MSRaynsford

It wasn't just bunting I made for Nan, I was also encouraged to make a present too, Kim pointed me towards nice family trees, went out and hunted a picture frame and even bought me black card. I just drew and cut and assembled. The black silhouette is a fairly standard card cut out, but I replaced the mdf backing found on most frames with a perspex backing to make the frame see through and the whole thing pop out.

I had these leather panels that I strung together for a hint of armour on a character. I decided to engrave them with fancy pictures to add a slight element of mystique and flavour. They're only mathematical diagrams about the forces exerted by various linkages but they came out quite well.

I hadn't intended to do another coffee table for some time but we had Lego spread all over the coffee table and I was getting bored of rummaging around the bottom of deep storage boxes so I decided we needed some real Lego storage and lots of shallow trays to make it easier to find the parts. There was also a convenient gap under my Escher coffee table  so I figured I would base it around another Lack coffee table. If you're interested in making your own version of this table I've now attached the cut file. ( svg here ) The table consist of six trays that slide neatly between the legs of the Lack. The top four trays have six sections, the fifth tray has four sections for slightly larger parts like long beams and the bottom tray is twice as deep with four sections so that assembled models can be stored. Each tray is lasercut from 3mm mdf and faced with 6mm poplar plywood. The rack is made from 6mm mdf which has proven to be strong enough to be leaned on by small c

I cut these test tokens from sign makers HIPS. You cut through the top layer to get to the layer beneath it making for very high contrast signs.  Below I did the same with clear plastic, the etched letters will be filled with black resin to make it stand out more.

The new useless machine design  has a PCB which allows it to be assembled easily, it also allows me to sell machines preassembled. The MAD museum  are selling the 'No Soldering' version of the machine which means I end up soldering the boards myself. I remade this jig to hold all the boards in place, this post is mostly about the continual improvement though. The last iteration of this jig  had round holes which let the PCB's twist in place, this one has square holes that key into the switch and hold them tight. The joy of having everything laser cut is that you can refine these things over and over again with minimal cost and effort until it is exactly right for the job.

While I was busy making useless machines in the garage today the rest of the family was inside making bunting for Nan's 80th Birthday party (the kids loved it). Not wanting to be totally left out I rolled in at the last moment with half a dozen laser cut flags to be added to the mix. Clearly a lot more effort and love went in to the hand crafted flags but I guess we all have our own skills and Nan will appreciate the thought.