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How To Save Material-And Money-By Formatting Your Designs With Nesting Optimization

Do you know about nesting? We're not talking about those intricate avian structures birds call home (although it is surprisingly fascinating to watch a nest being built). Nor are we referring to "nesting" done by newlyweds or expectant parents (while this could be equally fascinating from the psychological perspective).

Our kind of nesting is all about creating a neat and tidy home for your laser cut designs so you can eliminate material waste-and save money.

What Is Nesting?

From a manufacturing perspective, nesting is about laying out cutting patterns to minimize raw material waste.

Top 10 Tips To Reduce Laser Cutting Costs

Everything you need to know to reduce your laser cutting costs.
See the ultimate guide here
Nesting for laser cutting builds on the concept so that the parts to be cut are not only positioned close together but also configured where there can be shared cutting lines on parts that have parallel lines.

Why Does Nesting Matter For Your Laser Cutting Project?

No matter what kind of maker you are, you can use nesting as a tool to be able to make more things, save more money and generate more profit.

Perhaps you are a designer who wants to reduce making costs and waste less material. Or maybe you sell your laser cut designs on Etsy or are launching a product via Kickstarter. Being able to lower the per-unit cost increases your profit.

What about for businesses that laser cut custom promotional products? Nesting allows you to maximize your swag budget and have higher ROI per giveaway.

Even casual makers can benefit from nesting. Not only can you get more for your money and out of your materials, but with the saved space you could also add another product. We often see designs come through where customers add a personalized card in the extra space made available when the pieces are properly nested.

Because nesting optimization maximizes overall material usage, there's less waste. Nobody likes to be wasteful! And every little bit of material that isn't wasted is better for the environment.

How Can Nesting Save You Money?

When laser cutting, the price you pay is mainly determined by two things:

1. Material Costs
Whether you cut one piece or one hundred, you buy the entire sheet of material. If you configure the design to get more parts on the sheet, then cost per piece is reduced. Because nesting parts fits more pieces into a more compact space, you may also be able to use a smaller materials sheet-saving you money on the materials cost. Overall, part nesting allows you to maximize the output per sheet and get more for your money.

2. Machine Costs
Machine Time = Making Costs. The more time it takes to cut a design, the higher the price. Keeping pieces together reduces the travel time between parts, making the cutting process quicker. If the design includes straight parallel lines that can be shared, then this line only has to be cut once and not twice. Nesting allows you to be more efficient with how the machine laser cuts the design. More Efficient = More Savings.

How To Use Nesting Like A Pro

Laying out the pieces for your laser cut designs is a bit art and a bit science. It's kind of like building a house. There are many different configurations that will work. But which is the most optimal and cost effective?

You can nest manually or you can employ automated nesting software tools (either free or paid) to assist with the task. Let's take a look at the options so you can decide what's right for your next project.

To make it fun, let's use this super sweet rhino design made from laser cut stacked slices of newly introduced white mat board as an example throughout.

MANUAL NESTING

As the name suggests, manual nesting means that you edit the design by moving parts around by hand until you get the pieces to fit in the least amount of space. It's a bit of trial and error, manually shifting the pieces until they look just right.

By incorporating a nesting strategy from the very beginning of the design process, you can be very intentional in your placement to maximize opportunities for shared lines, etc.

Manual nesting is most appropriate for simple designs with straight lines as well as when you are cutting multiples of the same shape that can be turned into a grid.

For example, look at how much more efficient the configuration can be with these hexagons:

By grouping them together and sharing cut lines, you can get more shapes per sheet, increasing your output and reducing your unit cost.

Patterns such as these hexagons are visually intuitive and rather simple, so an automated nesting tool isn't necessary. You can just as efficiently place them manually to achieve the same results.

But what about our rhino example? There are many more pieces of varying sizes and shapes. Here's one way to manually configure pieces that looks pretty efficient:

We'll find out how good our manual nesting design is once we try the automated tools next...

Manual Nesting Pros:
* Free
* Ideal for simple designs and shared lines

Manual Nesting Cons:
* Can be time consuming
* The more complicated the design and/or the more pieces, the more complex the nesting becomes
* Depending on how you build the design, you may need to manually delete any doubled lines, another time consideration
* The computer is most likely better than you at Tetris

AUTOMATED NESTING

Automated nesting tools are generally much faster than manual nesting, and the computer algorithms are typically better at configuring the pieces in the most efficient way. They can rotate the pieces getting them to fit together with the minimum amount of material waste, which saves you the most money when laser cutting.

