My laser cut acrylic projects

[markbognor]

Reading Adam's last installment of his soap box thread reminded me about all the laser cut acrylic projects i've got. Lots are demo projects for kids, some are bits and peices I produced for uni projects and some were just for fun.

Here's a couple of the latter, i'll get some pics of the other stuff at school tomorrow.

Candle stick,

Inspired by some candelabra of a simmilar design seen in a boutique in Brighton.



The traditional shaped candlestick profile is etched onto each side of the clear 3mm acrylic, getting the two sides aligned was really hard. The profile was cut and the two parts are slotted together.
The candle holder was turned from aluminium.

Next is a pair of earings and a presentation box.

Again from 3mm acrylic sheet, the box parts are cut and glued, the middle layer is removeable to get to access the earings.
The centers of the earings were made from slivers of opaque 3mm sheet, cut on the laser then glued back together to form a striped sheet, that was then put back into the laser cutter to have circles cut from it. These striped circles were then pressed into aluminium tube. The faces were worksed smooth with progressive grades of wet'n'dry and then buffed.

I should have used silver tube, but that would have been expensive and I had the ally there and then and wanted to crack on.



These were both made for swmbo, some other stuff I have at school are a 3rd angle orthographic drawing teaching aid, pop art handbag, chess set + mini chess set, Rc car tyre gauge and scalextric startline gantry and lap counter. Pics to follow.

[Adam]

I really can't wait to make some proper use of the laser cutter we have. ;D 'If you can draw it it can cut it'

[markbognor]

Its a really cracking tool to have in school because it is so fast, a basic project with some cuts and a little etching is done in ten mins, when on a basic cnc mill it would have taken half a day!

[The Doctor]

locoster said:

I really can't wait to make some proper use of the laser cutter we have. ;D 'If you can draw it it can cut it'

so if i send you a nice vector file from my inletmanifoldgasket you can make some flanges for me? ;D

[Adam]

thedoctor said:

locoster said:

I really can't wait to make some proper use of the laser cutter we have. ;D 'If you can draw it it can cut it'

so if I send you a nice vector file from my inletmanifoldgasket you can make some flanges for me? ;D

If you want it made of acrylic, mdf or 1mm ali ;D

[markbognor]

Thats a serious peice of kit your school has (unsurprisingly) Could you find out what wattage it is adam? our 25W wont touch Metal of any thickness.

[markbognor]

Some other bits:

RC Car tyre diameter and width gauge. Sold a few of these.



Handbag, example of how a resistant material can be used as a textile. God my figers hurt after putting all those split rings in!



Bud Vase, example for an after school club mothers day project.



Mini Chess Set, Based on the large chess set design but made more material friendly - its about 1/4 the size.



Large chess set, CAD CAM project for uni - think i got close to 90% for that assignmet.

[reanimation]

Those are awesome!!!!! specially the chess set, exzpect future PMs from me!!!

I'm so bloody old skool, Wonky lines, accidents and junior hacksaws!!

[markbognor]

No Probs, I enjoy having a go at little projects and ideas.

[markbognor]

Here's a couple more bits:

3rd Angle othographic drawing teaching aid. The top layer is removable to place over the object (Y9 Cd rack project example 1/4 scale) With the veiw etched on the clear layer. This then folds flat and sits in the surround and on the base layer to show how the views open out into the drawing. Dimensions are etched onto the bottom layer so as not to confuse the views until they are layed out into the drawing.





The scalextric gantry was another project for uni, electronics/programming this time. The product is a race stating and lap timing system using a picaxe programmable IC. I never got it working properly but the development and folder work got me a really good grade. I chose to make the gantry on the laser because it was such a quick method of manufacture.

[markbognor]

Just found some pics of onother one as well. This got dropped and ended up in 1000 peices, I didn't realise i still had pics on the school servers. This time a prototype 4x4 RC car chassis. I wanted to see if i could achieve something usable before i set it as an assignment for my GCSE engineers. It was too hard. A couple of the most able did really well but the average kids couldn't get their heads round it. This years design task is going to be a can crusher.

[penski]

I want to be a design/tech teacher...But I hate kids.

*n

[tigran]

penski said:

I want to be a design/tech teacher...But I hate kids.

*n

So did my long line of metalwork/woodwork/design teachers.

Anyhoo cool 'stuff' dude.

p.s. hope you cut the springs on the RC car before it got dropped ;D

[moomin]

some nice projects

can't wait till i get my hands on the new laser cutter and the 3d router and the cnc lathe wh00p roll on term 3

[Ether]

Can you get etched plaques made up in acrylic, Mark...?

[markbognor]

Yes. Also etches glass rather nicely too.

[Ether]

Etches glass, eh...

Hmmm...

[herald948]

'kinell, they give kids laser cutters these days!

Whatever next, in my day it was all jumpers for goalposts.

What size is your cutting table, if you don't mind my asking?

[markbognor]

580mm x 400mm, the bed can be dropped around 150mm for etching on thick materials.

[deanyboy]

In my classroom weve got a novamill and a boxford CNC machine and a CAMM 2 milling machine with a CAMM 1 cutter/plotter. Wish I had a lazer cutter, they are so bloody useful!!! And a 3d printer (in an ideal world)!!!


Dean