MSRaynsford

Another custom Vale treasure chest . I like to make them all slightly different because it's still not a massive game and these boxes are likely to be in similar places at similar times. If they were identical it would be really obvious. This one has internal storage trays, utilising some of the space above the smaller resources. The trays secure into place with little dimples to stop them from sliding around on the shelf. There is the usual hidden compartment under the shorter trays too. This is the smallest box so far and has the most space so I'm quite pleased with it. The lid is cut from two sheets of 3mm poplar, the dragon pieces were removed and painted before being reinserted onto the top layer. There are fine dragon details carved into the black areas using a low power cut, it's hard to see in the pictures but they're definitely noticeable on the lid.

As part of the revamp of the vale machine, I was asked to make several new panels. I had an idea for a very large hatch that could be used to send big things in and out of the machine. I wanted it to have a sturdy metal feel so I decorated it up in metallic paints with rust effects. The whole hatch is hinged so it lifts up and allows things (or people) access to the inside of the machine. When/if this gets used it'll be fun to see what happens, for now it's bolted shut with a few hex bolts so it's not immediately easy to open.

I wanted to make a puzzle for the Vale machine that could be used for various different scenarios, lots of different configurations that can be adjusted and connected as required. I decided upon this sliding puzzle with a pipework theme, the goals can be created as required to connect the points around the outside. After a good hour of faffing with routes I ended up just filling the board with at least one complete solution, all points connected and no endless pipes. Each tile was engraved along two edges which allow it them to have enough slack to slide along each other. With large slide puzzles you can pull on all the pieces at once and generate enough slack to pull them out of the puzzle. To eliminate any possibility of that happening I glued every other tile into position, the puzzle can still be solved by moving round these islands but now the parts can't be pulled out by accident.  The frame was made with a 6mm gap around the outside so that it can be in...

I have to admit I'm still a bit bewildered by some of these crazy cake contraptions. In this instance, these cake popping stands are used to make gifts 'pop' out of the middle of cakes. For an upcoming exhibition I was asked to motorise two of them so they can be seen going up and down automagically all day long. After a few tweaks and a redesign I ended up using non captive stepper motors pushing TR8 rods up and down. The whole thing uses a simple stepper motor driver and who know the Wemos D1 would be my preferred micro simply because of it's convenient mounting holes. The only other component is a 7805 regulator to supply the 5V to the Wemos board.

The second set of stencils I cut for Ape index  were based on their logo. The design has a few islands though, parts that are not connected to the stencil, which made it trickier to cut. The solution in this case was to create a bridge piece that held all the islands in the correct place. The bridge was a little bit too flexible when made from thin card but could easily have been strengthened by folding the top over 90 degrees.

I was asked to make some quick stencils for Ape Index , given their limited use and number of variations simple card seemed to be the way forward. I ended up doing 16 different designs in the end (from supplied artwork) and I really did manage to do them quickly, I took them up to the unit the same day because I knew they had the 'clash of the titans' on at the weekend. I'm pleased I bagged the cut outs too because they also got used in the artwork creation process.

Duncan needed some more knife boxes for his lovely kitchen knives, this time he also requested that I engrave some care instructions onto the same material. The trouble with engraving is that it just doesn't show up very clearly on wood materials, the burn residue that collects in the engraving also wears off over time and the writing can fade. I made these three samplers to demonstrate the different possible techniques (and clearly should have arranged them left to right). On the right is the standard engraving. Despite having a sensible amount of power applied to give some depth you can see that the text is barely legible. The middle sampler is a standard font that is outlined with a low power cut. Low power cuts are great for line work, the burnt material is very black and is sits in a very fine channel on the material so it doesn't wear out over time (at least not so quickly). The trouble with a standard font is that the laser outlines both sides; imagine an ...