These online nesting tools also offer more features for managing designs. This makes it easy to upload a design file and have the computer quickly arrange the pieces onto a chosen material sheet size. Depending on how robust the nesting software is, many offer additional services for managing files and combining parts from multiple files together. For example software's such as Sigmanest are specifically designed to deal with multiple types of machines for industrial users.

While it is fast and easy to make multiple layouts with automated nesting tools, keep in mind that laser cutters don't necessarily cut sequentially where logically it seems they should. Sometimes the lasers will travel to the other side of the material for the next line despite other linework in closer proximity.

Due to the slight unpredictability of the cutting order, it can be helpful to upload several slightly differently nested files. Sometimes how the parts are placed next to one another might save cutting time and money. The good news is that creating different versions of these nested designs is as easy as a click of a button with automated tools.

SVGnest is a vector-based, online nesting tool to optimize laser cut layouts. The geometry-driven, genetic algorithm works by grouping all of the elements within a defined area, then it finds the best fit by first setting the largest shapes and subsequently placing the smaller objects around them.

As one reviewer notes in this previous post, "It gets really interesting when there are many design elements and also when the objects to be sorted are all of a similar size."

So how does our manual layout of rhino pieces above compare to the configuration SVGnest computes?

The layout is much different-and more efficient-than our original manually nested file. You can see how the larger pieces were arranged left to right, then the smaller piece added in where they fit best. The resulting layout definitely has less material waste than the manually nested configuration.

The drawback with this tool is that you have less options when it comes to adding parts from files together and you have to upload individual files with an object the same size as your chosen material each time.

SVGnet Pros
* Free
* No account necessary to use tool
* Simple to use

SVGnet Cons
* Only imports and exports SVG files
* No options
* No ability to add multiple parts from different files
* File must contain separate box the size of your intended materials sheet

Deepnest employs a part-layout engine with part-in-part placement to build nested files specifically for laser cutting. It utilizes an online interface combined with software downloaded to your desktop. Because most of the work occurs in the desktop nesting software, there is no waiting for the next page to load as with pure online tools. Thus, it's feels a bit smoother to use.

And since it is based on a credit system of payment, it is affordable to use whether you need occasional nesting as a hobbyist or maker, have light use in a workshop or makerspace environment, or need unlimited nesting for production shops and enterprise customers.

To get started, download the software (Windows, Mac or Linux) using this special offer for Ponoko makers.

Next, import your file. You'll see all the parts and their respective dimensions on the left. Select them and add any multiples of each part to be nested.

You'll also want to create a part in your file that is the size of the material sheet. Having an object the size of the template ensures the scale is correct after export. While it is possible to create the sheet size in the software, including it in the file upload allows the scale to easily be fixed if necessary.

Mark this largest part as your sheet, then hit start. Deepnest will continue to search for better solutions until you hit stop.

How does our rhino file look nested with Deepnest? Check it out:

Of the three automated tools tested, this one had the most enjoyable user interface. Some may feel like downloading nesting software to the desktop is a drawback, but not having to wait for pages to load like with an online-based nesting tool made the entire process much smoother.

The drawback was difficulty keeping the scale accurate, which was corrected once a piece this size of the material sheet was added. But this took some additional time to figure out. The tool does delete most of the double lines, but the system isn't perfect. So some additional time was required to address this as well.

Deepnest Pros
* Designed for laser cutters
* User-friendly interface
* Ability to select individual objects and place them multiple times in the nested file
* Easy-to-use options for changing space tolerances between pieces
* Accepts SVG, DXF and CDR files
* Exports to both SVG and DXF

Deepnest Cons
* While software runs on the desktop (a pro for us), user must be logged in online to nest
* Requires additional post processing to get files Ponoko ready
* Can be difficult to keep the scale correct (troubleshoot this by creating a piece that is the size of the material sheet as described above)
* Doesn't perfectly merge common lines so the laser doesn't cut the same path twice

Deepnest Special Offer
Want to give Deepnest a try? They're giving Ponoko makers 10 free credits per account. 1 credit = 1 nest. Here's your special link to sign up with your email/google account: http://deepnest.io/supersecretponokopromo/

Blank Slate is a web-based nesting service for organizations and professionals who make custom products with 3D printers, CNC devices and laser cutters. The online nesting tool uses industry standard CAD formats to help optimize time and materials without the need to download/install software. A sketch design tool and cloud-based design storage tool are also offered. Each tool can be used separately or together.

