#Wood
95 posts100 ideas project retrospective (2023)
Looking back at 100 days of daily project ideas in 2023, what got built, what got scrapped, and why I burned out doing it.
Read postIdea 085 - Carved wooden postcards
Sending a Baltic birch plywood postcard via the Canadian post of every mammal in BC
Read postIdea 084 - Pressed lotus flower lamp
A lamp made of acrylic shards of pressed flowers in the shape of a lotus flower
Read postIdea 076 - The Vancouver Tone
Give Vancouver its own unique tone by installing wind chime like devices in the trees across the city
Read postIdea 069 - One Liners
All the bad one liner ideas that wont get developed into anything
Read postIdea 058 - In a million parts
A series of small artworks, one per quotable line from a book, movie, or album, built and shared on a steady schedule.
Read postIdea 052 - Landscape Table
A coffee table with a CNC topographical map with contour and elevation lines
Read postDigital stained glass workshop
A workshop at MakerLabs Vancouver where attendees design a 9x9 inch illuminated stained glass window with WS2811 LEDs and CNC-cut foam.
Read postCosts - Stained glass windows project
Bill of materials for one stained glass panel: pixels, acrylic, plywood, and laser time totalling about $156 CAD.
Read postMay 2018 brain dump
May 2018 grab bag of links: pen plotters, ESPEasy firmware, the TWANG dungeon crawler, and a wooden lego planter.
Read postWood frames - Stained glass windows project
Building hexagonal baltic birch frames for the stained glass panels on the table saw, with a grooved channel holding the acrylic.
Read postInspiration - Stained glass windows project
Inspiration for the stained glass windows project, from Lumina Lab's Stoicheia dodecahedron to mandala work on Instagram.
Read postLaser cutting in Vancouver
A guide to laser cutting in Vancouver after 4000 hours on the machines: where to cut, who to follow, and which shop to avoid.
Read postWood working in vancouver
Where to do woodworking in Vancouver: rentable shops, intro courses at the Round House and Maker Labs, plus where to buy wood and tools.
Read postWanhao Duplicator i3
Notes on picking up a used Wanhao Duplicator i3, getting started with Cura, and a list of 3D printing resources.
Read postAlternatives to the Vancouver Hackspace.
A list of alternatives to Vancouver Hackspace after its community turned toxic, with makerspaces, meetups, and tool libraries.
Read postDay 92 - Yellow jacket
A laser-cut wood yellow jacket in a top hat for the Fancy Bugs Burning Man series, made at VHS.
Read postDay 91 - Cockroach
A laser-cut wood American cockroach wearing a top hat for the Fancy Bugs Burning Man series.
Read postDay 90 - Blowfly
A laser-cut wood blowfly in a top hat for the Fancy Bugs Burning Man series, made at VHS.
Read postDay 89 - Jumping spider
A laser-cut wood jumping spider with a top hat, another entry in the Fancy Bugs Burning Man series.
Read postDay 88 - Preying mantis
A laser-cut wood praying mantis wearing a top hat, part of the Fancy Bugs series for Burning Man.
Read postDay 87 - Burning man plaque
A large map of Black Rock City for camp visitors to mark cool spots with push pins and flags.
Read postDay 85 - Mustaches
Laser-cut mustache pendants strung on ribbons, hung from the dome roof as Burning Man gifts.
Read postDay 84 - MeeBox
A nesting laser-cut gift box for Burning Man, sitting in the dome for people to trade trinkets in and out of.
Read postDay 83 - Mario coins
Mario coins and coin boxes that did not turn out, passed along to a kids camp to play with.
Read postDay 81 - Voronoi tower
A 20 by 10 inch laser-cut prototype of a voronoi pylon lantern, aiming for a 7-foot final version.
Read postDay 72 - fairy door workshop
Group photo from the fairy door workshop at VHS, with a longer write-up coming on the hackspace blog.
Read postDay 71 - fairy door painting
All the workshop fairy doors get a coat of primer before paint day.
Read postDay 70 - fairy door off cuts
Messing around with leftover wood off-cuts from the fairy door workshop to see what they want to be.
Read postDay 69 - Installing fairy door two
A photo set of bad spots where fairy doors do not work, the counterpoint to the good locations post.
Read postDay 68 - Installing fairy door
A photo set of good spots around Vancouver to install tiny magic fairy doors.
Read postDay 67 - Testing fairy door
Sample fairy doors built with friends to test designs for the upcoming Magic Fairy Door workshop.
