5 years in, musings & a handy kitchen thing

Free Laser Designs
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Mrs. S. here.

  1. Here is a holder for cutting mats. It’s not ultra sophisticated, but it is useful. Made from 5mm maple ply. The kerf is SNUG so get your mallet, but it works great. I used a subtle nod to Memphis design and glued the cutout side circles to the base as feet. Happy holidays and thanks you to all who participate here with their generous knowledge.
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cutting_mat_holder

  1. 5 years in, I have found having a home hobby laser to be a “never without” thing. I like GF and LOVE the visual accessibility improvements from years ago (blind/color blind). I like the machine, its capabilities, and understand its limits. I make cool stuff. I am decidedly uncool, but I make cool stuff.

My sole design grudge is cleaning the fans. Small design improvements could have made that so much simpler, like the ability to open the top panel to access the exhaust fan and flipping the gantry so the air assist fan blows the same direction as the exhaust fan. And that honeycomb “safety” grill on the back of a fan that connects to a duct? Hateful.

Also, I know a lot of people are concerned about refurb machines but our first GF had a tantrum and our refurb has been more reliable, so FWIW, and I hear the disgruntlement, it’s not as big a concern as one might think. At least from our use case.

Although I rarely post I do read, learn, enjoy and marvel at this wonderful group. I have GF crushes on some of you (ooh!) and your wonderful, ingenious ideas.

Keep making! Live well!

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Thank you for sharing your design. It is always great to see things others create and we’d love to see you more often, but I understand how life gets in the way.

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That would have been helpful for sure.

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Great project!!

It could also be used for mail, Kindle Fire, iPad, cutting board holder, etc

I like the idea of having 2. One for outgoing mail and the other for arrivals.

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Thank you so much for the wonderful share! Glad to see you back!

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It takes seconds to remove the left top panel. Two screws (or perhaps 3?) and two clips.

You do not want that, otherwise the smoke generated will not be evacuated efficiently.

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That design is great! It would work for napkins, or paper plates, or sheet music :slight_smile: Nice and versitile!

I got an external fan in like year 2, and just a few months back (year 5) I finally took the time to completely remove the large internal fan. Totes worth it. I know some have removed the honeycomb as well, but that’s a bridge too far for me. The external fan though? 100% recommend it, and once you have that the internal fan is superfluous and then even if you keep it you only have to clean it rarely.

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Nice design!! Thanks for the share for multiple uses, but i do have a lot of cutting mats!

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How kind of you to share–thank you!

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