Here’s my first full on design. A Dungeons and Dragons Flying Creature Miniature Riser.
For those who aren’t familiar with D&D, it’s often played using minis, and there are often creatures who fly that must be represented by those minis. The goal of this little device is to lift the mini up and indicate how high it’s flying. For example, in the photos below, the creature can be shown to be flying 53 feet in the air. It has notches cut in the sides for the marking chits for the height, and measurements from 0 to 9999 ft.
It slots together very smoothly. If the slots were a little tighter it might be better, so consider that if you download this and use it. I just glued the acrylic together and it looks good to me.
Acrylic is tricky because the international specification for cast (which is preferable for laser cutting) is very inaccurate - +20%/-10% if I recall. That means each sheet can be different, and the sheet can vary across its surface.
Proofgrade plywoods are much more predictable (but less appropriate for this sort of thing).
I would consider tapering the slot, so you could slide it in until it was snug.
@dan Was correct, tapering the slots was the best choice here. I remade with tapered and slightly deeper slots on the marking chits and that made all the difference. I’ll post an updated svg tonight. Also: Bonus: 2x2 platforms too.
Updated design here with tapered markers and 2x2 platforms.
Note: I put 8 markers so you would have enough if you printed the previous design to replace the markers there. Obviously, you can remove any you’re not going to need. This svg also corrects a tiny alignment issue with the 1000s
I’m new to laser cutting and have been trying a number of different designs to get some experience but this design isn’t working as expected. The numbers are engraving, but the height lines are full cuts, i.e. rather than a single rectangular piece with the height markings, I’m getting 20 small squares. The Glowforge app shows all lines (but and engraved) are one color and the numbers as a different color. I did use the .zip file and proof grade acrylic. I’m not sure what I’m missing… Any help much appreciated!
The height markers are probably set up with a different colored stroke, which should set them up as a separate operation in the Glowforge interface. Just set those lines to score instead of cut through. (Click on the thumbnail for the height marker lines and choose Score at the top of the popout.)
