MSRaynsford

Now that I have my Whitetooth 80W laser cutter  I can reliably cut 12mm ply at a sensible speed, so these 9mm meeples are now possible. I've got them up for sale in my web store and they can be customised with almost any name (upto 8 characters) Get your own meeples here

It's very easy to forget how long it takes to go from prototype to product. Absorbing an awful lot of my time this week is a remake of my Settlers of Catan set. It's more than just a remake though, since I've used that set a fair bit now and there are things I wanted to change and improve upon. The photos above are 4 variations of the tiles, each one improves something different but they all take time. Set number 4 (bottom right) is the one that's ready to move forward but it's only a variant of the final set so there is yet more dev work to do. Expect more on this in the near future.

During my Project 52 I laser cut some trays to fit inside the box of our Agricola game . Move on 2 years and there is a new 2 player version of Agricola so I have made some box inserts for this game too. The trays all have rounded corners which makes it easier to scoop the tokens out of the box. The trays, all the tokens and the expansions all fit into the original box. These storage trays are now available for sale in my web store.

I had previously made a Laser cut Knob  for the Blacknose laser cutter  but I've been using it a bit recently and there were still a few issues with it so I redesigned it. This knob is 50% longer but that's 12mm on either side. On the top it makes it easier to grip without scraping your knuckles on the laser frame, on the bottom the knob extends beyond the square section to hold the shaft better, this makes it far less likely to slip off while in use. ( svg here )

Simon from Eldritch  is once again showing the fantastic levels of detail that can be achieved in LRP items when the foam is laser cut. I only cut the Fleur De Lis the fantastic edging was done using the Mandala Studios    Silvertail laser cutter (now in stock btw). I can't wait till I need some new LRP weapons I'll be headed straight to Eldritch to see what we can come up with.

For the longest time I've been quite anti 3D printers. It's a lot of time and effort to end up with a noddy little plastic toy that's badly ribbed along the edges and could often be made easier with alternate tools (like a laser cutter). It's really about using the right tool for the job though and there are things that 3D printers can do better. So I used my Christmas money to buy myself a 3D printer kit so I could fulfil some very specific projects I have lined up this year. I found a 3D printer kit on line that was very cheap (<£300). It's a variant of the Prusa I3  with a bowden extruder , something I specifically require. It would be very easy for me to knock this printer due to the poor assembly instructions but each time I think about but I find most of my complaints cancel out when I remember how cheap it is. All it really needs is someone in the UK whose built one to answer queries quickly and without the language barrier so I've decided to s...

Made from 6mm Birch plywood, these arrows will be painted up and attached to a signpost mad Hatter stylee.