As a web-based collaboration service, Blank Slate offers users (individuals or teams) the ability to create and manage design files, collaborate, share revisions and address common toolchain issues. You can keep designs in the cloud for next time, share them with others and type in the number of duplicates you would like, making this service ideal for people who want to produce multiple designs moving forward.

It is subscription based, with a $35 monthly fee that gives unlimited laser cutting and 3D printer file exports. The ongoing subscription allows you to nest as many files as you want and keep them in your design library. You can then mix and match files to get the final nesting layout desired.

Once you create an account, upload files (SVG, PDF or DXF) under the "My Designs" tab. The tool will try to clean up files for laser cutting, but there are limits to what it can do.

Next, prep materials and designs for nesting by clicking on the "Fabricate" tab. Enter in the size of material to be used and the quantity of each file to be made (yes, you can use multiple files!).

Press the "Click to Make Nested Cutfile" at the bottom, which will automatically optimize your collection of designs. The process will incrementally improve the layout, eventually timing out after 20 seconds. To see a different orientation, use the "Repeat Nest" button. This will reset the nesting algorithm to try a new approach.

Once the process is complete (you can stop at any point when you're satisfied with the results), click the download button. How do you think this layout of our rhino design looks?

Blank Slate has the more robust set of tools of the nesting software systems we tested. The ability to add parts from multiple files/users is a real plus. But as with the other automated tools we tested, there can be double lines that aren't deleted, which adds additional time in post processing.

Blank Slate Pros
* Input files are analyzed and are automatically corrected for structural problems that would prevent it from nesting and cutting properly
* Multiple file formats supported (Upload SVG, PDF or DXF files; Output - SVG)
* Centralized repository for designs with drag and drop interface
* Nests a collection of designs from different files and/or different users
* Nests materials with existing cuts/holes
* Easily configures number of copies of each design to be nested (rather than duplicating by hand in an endless copy-and-paste flurry)
* Includes feature to add spacing between parts, eliminating any burns where parts come too close together and the heat of the laser compounds

Blank Slate Cons
* Online-based system can have slow page loads
* Results are not always the optimal layout
* Not all double lines deleted
* Requires more post processing to get the file Ponoko ready

Blank Slate Special Offer
Want to give Blank Slate a try? Until April 30, 2017, the first 100 Ponoko makers to subscribe will receive one month free. Just go here and use the special code "PONOKO17" when signing up.

The Results: Manual Vs. Automated Nesting

While the final configuration for each of the automated nesting tools is slightly different, each one took the original manual nesting layout and reduced it to fit in half a materials sheet. Cool!

Since these take up half a materials sheet, now you have enough space to make two and start a little rhino family. Or if your home only has room for one rhino, see if the design fits on a smaller sheet size. Smaller sheets will reduce your material costs and possibly shipping costs, too.

After you have finalized the new SVG "cut file," just pop it on a Ponoko template in your chosen software to bring your creation to life.

While all of our nesting files look great, the true test is how well they price out...

Since the SVGnest file had overlapping parts, it wasn't possible to quote it. With this one out of the running, here's how our manual nesting compared with the Deepnest and Blank Slate files.

To calculate costs, we quoted this project using amber bamboo. Making costs were the same between the manually nested file and Blank Slate. Deepnest came in $1.03 lower. But the real saving is found in the material cost. Materials for the manual nesting topped out at $20, where both automated nesting files only required $11.50 for materials.

Overall, Deepnest was the least expensive at $31.97, with Blank Slate coming in a close second at $33 and manual nesting was $41.50.

The best automated nesting solution generated a 23% cost saving over manual nesting 🙂

What did we learn from this nesting software experiment? As expected, the automated tools created a more efficient arrangement of parts that resulted in a significant cost savings when compared to manual nesting. On the other hand, we didn't expect the additional post processing that would be necessary to get the files Ponoko ready.

