The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #78
Hey, Sam here collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.
Above are laser cut paper invitiation lighted with LEDs from Eric Alba.
And remember join TLC’s Facebook page so you can submit you work to be featured through there!
After the jump, a star, the Chrysler Building, a beard, a lamp, a whole bunch of things, and a desk… (more…)
Microscopic analysis of Ponoko’s laser cut acrylic
Jacob Martin from the Photon Factory at Auckland University sent us this update on creating microfluidic devices using Ponoko’s laser cutting service. He made a range of sample cuts and engravings and then analysed the results in microscopic detail, concluding that it could indeed be possible to do microfluidic research without access to a lab.
Retail Ready with Fiestyelle
Leslie Yang is passionate about jewelry, eco-awareness and San Fancisco. Her jewelry line Feistyelle is yet another fantastic example that green design doesn’t have to be all brown rice and sandals, but can communicate a polished, modern aesthetic. A Ponoko regular for a number of years, Leslie was the first person to laser cut felt for jewelry. With that innovative approach to materials she has been evolving her ever-popular, wearable laser cut designs and regularly introducing new ideas.
Getting Started
• What made you decide to start your own business? I officially started feistyelle in the fall of 2005. At the time, I was pretty active on online crafty message boards, and some makers were starting to set up small businesses selling their work online and at shopping events. This was all pre-Etsy! It felt like the next, exciting step for me was to get my work out in front of a increasingly DIY-friendly public. I was making really different pieces during those first couple of years: brooches, hair clips, badges, out of needle felted wool and Japanese textiles.
• How did you decide on the jewelry direction? I’ve always loved jewelry, but it was actually serendipitious that I started making earrings. When I found out that Ponoko was offering to laser cut felt I about dorked out with excitement. I started by designing a dahlia brooch, and because I didn’t want to waste the felt, I threw in a smaller vector of the dahlia in remaining space. A co-worker wound up wanting to buy the brooch but when she saw the smaller pieces, she said she’d love them as earrings and asked if would I make her a pair. I said, “Sure!” and then walked to my local bead store and asked the shopkeeper sheepishly, “Um, how do you make earrings?” I poked around the bead shop and settled on the hoop design that I still use for the majority of our earring designs. When my co-worker wore the earrings to work, it started a stampede to my office of female coworkers asking for their own pair. I started to realize that I had a hit on my hands!
• What skills did you already have when you started your business and what did you have to learn? I’m a graphic designer so it was helpful to have experience in branding and packaging and of course design software. I did and still am learning about marketing, accounting, and all those very necessary business skills.
The important takeaway here is that you should know how to do everything but you should definitely not do every single thing yourself! I love the extra time I get by having a photographer shoot my product and model shots as well as a person handle online order fulfillment.
More from Leslie after the jump:
The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #77
Hey, Sam here,back collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.
It’s been two weeks and it’s time for the big news: TLC has a Facebook page so you can submit you work to be featured through there!
Maybe that wasn’t as exciting as I thought…
Anyway, above is laser cut Nori from UMINO. Photo courtesy of Bored Panda.
After the jump, a bike safe, another wedding invitation, and Melbourne Laser Cutter… (more…)
“Form follows constrains” philosophy aids design process
Alienology’s physical design output is pretty impressive. As a designer your head space has to be perpetually filled with evolving concepts. Time permitting, those imagined concepts become sketches or even make it to the CAD phase for rendering. Resources permitting, a concept will result in a prototype. However, the chances of the prototype ever becoming a product that makes it to the market are pretty negligible.
Alienology founder Igor Knezevic isn’t interested in showing half-baked concepts or even refined ideas. Alienology portfolio consists only of products available for purchase – an outcome enabled by a commitment to minimise the time span between idea and the manufactured object. Igor has embraced on demand digital fabrication with every limb to rapidly move through a process that would have required much time and capital investment under the traditional manufacturing model.
The LA based design company embraced the Ponoko model from the onset and has used its laser cutting and 3D printing services to create numerous lighting elements, jewelry and tableware. Igor already had experience with digifabbing technologies and had access to making facilities, but the option of an online service made it possible for him to focus on designing the products rather that concerning himself with how to make them physically.
Of course, design is never a straight forward process, and prototyping one of its integral features. Many of Igor’s designs undergo repeated experimentation to achieve the functionality, fabrication efficiency and the desired aesthetic of the final product. Igor has had pieces 3D printed in plastics and Stainless Steel, and for laser cut objects worked with tinted acrylics, felt and different wood materials, such as Veneer Core and Eurolite Poplar. He makes a point of considering material quality as one of the starting points in a design, so little finishing is necessary to complete the products. There are also some products that are designed to be spray-painted and lacquered.
A few words from the designer after the jump:
3D design into 2D diy kit? There’s an app for that.
Just when you thought it was easier than ever to design and make stuff using Autodesk’s 123D suite of apps, today Autodesk has released an iOS version of their model-and-make software tool, 123D Make.
123D Make Intro iOS app is FREE and available for the iPhone and iPad.
123D Make is also available as a web-based and PC application, and — as of today — as a Mac OSX application.
So what does it do, exactly? 123D Make is all about converting your 3D models into 2D pieces for easy assembly, complete with animated instructions. You can print out the patterns and cut the pieces yourself or — thanks to the Ponoko Personal Factory API — you can have your pieces lasercut & shipped to your door.
The ultimate maker accessory?
How cool is this! A completely open source DIY cellphone that you can make for $150 in parts. This project has come out of the High-Low Tech research group at MIT that have a bunch of other cool projects under their belt as well.
PS. note the nifty cut-outs to make flexing buttons. Cool!
