The project to save my marriage

As most makers know you rapidly can accumulate a divorce inducing level of toys in the maker space. And while the large number of printers, milling machine, etc didn’t bother my wife, the mess of supplies certainly did. And the biggest offender was spools of filament, an ungodly amount of filament. That had rapidly exceeded the shelf they sat on and were now in piles, so when Robert Crowan posted his video on his solution to filament storage with a modular system I thought, that was an excellent idea, and my wife liked it too. So off to Lowes to get the base very heavy duty shelving (not sure I need 1500 lbs/shelf capacity but if I ever do, we are ready!). So since after some experimentation he had determined the proper material was ABS and since ABS isn’t a lot of fun I substituted ASA (better ABS). But didn’t have ASA on hand, so while it ships over from Prusa in Prague (for twitchy materials I find their stuff is just better), I didn’t want to be idle and in the project he of course uses his legit fiber laser to cut and engrave black anodized aluminum (no matter how high you turn the power in the GFUI it just doesn’t magically transform into a fiber laser!). So that left just the premade tags, and well black anodized lacks some cool factor since it is all shiny/sparkly, which won’t look blended into the matte ASA, so on Johnson Plastics they have the Durablack aluminum which is purpose built for CO2 laser marking in matte black and silver. The tags are pricier than the typical cheap anodized luggage tags, but apparently will survive the apocalypse so that’s a plus… As a first guess for settings I guessed that my usual anodized aluminum preset would work perfectly, and other than slightly oversized text, wow does it look good (better than in the photo). The tag is 1x2" (25x50mm for you metric types) and .02" thick (0.508mm) and have an adhesive backing. Need to shrink the text by a few percent. But this test looks super crisp and will slide right into the handles of the drawers without modification.

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I love how “organize the materials so spouse doesn’t divorce me” requires the purchase of so many more materials. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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This is exactly where I went too!

That drawer label does look incredibly sharp though!

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Got a link to the video please?

As @geek2nurse noted, I’m all for a cleanup project that includes “get more stuff” as part of the description.

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That’s awesome! I’ve had great success using my Glowforge with anodized aluminum, have you found otherwise? Or am I misunderstanding?

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Oh I do anodized aluminum tags all the time, just black aluminum anodizing is glossy and totally wouldn’t match the matte ASA printed handles they slot into. That Durablack is matte finish and produces a really nice finish (and is supposed to be more durable and UV to anodizing) The link above take you to the details.

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Filament just seems to multiply. Feels good to get organized. The engraved plates will be a nice addition.

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I think I have more fun collecting materials and organizing them than I do actually making stuff. Hence I have half a basement filled with three multi-drawer tool chests (with both narrow and deep drawers, and all with wooden tops), and two large two-door metal cabinets, plus several small plastic drawer units, a 5-shelf, 4-foot long heavy-duty shelving unit, and multiple totes (which are stored under the stairs). Because you just never know when you’re going to need that one particular piece of whatever to make something. :rofl:

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Showoff. Let the bragging games begin… :upside_down_face:

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:rofl: Maybe it’s because I’m better at organizing than I am at creating and making! 30 years secretarial work compared to four years crafting. :slight_smile:

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First problem I overcame (note do not look at photo with liquids in your mouth if you are in a non spit-take zone) was that I do not own an enclosure for my Prusa XL (in the new workstation I may be able to accommodate the depth of the already massive printer with an even more massive enclosure (what engineering thought the air filter should be on the back on a printer that weighs over 80lbs??) anyway, since I had had this problem before, I had purchased a cheap soft enclosure online made of some of that fabric that the freezer bags that you bring ice cream home in. Looks stupid, but worked perfectly:

And all cozy inside on the remote cam…
WYZE_1735859077.189334

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This basically sums up my personality.

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