So while the automated nesting tools were helpful in configuring the most efficient layout, they do have limitations. But they're definitely tools worth having in your toolbox.

What's the best nesting software? Which one should you use? Depends on your needs and personal preferences. Do you want simple or robust? What kind of interface do you prefer? Try out several services to get a feel for how they work. Upload the files for quoting to see if there are pricing differences in the layouts generated. Once you experiment with several designs in multiple tools, you'll determine which nesting tool is the right fit for you.

Improve Your Nesting Process Even Further With These Tips

Want to become even more proficient with nesting your laser cut designs? Follow these tips:

* When choosing between manual and automatic nesting, consider overall time and monetary investment. If you are paying for a designer's time, determine if savings in laser cutting and materials will offset the design fees.

* If you plan to make repeat orders of the same design, then it's a good idea to prep the file as well as possible at the beginning to take advantage of the savings from nesting each time the product is made.

* Make sure the scale is correct. When taking files between nesting tools, be careful that the scale doesn't get confused. SVGs are particularly susceptible because the units are dependent on the number of pixels/inch, which differs between nesting software programs. Including an object with a known size (such as the material sheet size) in your design is helpful for checking this before products are made.

* Eliminate any double lines. While automated nesting software tries to delete any doubled up lines, some are inevitably missed. Review the file carefully and remove any double lines manually.

* Eliminate overlapping parts. The automated nesting tools tend to have options for space allowance between parts so they don't cut into one another. Using a minimum value a value of 1mm is recommended.

* Adjust colors. Some online nesting tools export line colors and thicknesses that need adjusting to match Ponoko requirements. Therefore, some manual adjustments may be necessary.

* Remove unnecessary complexities. If there are superfluous elements that no one will miss, eliminate them. With laser cutting, less is more.

* Review curves. Lasers slow down dramatically on curves. Try to reduce any curved sections without compromising the overall design. If completely straight lines aren't an option, explore reducing the radius size as a compromise. See how one maker made these adjustments in the post How To Use Nesting Parts In Laser Cutting.

* Read Top Ten Ways To Reduce Laser Cutting Costs. This 10-part series addresses issues throughout the entire laser-cutting process such as digital prototyping, starting small, grouping parts, choosing material thicknesses and much more.

How Has Nesting Worked For You?

Fire away! We'd love to hear how you have minimized material waste, saved money and overall improved your design files by incorporating nesting parts into your process. Share your experience in the comments below.

Got screen shots of your files before and after nesting? We'd love to see them via @Ponoko on Twitter or give us a shout on Facebook.

And if you're ready to make, log in and get to work!

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The Definitive Guide To Nesting Software For Laser Cut Designs

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Do you know about nesting? We're not talking about those intricate avian structures birds call home (although it is surprisingly fascinating to watch a nest being built). Nor are we referring to "nesting" done by newlyweds or expectant parents (while this could be equally fascinating from the psychological perspective).

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Introduction: Acrylic Sheet RGB Glowing Weather Station With Indoor/outdoor/forecast Using ESP8266

The Weather station I made is based on the software of Daniel Eichhorn from Switserland . This firmware includes measurement of the inside temperature + humidity, outside temperature + air pressure (fetching data from a 2nd weatherstation connected to thingspeak) and local forecast data from Wunderground (Weather underground) See his blog at http://blog.squix.ch/

I want to make sure for my project that this time I added really everything required to complete my Instructable. If anything is missing let me know!

I thought it would be cool to design my own Weather Station with a larger OLED display (not the original 0.96", I found 2.4") and pay a lot of attention to the looks of the station. So as "enclosure" I used Acrylic sheet which I laser-cutted in the shape of a sun/cloud. My goal was to let the acrylic "glow" depending on the forecast or other criterium: red means its getting warmer, blue means its getting colder, white flashing: thunderstorm expected. Etc. Or perhaps just a pretty color you like?

To do this I used approx. 20cm Adafruit RGB LED Neopixel strip around the OLED display (a total of 12 Neopixels are on the strip). They are very easy to use with their 1-wire connection and built-in LED controller PER LED! Cheaper Chinese clones might work but I wanted to be sure and wanted to use the Adafruit lib.

