Non-Traditional Guy: A day at the other Garage

I put in about 13 hours at work last night on my new project. When I was done, I figured I'd spend a little time at the Microsoft Garage, a Microsoft-funded, open-use makerspace just a couple blocks from my building in Redmond. Among the cool equipment we get to play with is an Epilog Helix laser -- the same machine I used for my first project, a 13x13 go board.

This time, I wanted to try out my port of BoxMaker with SVG output functionality -- a very useful feature that lets me import my file into Visio and add extra raster etches or vector cuts before I send the job to the laser.

I created two 3" cubed boxes and etched "REED" on one and "JACOB" on the other. The job took only about five minutes to cut all 12 pieces.

When I got home, I assembled both boxes, using wood glue on all but the top piece to keep them assembled.

The boys were quite happy this morning when they got their own treasure boxes.

After hitting the main Garage space, I went over to Microsoft's other lab that, among other things, contains a vinyl cutter. After a short time playing around with the configuration, I was up and running. I grabbed a couple Foo Fighters logos, converted them to SVG using potrace, then cut them out on the machine, removed the unnecessary vinyl pieces and added the adhesive front. The result isn't much to look at, but it's the completed product, ready to be applied.

I cut two of the top designs, deciding partway through today that I would put one of them on my laptop. So I cleaned up the plastic with some rubbing alcohol and a paper towel, removed the backing, and applied the vinyl with a credit card to ensure it stuck.