Prototype from Ponoko

Here you can see the prototype tombstones for the 'build your own graveyard cake kit'. Due to dimensional problems they wound up a little oversized. You can also see the untrustworthy ruler (where inches are 1.25 inches long).

What was it my dad said? Measure twice, cut once. Gotta listen to dad.

There is a lot of residue from the laser cutter as you can see in this picture (the white powdery stuff). That wipes off easily. There was some denser stuff around the letters but I was able to polish that out also. The black acrylic is highly reflective. The unetched side is covered with a protective layer that I was able to peel off easily.

I'm disappointed with the size problems here, but that's my fault. I should have printed out a proof page before I submitted the order. I am happy with the job Ponoko did and I will be sending in another order soon.

First Order from Ponoko

My first Ponoko order arrived yesterday. They processed the order Monday, so this arrived sooner than expected. I did some simple things on a small sheet of black acrylic, just to see how it would turn out. One of the items on the sheet was a ruler. I was going to use it in photographs to show how big things were. Unfortunately I had an error in my file, and the four inch ruler wound up just over five inches long. (Geometry Fail!)

I need a structure for a flight-sim cockpit I'm building. I think that will be my next Ponoko design.

www.ponoko.com

What is Fab 410?

I'm building a Fab Lab for the Provo-Orem Utah area. The first edition is a virtual fab, using online resources instead of physical machines. This makes it a bit less immediate, a bit harder than a fully furnished fab lab. Just a beginning though: I want to build out to the real thing over the next few months. Check back soon!

--Randall Bohn