Long time reader, first time poster.
I’m still getting my feet wet with the Glowforge. Definitely good times! Hit a bit of a snag though. I’m guessing this is the sort of problem that’s been solved about a thousand times, so I thought I would check with you all and see what the best way to solve the problem is.
Let me back up and talk about the project a bit. The wee one in our house has been going to bed with a sound machine for the last few months. The one she’s been using is an old crappy one that I had in high school. It does static-sounding waves, static-sounding birds, static-sounding rain … you get the idea. I got the bright idea that I could make something better. For a cat lover such as she is, what could be better than falling asleep to the sound of a purring cat?
Step one: find something to play the sound. That was pretty straight forward - there’s a nice, compact circuit board that I was able to purchase with more than enough space for an hour long MP3. Step two: generate the sound file. Also easy enough. A little poking around on the internet and a few minutes in a sound editor has me with a 1 hour MP3 of a happy kitty on a loop. Step 3: package it all together in a neat little box. Here’s where I got into trouble.
After some careful measurements and math, I was able to create an SVG that fits the circuit board quite nicely. I was even able to cut the hole for the big red button just the size I need. Here’s what it looks like all put together:
Here’s a view from the back where you can see the headphone and power jack:
I think she’ll really like it! There’s just one more snag - how do I hold it all together? The tabs don’t fit super snug together, so it certainly doesn’t just snap in place. Glue? I’m worried that just glue won’t be strong enough. Also, I was hoping to be able to take it apart again if I need to - I don’t trust myself that I haven’t screwed this up somehow! I thought about little brads, but, even after pre-drilling the plywood started to split. I bought the smallest screws my hardware store had, but they’re still kind of large and I’m worried that they’d look a little silly on the tiny little box.
What would you all do? Should I go back to the design and modify it with more tabs that fit more tightly together? Should I just glue and forget?
I’m happy to share more if anyone finds the project interesting! Even if you don’t have any ideas, thanks for reading!