The white knight of model making
Styrene, or as sometimes it likes to be formally addressed – High Impact Polystyrene Sheet (HIPS) is one of the most ubiquitous plastics around, even though it’s too humble for most of us to pay any notice to. Like PETG, it’s commonly used in food packaging, where it’s thermoformed for specific applications.
When it comes to laser cutting, fabricating components for model making is where this material truly shines. Prefab laser cut model kits are already available for the likes of railways, trucks, aeroplanes and buildings. Styrene’s properties make it an excellent material choice for these applications. While it doesn’t cut as precisely as acrylic, it is easily sanded or scored with a craft knife, which is perfect for leaving sprues (little “bridges” of material) to hold parts in place. Partially laser cut parts can be easily snapped off the kit sheet and sanded back for a clean edge. Styrene is not the only flexible plastic that can be laser cut. There’s also PETG and polypropylene. When it comes to model making, styrene has significant advantages over both of those. It can be easily bonded to itself with solvents (no heat welding required), and it takes on various paint finishes so can be painted to resemble other materials such as metals or wood. Styrene also thermoforms better than the other plastics, and thinner pieces can be formed to a mold with a hairdryer.
Styrene’s flexibility, ease of finishing and bonding have seen it used in prosthetics, jewellery and even a Vanilla Design coffee cup holder. Some of the material’s limitations are its fragility in delicate pieces and its inability to hinge. Any score line compromises the structure of the sheet, and applying force to that area will snap the material. Of course, this can also be an advantage with laser cutting – using heavy vector engraving instead of cutting right through noticeably reduces kerf, while still allowing for the cut piece to be snapped out of the sheet. This approach works with long straight lines and simple, open shapes, and prototyping is necessary for optimum results.
The white styrene can also be used in lighting design. Its glossy finish makes it more reflective than propylene. However, because it has a low melting point, only fluorescent and LED light sources can be used. Featured designs (clockwise): Middle C by Sherman Warren, Lotus by David Knott, Warp by Alienology, Urchin by Fabripod, Tumbleweed by Del Jackson, Carbon by Cindy Hartnett. Carbon is also this month’s FREE file for download. Make your own Carbon light!
Styrene is available from Ponoko US and Ponoko NZ, and there are also US and NZ material samples to give you a better idea of cutting and engraving finish.
The Laser Cutter Roundup — a weekly dose of laser-cut love: #76
Hey, Sam here,back collecting the post from The Laser Cutter.
What’s the big news you are asking? Well, it will happen in two weeks. I am wrapping up my first year at grad school this week, my computer crashed and died, and I think those are good enough reasons to take a week off from TLC (which equals 2 weeks off from Ponoko). But that’s not the news. The news is that I will be launching an Facebook page for TLC which means that anyone who wishes to submit work to be featured can do so through there.
Above are two Tardis… Tardises… Tardi? Laser cut by Mark Pitcher.
For more news and laser cut stuff see bellow
After the jump, the etsy rule, a silent protest, more toast, and a business cards… (more…)
Plus Make Your Own Mom Presents with FREE design files!
Mother’s Day is only a couple of weeks away, so we have some creative inspiration and gift ideas to get you on the path to becoming your mother’s favourite child. Few admonitions are as cutting as “I am disappointed in you” coming from your mom. Make sure you make her something wonderful this year, or at least buy her something unique that doesn’t come from a mall.
Personal ornamentation is often a popular option. Gilded Butterflies are a range of one off fluttering pendants that are as individually unique as each butterfly’s wing pattern. The pendants are laser cut out of bamboo plywood and laminated with real butterfly wings. Feisty Elle offers an impressive variety of intricately cut bamboo and 100% wool felt jewellery, with the dahlias being so well recognised that they are now being plagiarised around the world. Plagiarism is not cool. Colleen Jordan’s 3D printed miniature wearable planters are infinitely customisable by whatever is planted inside, and they are also available in different shapes and colours.
Jewelry needs somewhere to be stored. Harbinger Co don’t just make jewellery, but also create beautiful boxes for all that loot. You may be already the apple of your mother’s eye, but chances are that there are some other family members that your mom is fond of. Such as the dog or the goldfish. Familial pride and joy is best displayed photographically, in a picture frame, such as the flower one by BEDA Design Inc. You know you’re not doing your mom proud if the goldfish gets the middle flower. On the topic of furry and scaly friends, Pepper Sprout Designs make animal themed trivets amongst many other home gifts. These are laser cut from 100% wool felt.
Your mom will hopefully be happy to see your smiling face, and should that grimace require additional illumination, a lamp could be very useful. Alienology create different types of lighting, including the Bloom Table Lamp that is laser cut from Eurolite plywood. Jenny Keate’s fluffy Luminant lamp is made from a combination of wool and laser cut plywood. It has the softness of a sheep without any of the annoying bleeting. Another home frienly idea of mum is a Decoy Lab clock made from Earth friendly bamboo and adorned with a forest-full of cute animals.
The best gift is the one made by you, and we’re here to help facilitate the opportunity by providing FREE design files that you can download, customise and make with Ponoko. The Tulip Vase is designed to be flat packed and easily assembled with minimal components. All you need is a glass test tube to put water and flowers in and to give the vase structure, so no glue is required. If made from plywood or MDF, the parts can be painted, waxed or varnished, and there are a few finishing options for both US and NZ materials. The Ball of Stars by Dizingoff is designed as a 3D printed art object that can be made into a light with an addition of an LED. Mother’s Day is usually accompanied by a greeting card, so this is no exception. The Lace Card is designed specifically for cardstock, which is the Ponoko promotional material until the end of April – design something to be laser cut from cardstock and you could win a neat piece of technology. We even have a tutorial on how to use laser cutting to make greeting cards.
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