I decided I needed some tiny acrylic display stands for the 1:12 scale mini shoes I’ve been 3D printing. These are made from 1/8” clear acrylic and 3mm acrylic rod.
I tried to make them look like a store display in an upscale shoe store. The table tops are tilted at a 20 degree angle (used the GF to slice the rod at that angle). I engraved spots for the rod to be glued into the two flat parts. The beveling was done on a diamond coated flat lap machine. I toyed with the idea of using my GF to do it but in the end the flat lap was easier and quicker.
Do you recognize the label? I used that of Town and Country Shoes, a manufacturer (sadly no longer in business) that I believe was based in your neck of the woods. They made some really nice shoes back in the day.
I did in fact make little red shoe boxes for these shoes.
Perfection in the details!
A diamond lap machine is one piece of equipment I never had in my shop when I did jewelry and lapidary. Do you have different grit discs for it?
I got by with a wet grinder and did any flatwork on a piece of glass with wet-or-dry paper on it.
I was really tempted to get a resin printer but I have two filament (PLA) and one I had not ever even used.
I cranked it up about a year ago (bought it around 2016) and as much as I am irritated by having to use their filament (it has a reader and RFID tag in every spool), it just works, like the Glowforge. Plus mine uses an SD card for the files, so I can just transfer it from my laptop and let it run.
It’s a Da Vinci JR, I paid less than $250 delivered (Amazon). It just works, every time, just like the Glowforge. Load the file onto the card and press print. My Solidoodle (company now defunct) hasn’t been used in years. Seriously considering donating it to a local maker space.
I can’t believe how perfect those shoes are, and the shelves just the icing on the cake. If you didn’t have the quarter int here for scale, I would believe they were real shoes.
Yes, he has like 6 or 8 gradations of diamonds grit.
