MSRaynsford

The participant information packs for London Mini Maker Faire were sent round on Tuesday. In the back of the pack it talked about the maker badges for the event, they were all laser cut from black card with a series of holes through which we were supposed to embroider our names. There was also a warning not to wear white because they were charred around the edges. I have white TShirts for MSRaynsford so I thought I would hack my own badge in advance. I came up with this side lit, acrylic badge with fancy name font and it really stood out at the faire.

Rather short notice but it's only been a week since I decided to go. I'll be exhibiting at the Mini Maker Faire this weekend , 6th of July. It's a one day faire but it's been mentioned on Boing Boing and the Make Blog so I expect a good turnout, (even more so because it's London). I'll be doing something a little different this time, I'm taking dozens of kits and the tools to assemble them, I'll be selling them on the day and helping people actually make them. I've also prepared dozens of assembled items for people that don't have time to make their own. Look forward to seeing you there.

I needed a gift for mums birthday, a quick bit of googling for inspiration and I saw some photo frame trees that I liked the idea of. Here is my variation of the design, made in 6mm laser ply for the tree, 3mm spruce for the frames and 1.5mm walnut for the leaves. ( svg here ) 30 Projects/35 Weeks

I cut myself a set of laser hinges to go in the wooden box and got round to closing up the hole that was left by the removal of the other hinge. It was never going to be perfect considering it was the third time something had been cut out of the hole but I think it came up pretty well. The box now opens and closes smoothly and perfectly and the lid can't flap open by accident.

People know what they like and the laser cutter can do it consistently and repeatably well. So here are some more group tags, done on lovely spruce wood, small but perfectly formed. Below I tried to see if there was much difference between engraving the text and outlining it (beyond the time taken) and it appears that engraving has the edge slightly, although this text is about as small as it can do sensible with a wood grain.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the internet I present to you 'The internet'. Inspired by a great episode of the IT Crowd , I thought it would be a nice little kit to take to Elephant and Castle Maker Faire with me. A slightly more manageable size than the one in the clip, this box measure in at 40x75x100mm. A single red flashing LED on the top indicates that 'The internet' is on and a slide switch on the side allows you full control over 'The internet'. The internet is available for purchase through my store 

I've tried to make some hinges   before  but with varying degrees of success. I needed something larger and load bearing to redo the Large Wooden Box . I came up with this little design. It builds upon the other hinges in that the overlapping circle is etched to allow each layer to move freely over each other. The bolt is hidden inside the hinge with some end caps and 2 of the inner layers are constructed in such a way that it prevents the hinge from opening beyond 120 degrees which means the lid can fall back and snap off. ( svg here )