Mini Infinty Cubes

[neotoybob]

Here’s my latest mini project for my “Toy Inventor’s Notebook” column in MAKE magazine. This time a pocket kaleidoscope of sorts: look inside the peep hole of this little cube and see an infinite galaxy of colorful stars.

A super simple one: just a small cube made of mirrored acrylic with the mirrors all facing in. One hole for viewing and a small bunch of round, moon, and star shaped holes in the opposite side. Just butt joints solvent bonded together and seams taped over to prevent light leaking all the edges. Super simple and fun.

I’d like to try a version made of mirrored Mylar, folded up to make the cube. Has anybody had good results cutting thick mirrored Mylar on the Glowforge? Speeds and power settings?

[evansd2]

@neotoybob

Speeds and power settings?

Testing will be your best route here.

#6 has you covered.

Common problems/questions

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1: I'm new to Glowforge and really have no idea where to start

Hey, welcome to the forum! Glowforge has a getting started page, it’s definitely worth your time: <a href="https://support.glowforge.com/hc/en-us/sections/11792517736475-Design-and-Print-Tutorials">https://support.glowf…

As for your cubes, nice and simple, I like it.

You might want to look for two-way mirror material, it opens up a lot of possibilities. @shogun did some projects that might give you ideas:

Things That Go Blink In The Night Part 1

[IMG_8062] This is a new LED cube project I have been working on for the past few days. It uses the PixelBlaze Wifi LED controller which allows me to change the settings and patterns from a web app. The board drives an 8 by 8 LED Matrix. [IMG_8066] The matrix sits beneath a set of half inch square towers of various heights, each with a set of mystical looking glyphs engraved in the sides. [IMG_8067] The cube itself is faced with 1 way mirror acrylic. When unlit, it simply looks like a mirro…

Double sided Mirror Acrylic. Real or Myth?

I have purchased this one from Amazon a few times and liked it. However, I am not sure I have ever seen it with a gold finish. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074L7RQG4/ One thing to note, the acrylic will become clear when lit from behind. Like this infinity cube for example: [IMG_4640] When the lights inside come on… [IMG_4641 2]

[dklgood]

There are quite a few posts with settings if you search Mylar. I don’t know how the products compare with your thick mirrored mylar.

[eflyguy]

It has been a long time, but what I had was no different to thin mirrored acrylic. Just test to find appropriate settings.

[ekla]

Just charming. The images look like an internalised version of what you get with faceted crystal lenses.

[rvogt]

Love your final result!

[deirdrebeth]

That’s adorable! It reminds me of the universe in a marble from MIB

[cynd11]

Oh neat! I love this project!