quick burn to see if I could detect any chlorine from the fumes, but couldn’t smell anything. I dont exactly want to use that as my only test, though.
Any leads or roads I could go down on figuring this out?

I’m not the only one who has noticed this problem, and many others have taken the matter into their own hands and created storage solutions tailored to their preferences.

Well. Now its my turn.

…and I have a laser.

I’ve been dabbling in Google Sketchup for making a lot of small stuff, so I figured I would use it for the chest. After some sketching on paper, I decided to make my chest have slide-out drawers, which would hold all the pieces for the game. Each drawer would separate the pieces into types, giving a natural way to organize the pieces, without having to put them all in baggies or other storage medium.

Heres some prototype designs of the drawers Ive been playing with over the past few weeks. I’ve been tweaking things here and there a lot, but they are pretty similar to what the end result will probably be.

This drawer was the first one I modeled. It took a few revisions and a lot of measuring to get to this point. Basically, to make sure I got all the measurements nice, I created copies of the actual pieces, painstakingly by using a micrometer and some geometric equations. Once I had the game pieces retraced on the computer, making the rest was easy.

My second drawer, the one which holds all the small pieces, started as a basic grid, but once I laser cut it and made it using cardboard, I quickly found out that the pieces were way to small to get out of the compartments easily. I had to turn the entire drawer upside-down. This wasnt going to cut it. I later put in the ramps you can see above, hopefully making it easily to “scoop” the pieces out by hand. It will have to wait until I make another cardboard prototype to see if it works as intended.

The drawer for the playing cards is actually just an empty drawer which holds removable trays. The plan is that the trays are used during gameplay as a way to keep the cards organized on the table. This is always a problem while playing Settlers of Catan: the ‘bank’ always gets destroyed. By putting them in a holder, the cards will stay separate and still be easy to grab, due to the angled edge.

Still working on ideas for the actual chest itself. It’s definitely doable, but I’m just trying to figure out the best way to do it while still making it work with expansion sets, and various other design issues.

Keep watching here if you are interested… also, let me know if you want to help me beta-test a chest once I get some 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….

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

I used the Tabbed Box Maker plugin for Inkscape, created by Elliot White. Pretty handy to have in the toolbox.

It was difficult trying to get the exact same look from a cartoon into glasses, but I think I pulled it off pretty well. The only problem is that when worn, it looks horrible. I think that the only way these glasses would work is if they had a white background, or other way to hide your actual eyes.

I may just be over-thinking it though.

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.

After reading a bunch of online reviews, I decided to buy Full Spectrum’s 40W Deluxe Hobby Laser. After owning and using it for 2 months now, I would definitely consider it a good decision. This post should explain the rundown of how I set it up, what I found out, and what you can probably expect, should you choose to invest in your own laser cutter.

Setting it up

I wish I could say I was able to get the laser up and running the same day it was delivered, but alas, there was a lot of work to be done first. The arrival of my laser cutter prompted a 3-day garage overhaul, getting everything cleared out, reorganizing, and making space for the cutter. This is something that you are going to INSTALL rather than just set up.

I chose to put the cutter on a spare butcher block-type of table that just happened to be sitting in the garage. It turned out to be a perfect fit. Along with the laser unit itself, there are a few extras that needed to be added on, those of which you can see in the photo.

On the bottom shelf of the table, you can see the air-assist pump, which runs air to the laser nozzle, keeping a stream of air on the cut path at all times. In the orange bucket on the right, which is filled with filtered water, is a water pump, which pumps into the outer chamber of the laser tube, keeping it cooled at all times. The last additional piece of the laser cutter is the blower-fan on the back, which sucks smoke from the cutting area, and blows it out back through the air ducting.

Luckily, I had some vent holes already on the wall of my garage. I have seen other setups that use a much longer air duct, and route the exhaust to a much further hole, or window. Yes you need to port it outside. These things can make a lot more smoke than you might imagine. You are quite literally BURNING through stuff, after all…. or vaporizing, according to some purists.

Once the laser was set up, it needed a computer to plug into. I grabbed one of my old laptops and set it right next to it. I downloaded the software from the specified URL in the user manual and installed it. Full Spectrum supplies their own controlling software, called Retina Engrave – after their proprietary controller card of the same name. There were a few hiccups with the software, but nothing too bad. After it was installed, all that was left to do align the mirrors.

Aligning the mirrors was definitely one of the more irritating processes. It involves these steps:

1. Place thermal paper (receipt paper) over first mirror
2. Move mirror to top left position
3. Fire the laser to make a black dot on the thermal paper
4. Move the mirror down the track a little
5. Fire again to make another dot.
6. If the dot is NOT on top of the previous dot, adjust the mirror screw and go back to step 2
7. Go back to step 4 until you reach the bottom of the track
8. Do the entire process over again with the other mirror.

It was time consuming, and frustrating, but it had to be done. Without this step, the vibrations on the mirrors during shipping kept the laser from pointing correctly when I tried to use it. Full Spectrum claims that most users will not have to align their mirrors, but I most definitely did. The good news is that once it’s aligned, you most likely won’t have to again.

First uses

After getting the laser set up, and aligning the mirrors, it was time for its first real cut. Inkscape was used to create a really quick smiley face for testing, then sent to the laser via a printer driver. It was as simple as a FILE > PRINT command. The laser cutter is basically seen as a printer, according to the operating system. (Actually, just a basic FTDI serial device, but thats a story for another day)

I stuck a cardboard square into the laser, pressed the GO button, and watched gleefully as it started cutting away. The following video is rather unimpressive, but out of sheer personal value, I’m going to post it anyways

Looking back now, I can tell right away that the power level of the laser was far too high for the cardboard. Note the flame-ups. After a few days of practice, I learned what it takes to cut the power back, and adjust the speed to get accurate cuts without creating flames, which can damage the workpiece – and in some cases, the laser itself. As a rule of thumb, I try to find the minimum amount of speed & power needed to get the job done. This can be tricky, as the slower you go, the less power you need, and visa versa. The good news is that once you figure out that special combination for that material, you can use the same number from that point on. There is now a chalkboard up on the garage wall specifically for writing down the power, speed, and number of passes every material takes.

From this point on, it’s been nothing but experimentation on finding out what the laser cutter is capable of. With online repos like Thingiverse, finding designs that are ready to cut is extremely easy, and I’ve been using Inkscape and Google Sketchup more and more while learning how to design my own files.

Ill be posting the random things I make here on the blog from this point on. Keep watching if your interested!

Exhibit A: football field full of ~300 people about to graduate.

Exhibit B: the industrial high-flow sprinkler controller for the field that somebody just happened to leave UNLOCKED

I’m sure you can put two and two together at this point.

It sure would make one hell of a final ceremony…