Read postDay 66 - Pointy fairy door
A pointy-arch fairy door design, too small to use but with a shape worth keeping for the next round.
Read postDay 65 - Curved fairy door
A curved fairy door by @ninetynein, tricky to hinge but the shape works.
Read postDay 64 - Barrel fairy door
A barrel-shaped fairy door by @ninetynein that ended up looking more like an elevator.
Read postDay 63 - Brick fairy door
A brick-textured fairy door by @ninetynein, shaped to inspire kids before they paint over it.
Read postDay 62 - Triangle fairy door
A triangle fairy door by @ninetynein with a space-age 60s neo-future look.
Read postDay 61 - flintstone fairy door
A Flintstones-style fairy door by @ninetynein with lots of room for kids to decorate.
Read postDay 60 - fancy fairy door
A fancy laser-cut fairy door by @ninetynein, this run came out wrong and needs a recut.
Read postDay 59 - Hobbit fairy door two
The original plain hobbit fairy door with a straight left edge that fits hinges well.
Read postDay 58 - Hobbit fairy door
A hobbit-style fairy door designed by @ninetynein, looks great but a bit fiddly to assemble.
Read postDay 57 - fairy door normal
Plain fairy doors with extra surface area for kids to decorate at the workshop.
Read postDay 56 - fairy door magic
Smaller versions of the magic fairy door, sized down from the original Day 33 build.
Read postDay 55 - fairy door arch
An arched fairy door cut for the upcoming fairy door workshop, designed by @ninetynein.
Read postDay 54 - Lasers letters
A set of laser-cut letters with source files posted to GitHub.
Read postDay 51 - Circles panel
A laser-cut wooden panel with a circles pattern for the LED light wall.
Read postDay 50 - Unfinished panel
An unfinished laser-cut wooden panel from the LED light wall build.
Read postDay 49 - Branches panel
A laser-cut wooden panel with a tree-branches pattern, a favorite from the LED panel series.
Read postDay 48 - Maze panel
A laser-cut wooden panel with a maze pattern for the LED light wall.
Read postDay 47 - Twelve sided star
A laser-cut wooden panel with a twelve-sided star pattern for the LED light wall.
Read postDay 46 - Voronoi pattern panel
A laser-cut wooden panel with a Voronoi cell pattern, part of the LED panel series.
Read postDay 41 - Pocket universe title card
The title panel for the Pocket Universe dome so people actually know what the project is called when they walk up.
Read postDay 40 - Hyperbolic triangle
A hyperbolic triangle panel cut as another piece for the Pocket Universe dome project.
Read postDay 38 - Cthulhu panel
A Cthulhu panel for the Pocket Universe dome, planned to get a green-to-purple glow behind it for a demonic effect.
Read postDay 37 - Flower of life panel
The Flower of Life panel for the Pocket Universe dome, by far the most requested design when I asked for suggestions.
Read postDay 35 - Spades panel variant 2
A second variant of the spades panel test cut for the Pocket Universe dome, based on a design from Adam Barlev.
Read postDay 33 - Painted fairy door
A painted fairy door test piece for an upcoming workshop, built from the template I made on day 24.
Read postDay 34 - Spades Panel
Test CNC cut of a spades panel for the Pocket Universe dome, designed by Adam Barlev and maybe too thin for the router.
Read postDay 31 - Laser branch panel
A 70cm laser-cut panel of tangled branches, made to drop into one of the CNC frame panels on the dome.
Read postDay 30 - Large picture frame CNC Panel
A larger picture-frame style CNC panel for the Pocket Universe dome, though I prefer the smaller one from day 29.
Read postDay 29 - Picture frame CNC Panel
A CNC-cut picture-frame panel for the Pocket Universe dome, with a hole in the middle for a laser-cut insert.
Read postDay 28 - Spiral panel CNC
Second CNC-cut panel for the Pocket Universe dome, a spiral design and my favourite so far.
Read postDay 24 - Elven fairy door
A revised elven fairy door test cut that improves on the day 9 attempts for the NSG project.
Read postDay 22 - triangl line panel
A triangle-line Pocket Universe panel cut in wood on the VHS laser cutter, designed by Adam Barlev.
Read postDay 10 - Hexagon Star
A small hexagon star test cut for the Pocket Universe dome, made on the VHS laser before scaling up on the Maker Labs ShopBot.
Read postDay 11 - String Star
A string-star test panel for the Pocket Universe dome, cut on the VHS laser to preview the design at small scale.
