I’ve been on a clear acrylic kick these past few weeks.
Made some stacking trays that I mentioned in another post, issues with the kerf clearances but I’m learning. I do think I’m going to stop worrying so much about finger joints and work to master acrylic welding. Weird angles will be the hardest part, but I’m thinking I could embed very tiny engraved markers for alignment and then just use weld-on.
My son is obsessed with Minecraft and loves StampyLongHead (Stampy Cat) video streams, always wholesome. I designed him some coasters for his room. I left unengraved slivers between the boxes so the coloring would be easier. We colored them with Sharpie oil-markers. I need to find a better / faster way to do these. I feel like there has to be a more elegant way than drying and then scrubbing with a melamine sponge. I’ve tried leaving the masking on. Maybe I should just engrave deeper and flood fill.
Lutron Dimmers and Picos! I love these. I have way too many and the pedestals they sell are far too expensive. I designed these in fusion 360 and used the shaper origin plug-in to export the faces as svg, then finished them in illustrator along with subtle engravings that you don’t see unless you’re looking for them. I did nothing at all to account for kerf and they slip together a little loose, but when the weld-on gets here, I’ll give it a go and see.
All of this, of course, only possible after I finally built an appropriate space for us in the Office. I made a huge (12 feet by 8 feet) U desk from cedar 2x4 and Lowe’s butcher block top. The legs were a project as I wanted to have no visible joinery (domino, mortise and tenon, my first time). The tops were on sale. All in all I spent about $700 and many hours, but ended up with something I couldn’t buy for 3x as much. The goal was a large desk that spanned the whole room, but had no leg obstructions. Simply sanded and oiled and waxed a few times. All that’s missing is the two chairs arriving in a few weeks to complete our office / imaginarium / laboratory. I’m lucky the closet in this room is very large so I’ve decked it out with tons of shelves to hold all the materials and other things. I’m sure in a few weeks the desk top will be covered in fun projects.
Having the right space was worth all the weeks of evenings and weekends effort, really helps you fall in love with the GF.
It was a difficult decision for sure, I’ve always liked having one space for any guests or family that may come, but for years and years it’s been just an unoccupied guest bedroom 340 days of the year. I finally decided to just sell the set and use the whole space for us. My thinking was I could always get a very nice inflatable and folding base and set it right in the center for any guests. Not idea for them, but more than adequate. He and I love it, so it was the right choice.
Thanks! I asked him which name he preferred and he chose Imaginarium, so that’s what it’ll say on the door, and in all the smart home stuff. His microscope, electronics set and basic tools for wood projects are all in there too so hopefully we’ll come up with some great things. I’ll be sharing some of the designs as I have time to clean and organize them.
Absolutely drooling over that desk…but if I had one there would be stuff stacked on it to a height of 3 feet…horizontal surfaces do not survive long unscathed around me.
This is true! That’s why the closet in this room is the saving grace. It has those basic closet organizer shelving that comes with 4 shelves. What I did is buy tons more shelves and shelf pins and fill in the spaces. There’s a shelf every 6" now and since they are about 12"x24", it’s perfect for glowforge stuff. Honestly, it was cheaper than buying a prebuilt storage cabinet, takes up less space, can be stacked vertically high to the ceiling, and easy to make shelves taller or shorter. Many hours of thought went into this so that it wouldn’t get cluttered. I realized the old saying “a place for everything” really helps since I now never have to fret about where something goes. Worth the mental effort upfront!
I love the projects, but the workspace looks all wrong. Lots of potential, but there needs to be 5-6 projects in various degrees of completion on those tables and a bunch of scraps underneath.
To everyone who says, “a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind,” I say, “an empty desk is an empty mind”.
Thank you! If you forego the custom legs and do traditional ones or even some cabinets, it’s really very simple. Three butcher block tops, cut to the right lengths, 4 very heavy duty mending braces / straight braces to support the middle span, sand paper, oil or finish.
I really do think it’s the best kind of thing for this kind of room. No fancy wood finish to scratch. If I ruin it all after a few years, I sand it all down and refinish and it’s brand new again.
I did add 5 sliding pencil drawers underneath for small storage but they aren’t visible from above.
we definitely have different workflows. I have to set aside whole days for finishing things I’ve started but set aside. Probably a touch of ADHD going on there.
Oh I have ADHD, I was mostly being sarcastic. But I set them aside as in organized away. Trying to teach the kid some organization before the teen years hit and it’s all wildcards and fires.
Love the Lutron stand!
I’m looking forward to more connected lights, switches, etc in my house - and having switches in the right place seems essential. A lovely stand like this makes it look great.
And that desk! Wow! Inspired!
Will you send a picture in a month? I wanna see how the space fills up.
Where’s your storage for materials etc?
I plan on sharing the lutron stand, just note there will be no kerf in mine and it will be adjusted for 0.22” as that’s what I get locally for about $5 a piece.
Basically this is my storage system for materials. Spans around more. I found it much more usable for me personally than an a wheeled cart I had almost been dead set on buying, like IKEA ALEX.
I would like to make a suggestion. Pull up the carpet!!! Glowforging creates lots of tiny little pieces of wood, acrylic, paper ,etc. Doggies can eat it.
My Glowforge is in a room with laminate flooring and every single time I use it —— I 360 Swiffer the floor.
Oh yes, I 100% agree. Every place I’ve ever moved, I put one continuous hard floor. This is new construction and came with new carpeting upstairs only, so I figured I’d give it a few years and see if the room stays fully an Imaginarium. But yes the plan is to replace the carpet, I’m not a fan. I’d rather have hard floors and the occasional rug where soft surfaces are desired. They can also more easily be replaced and cleaned.
I’m so jealous of that table and storage space! So well done and with all that floor space, you can still toss down a mattress for the occasional visitor.
This is the same conclusion I came to. I just slap .005 kerf on everything and use one or two finger joints for more welding surface and call it good.
we definitely have different workflows. I have to set aside whole days for finishing things I’ve started but set aside. Probably a touch of ADHD going on there.
I wanna see how the space fills up.