MSRaynsford

The RDC6442G controller from Ruida This is going to be quite an image heavy post describing the rewiring needed to convert between the Leetro controller and the Ruida controller. It is also pretty straight forward on the old Just Add Sharks laser cutters because all of the wires are clearly labelled. The controller was prepared in the previous step in order to make this conversion process as smooth as possible. The Leetro (Pad03) panel on the left and the Ruida panel on the right The view from inside the laser looking up at the control panel The control panel is an easy place to start, both panels have just a single cable that runs down to the controller, both panels are a very similar size, with the Ruida panel being slightly smaller underneath so it will fit in the hole left behind easily. The Pad03 panel clips into place so you'll need to reach up inside the machine to work the clips loose. The cable runs down the inside of the laser and is cable tied onto mounti

Christmas is a very relaxed affair in our house, we used to run around between in laws but now we just head to some local friends for the day, this means we get time to play with presents and do things like making last minute gifts. I held out hope right until Christmas eve but Kim's present just didn't arrive so I took the opportunity to make it myself on Christmas day. This necklace is actually a ring keeper, you can hook a wedding ring over the necklace without actually taking the necklace off (check out the video below). It's made from 2 layers of 0.8mm ply, glued and sanded so it's only 1.5mm thick but it's strong enough not to break, it actually has 6 layers of birch in that 1.5mm. The ring keeper idea was inspired by Morag Hickman  and the clasp inspired by Shiny Shiny  ( svg here )

Sometimes I find it hard giving all the widgets and doohickeys meaningful names. I like Christmas foil decorations but this year I've been struggling to keep them hanging from the ceiling, they just keep pulling through the blu tack. Most things can be fixed with a laser cutter though, literally 90 seconds of drawing and cutting and I now have a handful of gadgets cut from 2mm perspex scrap. The string from the foil wraps through the gaps in the disk and the whole disk presses into the blu tack. In theory this should spread the weight load and stop them falling off the ceiling. It's working so far.

My friend Duncan has started making beautiful hand crafted kitchen knives and he asked me to cut some boxes for him. He even sent me a base box to work with because time was short, I made a few tweaks and included a flip top lid on the top of the box and sent them back in time for Christmas. The wood was stained on both sides and I tried some different colours. All in all a very satisfying collaboration and I'm sure the next set of boxes will be perfect.