Archive for the 'laser cutter' Category

Mystery Box kits for sale, Magnolia Atomworks LLC

Published
by
JP
on November 22, 2009
in design, laser cutter and make
. 4 Comments

I got a lot of great response to the articles on the laser cut Mystery Box I built for Wired blogger John Baichtal. A number of people asked where they could buy one. I’ve heard your pleas! I have started a new company, Magnolia Atomworks LLC, to build the kits.
You can now purchase one of your own from ThinkGeek and the Maker Shed.

I had a lot to learn when getting this thing going. First off, you can’t pick an odd size of wood for something like this. Has to be easy to find. I switched to 1/8″ Baltic birch plywood, since the 3/16″ I was using became suddenly scarce.

Additionally, I revised the kit to simplify assembly. I designed small notched tabs to lock the longer brackets in place. They have the added benefit of filling holes to prevent curious Mystery Box recipients from peeking inside.

I purchased an Epilog Zing laser cutter for the venture. This allows Magnolia Atomworks (me) to design and prototype products quickly. However, I don’t want to go into mass production, feeding material into the cutter for hours on end. For that, I contracted an outside company. They have many, faster cutters and can burn through a production run pretty quickly.

I’m really pleased with the results, and super-excited to see the kits for sale. I have huge respect for ThinkGeek and the Maker Shed, so it’s an honor to have my product for sale at both sites.

My Mysterious, Inspiring J.J. Abrams Mystery Box [Wired GeekDad]
Building a mystery box [MAKE]
John Baichtal
Epilog Laser

CAD modeling music video

Published
by
JP
on September 28, 2009
in 3D, design, laser cutter, make and music
. 0 Comments

I love the band They Might Be Giants. I love designing 3D objects on the computer. I love turning those designs into real objects. I love this song and video!

Laser cut Absinthe spoon

Published
by
JP
on September 21, 2009
in laser cutter, make and mixology
. 0 Comments

I recently came into a nice bottle of absinthe (OK, it was a very strange Father’s Day gift, if you must know). The classic way to drink the green stuff is an Absinthe Drip, which is composed of a couple of ounces of absinthe, and a few ounces of ice water dripped over a sugar cube into the drink.

You can do the sugar and water bit through any strainer, but the stylish way is on a dedicated piece of gear called an absinthe spoon. I don’t make this drink with great enough frequency to warrant buying one, so I joked with a friend about laser cutting one instead. Why just joke about it? This here is for you, Tod.

I traced a photo of a Toulouse Lautrec-designed spoon in CorelDraw. I modified the design a bit, and added my initials at the top. I then used this vector file to cut a piece of 1/8″ acrylic on an Epilog Zing laser cutter. I’m very pleased with the results! However, I would warn against setting your sugar cube on fire over an acrylic absinthe spoon.

Tiny dock

Published
by
JP
on July 21, 2009
in laser cutter and make
. 0 Comments

My friend Tod Kurt designed this cool dock stand to help him deal with his new iPhone case.

I loved the look of it and made my own just for fun. I’m a fan of tiny little supports that make objects seem to float.

Mystery box

Published
by
JP
on July 19, 2009
in laser cutter and make
. 0 Comments

I built this mystery box to confound a friend of mine, Wired Geekdad blogger John Baichtal. I filled it with mysterious items he will never get to see.

Read all about it here.

This was his reaction

Laser cut earbud owl

Published
by
JP
on April 27, 2009
in design, laser cutter and make
. 16 Comments

I made this earbud owl on the Epilog Zing laser cutter using this file from thingiverse: www.thingiverse.com/thing:364

You can buy an acrylic one from the original designer on Etsy. Update: he stopped making them and gave me the go-ahead to sell my own wood ones on Etsy here.