They still need a bit more de-smutzing, but they are pretty cool I think. I picked up a set of 1.75 blocks on Amazon and without the crumb tray they fall nicely in the focus sweet spot. The only trick was alignment.
I started out with some cardboard and two rails of 3/4 plywood. I cut the plywood so that when the cardboard sits on top it is slightly lower than the top of my cubes.
Here is the file I used. Just right click the image below and choose save as. Please note, this uses layers in Inkscape, with one layer for each group of 10 blocks and the first layer for the cardboard cutout (this is why the preview below looks weird, the layers are stacked over top of each other). I designed it so that every letter is on at least two seperate blocks and common letters are on at least 3 blocks.
Also note, at about 38 minutes per side, for each group of 10 blocks and 6 sides, this is not a quick project. Enjoy!
Considering a set takes about 3.5 hours to make, it’s not really worth it to me. The blocks themselves are about $1 a piece on Amazon
At that point, even selling them at $40 a set (which seems steep), you are talking about ~$10 an hour. As a programmer, I bill out at about $125 per hour, so that’s too much like work (if a bit more fun)
Beautiful! I’m really new here and I’m very frustrated with alignment… do you have a trick for getting your engrave images lined up on the blocks correctly?
Hi @rosaliethompson I typically put a piece of cardboard down in the machine and cut that so that my work piece fit into it (even if it’s just two edges). For example, if I was just engraving a single square piece (like a coaster), I would have a file that looks like this:
I would cut the blue line out of a piece of cardboard Fastened down to the crumb tray with tape or hold downs. I would then turn off the blue cut line, put my coaster in and refocus to engrave it with the image.
If I am doing multiple of the same size piece, I will go with an edge cut instead of a full one, so my cardboard ends up looking like this:
My square coaster will then fit flat against the 3 sides of the inset and I can remove it easily to put in the next one.
Great set! I used the font to engrave a set of travertine coasters with my daughter’s new last name. 6 passes if I remember correctly, pausing between to physically scratch out the dust that kind of fuses in the recessed areas. Huge pain in the neck, if I had known that going in I would have selected a different material.
Cool idea to do the whole alphabet on a set of blocks! Great share.
@shogun Yes, it makes sense! …after I thought about it for a whole day lol. I found the ruler tool and I think that was the missing link. Thanks a lot for your reply! This community is so incredibly helpful
