MSRaynsford

The catapult range  had some very large panels that fold over into the closed position. The puny hinges on these panels broken pretty quickly and I was in need of something more substantial which was why I invented the piano hinge. I made a really long length of hinge and ran it all the way down the sides of the range, it was a very effective solution.

8 years ago I was making my first CNC cutter on the dining room table and I was just thinking to myself how much times have changed since then. OK, well maybe not that much I'm still making a CNC cutter on the dinning room table (the same table, different room) but I do have a little helper nowadays.

I designed this piano hinge a long time ago but I was holding it back for a special occassion. Since then I've been distracted and the occasion never came so I'm releasing it today. The hinge is made from 2 sheets of material a groove is engraved along the middle and a piece of piano wire inserted along the groove. It's a strong sturdy hinge that can be created to any length you require, the only minor issue is that it leaves the burnt side out, but that can be cleaned. ( svg here )

I'm working on another project for the UK maker faire but it's tricky given that my laser cutter is still down. While I was at the unit this morning I quickly drew this frame work up and cut it on one of our demo machines. The idea is that you can take a snapshot of a drawing and quickly digitise it for laser cutting. The base plate has a notch to make it easy to put the drawings in the right place, the vertical has a slide adjustment for height, the webcam itself has a ball joint for easy angling and the whole vertical arm slots into the base to make it easy for travel.