Category Archives: Uncategorized

PVC Pipe Lithophane

lithophane both

I saw a video of a cylindrical lithophane made from a PVC pipe a few years back (You tube Link).  I had always wanted to replicate it.  Not only have I replicated what was done in the video I did it with all open source software.  The picture above shows the PVC pipe lithophane I created on the left.  On the right is the same lithophane with a candle inside for back lighting.  I used Dmap2Gcode to create the g-code for cutting the image based on the lightness of the picture then I mapped the Y-axis to a rotary axis (A-axis) using a yet to be released version of G-Code Ripper.  I will post again when I finish testing and release the new version G-Code Ripper.

F-Engrave V1.30 (Auto Loop Flipping)

determine loop sides

F-Engrave now can determine which side of the loops in a DXF design need to be cut.  Previously the input needed to be formatted so that the loops in the design were clockwise or counter clockwise to determine whether the inside or outside of the loop was cut.  Most programs that export DXF files do not do this automatically.   Some hard core F-Engrave users took the time to manually flip the loop directions as needed in Inkscape to get there designs to work with F-Engrave.  My hat is off to those users!  This release goes out to you guys.  Kick back and relax while F-Engrave does the work for you now.  The calculations are so fast for small designs you may not even notice the message telling you that the side to cut are being determined.

In addition there is a new “V-Carve Accuracy” setting.  This new setting can be used to ignore small features in a design.  This is especially useful for small DXF design imperfections which result in bad v-carve tool paths.

Get the new version here: F-Engrave Download

 

Playing with 3Doodler

3Doodler

I had a chance to sit down for a couple of minutes with a 3Doodler.  In just a minute or two I made the little tripod tower in the picture.  It is really easy to get started with the 3Doodler you can get creating things right away.  I am just not sure what I would do with the items that were created.  The doodler is not really for making prototype parts.  It is more geared toward creative works.  I am not much of an artist but even if I could create a great looking piece with the 3Doodler it would still be made of plastic.  A piece of plastic art just doesn’t have the same appeal as other materials.  The 3Doodler was pretty neat but I don’t think I would have much use for one.

Tiny Aluminum Yoda

Aluminum Yoda Pic

Aluminum Yoda Back Pic

I have been working on making a very small electric furnace for doing small aluminum castings.  As part of testing an early iteration of the furnace I cast a copy of a little Yoda that we got from a cereal box.  The Yoda is about 1.5 inches tall.  I don’t really know what I am going to cast with the little furnace but it will make it really easy to make small parts.  The small wooden flask I used to make the Yoda is pictured below.

Small Flask Pic

Below is a picture of the cast Yoda after I split the flask.

Yoda Cast Pic

I will post more about the furnace when I have the design more refined.

 

 

Scorch

July 10, 2013

My plan is to post item here that are not complete enough (and may never be) to warrant a permanent place on my web page.  I guess the first item is the blog itself.