Read postDay 9 - Fairy doors
First three laser-cut fairy door prototypes for an upcoming VHS workshop, with a round hobbit door as the keeper.
Read postDay 1 - Fractal Triangle
A laser-cut fractal triangle of 96 small, 36 medium, and 9 large triangles in 3mm birch ply, assembled with 250+ zap straps.
Read postLaser cut 4 pack beer carrier
Three laser-cut 4-pack beer carriers in 6mm birch ply, cut at VHS, with finger grooves that bite when the bottles are full.
Read postLaser cut wooden TRex
A giant laser-cut wooden T-Rex built as an xmas gift, with a wooden base added to keep the 3.5-foot version from tipping.
Read postLaser cut Frabjous
A laser-cut Frabjous sculpture by George W. Hart, scaled from 4mm to 6mm birch and given to my mother for Christmas.
Read postLaser cut Mario coin boxes
Thirty laser-cut Mario Mystery Box piggy banks for my nephew's birthday party, made on the VHS laser cutter.
Read postStar-wars engraving with a laser cutter
Star Wars scenes etched into wood on the VHS laser cutter as a birthday gift for a friend.
Read postQuick and easy word clock with a spare monitor and JavaScript
A word clock made by laser-cutting a wood mask of words and placing it over a monitor driven by JavaScript.
Read postThe Giant Claw Game! - Problems
Status check on the Giant Claw one week before Maker Faire: claw and joystick done, gantry pulleys still slipping.
Read postThe Giant Claw Game! - The Gantry System
Switching the Giant Claw from a four-motor skycam to a two-motor CoreXY gantry with eight pulleys on top of the cube.
Read postThe Giant Claw Game! - The Claw, Prototype 3
Claw prototype three adds a geared motor, longer prongs, limit switches, and the wooden frame cube it lives inside.
Read postThe Giant Claw Game! - The Claw, Prototype 2
Second claw prototype built in wood with brass hinges that actually grips play balls and holds them while swinging.
Read postThe Giant Claw Game! - The Claw Research, Version 1
First cardboard and laser-cut attempts at a three-prong claw for the Giant Claw Game, plus links to designs that inspired the next pass.
Read postThe Giant Claw Game! - Controller
Laser-cut controller box for the Giant Claw Game with an arcade joystick, a fire button, and an RJ45 pigtail.
Read postSpace ship mobile
A laser-cut spaceship mobile made at VHS as a baby gift, with painted rings and pre-cut string holes.
Read postLasers and Vancouver OpenData
A laser-cut wooden map of Vancouver's roads and parks made from TileMill and city open data.
Read postWooden laser cut pendants
Wooden laser-cut pendants using Noun Project icons and Raphael-generated sacred geometry circles.
Read postGeo Caching with Wooden nickles
Trying to seed laser-cut wooden nickel geocoins across New York and Toronto caches, with mixed results and a stop at Adventure Box.
Read postThe last batch of GeoCoins
The final batch of laser-cut wooden geocoins for the New York trip, plus a printed Nautilus Gear from Thingiverse.
Read postMore GeoCoins designs
A fresh round of wooden geocoin designs with the Inkscape source files included.
Read postMore GeoCoins tests
Dialling in the laser settings on 25 test geocoins at VHS and logging them into the thing tracker to dogfood it.
Read postFirst test of making GeoCoins with the laser cuter
First laser-cutter tests for homemade geocoins at VHS, with acrylic QR codes failing and wooden nickels reading just fine.
Read postThing tracking system and GeoCaching
Building my own thing-tracking web app to use on laser-cut geocoins after the official GeoCaching tracking codes priced me out.
Read postLook what I made - Compass table
A Vancouver Maker Faire build using a thrift store table, two sheets of acrylic, and 1000 ten-cent compasses from Alibaba.
Read postSign Posts - Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2011
150 hand-painted directional signs mounted on four posts for Vancouver Mini Maker Faire 2011.
Read postSettlers of Catan: Tricks and Tactics
Settlers of Catan: Tricks and Tactics
Read postCrokinole
Notes on Crokinole, the Ontario-born tabletop flicking game, with a bit of its 1876 history and the basic rules.
Read postLee Krasnow - Puzzle box maker
Lee Krasnow's Barcode Burr puzzle, a six-piece burr whose notches force the pieces to move in a strict binary sequence.
Read postRiddles
A list of classic riddles I have been saving, with answers tucked below the cut.
Read post