It’s the kind of thing that’s just begging to be made on a Glowforge (the set in the video was laser-cut by Creative Crafthouse), so I thought I’d give it a whirl.
I started out with the SVGs on the Wikipedia page linked above, but they’re designed to the printed on paper and cut out, not laser-cut. So I re-drew my own versions from scratch.
(Note: SVGs re-uploaded Jan 17, 2018 at 2:33:02 PM PST to fix a minor error)
Multiplication:
Division:
I decided to make mine with the multiplication version on one side and the division on the back. To keep everything aligned, I used a combined SVG with everything in separate colors:
Engrave/score/cut the multiplication side (while ignoring the division stuff), then flip the rulers and engrave & score the division side (ignoring the multiplication stuff).
I used Thick Cherry Plywood. The numbers and text are all engraved with the “HD Graphic” setting. The triangles on the multiplication side are SD engraved and all of the lines are HQ scored. Before cutting the whole project, I created a single test ruler with a variety of settings for the engrave:
I preferred one of my manual engrave settings, but the rest of my family was unanimous in their preference for SD Engrave.
I’ve just re-uploaded the multiplication and “both” SVGs on the original post to fix a minor error. If you downloaded the originals, don’t worry. They’ll cut just fine. I’m just being a little pedantic about how the layers and groups are named.
Okay, so that is a wicked cool thing (like my slide rule)
I have absolutely no use for one but I want to make one now myself. Maybe I can have my wife bring it to school and the math teachers can play with it.
Yeah, had to go down the rabbit-hole. I’m trying to figure out if you could change the engraved < sections so that it would read left to right rather than right to left to get the correct left to right sequence.
Thanks for sharing. I want to make a set and just trying to clarify which layers i need to use to create the multiplication vs the division side. When i upload the svg to the GFui it shows 6 layers the top three are engraving by default and the bottom three are cut. So i think i need to first do:
1-engrave
2-engrave
3-skip
4-score
5-ignore
6-cut
Then flip and
1-engrave
2-skip
3-engrave
4-ignore
5-score
6-ignore
Close. You need to ignore 1 on the second side. I ordered the layers so that all the engraves are first, then the scores, then the cut. I probably should have ordered multiplication first, then division. Ah, well.
I think that would be tough to do. The right to left flow comes from the nature of place value. The triangles are essentially a graphical representation of “carries” you’d do in longhand multiplication (which also flow right-to-left).
These are so beautiful and your file is perfect. Thank you for sharing!
I used Medium Walnut Ply since that’s what I had on hand, but I am going to redo them in Thick Cherry for better legibility (glamour shot is higher contrast than real life) and heft. Good thing there’s time to place a PG order before Valentine’s Day.
Thick Cherry Plywood. The numbers and text are all engraved with the “HD Graphic” setting. The triangles on the multiplication side are SD engraved and all of the lines are HQ scored. Before cutting the whole project, I created a single test ruler with a variety of settings for the engrave:
(I don’t know of any, mind you, it would just figure…)