So I expanded the firmware with Neopixel control (RGB led's on a strip, from Adafruit) and a smooth fading pattern. Depending on forecast data and current readings the Neopixels now fade in a certain color.

I used almost any technique I had at my disposal. Laser cutting, 3d printing thanks to my local FabLab, CAD schematic design + PCB, Arduino programming.

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Step 1: Shopping for the Parts

Update!
This has been added AFTER I published the instructable and the text following in this step.

I noticed that the USB cable was clearly visible in the images I uploaded. I did not pay attention to it at the time of posting but now it started to annoy me. So I have a solution. Instead of using the USB connector mentioned below in my Electronics Bill Of Materials use this one. Now the USB cable will be pointed backward when plugging it in. This connector however does not fit on the PCB design that I made. To overcome this a slight mechanical finetune was needed. The 2 large metal pins that are on this connector I bent to the sides and solder them to the PCB large ground pads. The 5 USB data pins I had to slightly push towards the PCB so that they touched the PCB and could be soldered. I also added a picture showing how to do that with this Step. It's up to you which connector to use, in the BOM is the one fitting directly on the PCB but the one mentioned in this update makes the station look better!
Files to download
Download the ZIP file I attached to this project, it contains everything: the CAD files for the lasercutter (body + stand) and 3d printer (display bezel), the schematic and Gerber files for the PCB, a Bill of Materials for the electronics and the Firmware
Mechanical
For the mechanical part I used Acrylic sheet. Here in the Netherlands I found a very cheap supplier of real Plexiglas where you can order the smallest sizes you like (just the size you need) in all thicknesses. For Dutch readers click here. For the others you will have to find this locally.

You could use for the base and body any acrylic you like, I show here what I did. But for example the cloud/sun body could also be out of 1 clear sheet instead of the cloud being clear and the sun yellow-clear.

1 sheet of 220 x 220mm and 10mm thickness for the "cloud"

1 sheet of 120 x 120mm for the "sun"

some plastics adhesive preferably Acrifix 1R0192 to glue the parts together

1 sheet of 50x200mm for the base/stand (I used blue)

(optional 1 sheet of plastic in color of choice, approx. 1mm thick to make the OLED bezel/front plate, I supplied both the 3d print files for the bezel as well as the CAD file to laser-cut a bezel, the choice is up to you which one you prefer)

Electronics
Here is a complete overview of what I used for my project. In the Electronics step further on I'll explain what the parts are used for. You could decide to not use them all depending on what you want the station to show. At minimum you need an ESP8266 and the OLED display!

Order my PCB using my Gerber files. I used this very affordable Chinese service and the 5cm x 10cm option over there will fit. You will get 10 boards but for a price where I cannot get even 1 PCB for over here in Europe...)

For user using OSHpark service I added a seperate gerber/drill zipfile to this Step called OSHpark_gerber_drill

The parts to solder on the PCB I put in a separate pdf BOM list which I attached to the ZIP file to download from this project

A micro USB cable for the power and the programming of the firmware

A standard 5V USB power adapter like from your smartphone or find one on Ebay.

The OLED panel I got from ebay, click here I2C 2.42 128x64 Graphic OLED White Module ( Arduino / PIC / Multi-wii). The cutout in the Acrylic design matches the size of this OLED module.

A DHT22 / AM2302 Humidity + Temperature sensor (Ebay is your friend...)

Approx. 20cm of Adafruit Neopixel RGBW strip (so it includes W - White, my code is based on that fact). Click here. Others (clones from china) might work as well but I can give no guarantee...

An ESP8266 module variant 07 (! important when you use my PCB design). Search at Ebay for ESP-07 like this one.

Software

The code is attached in the ZIP file, there are also some librarier zipped inside the zipfile, you need to install these in the Arduino IDE. How this works can be found on www.arduino.cc

You need the Arduino IDE 1.6.5 with the ESP8266 board package installed. (1.6.6 and 1.6.7 had a problem with ESP8266 at the moment I wrote this, I do not know what or why...)

Attachments

Step 2: Mechanical Assembly (Laser-cutting the Acrylic Sheets and 3d-printing the Display Bezel)

I supplied all CAD files and the cutting itself depends on your local available machine regarding speed and power. I have included the base stand file, a file containing the complete sun/cloud but also 2 separate files for sun and cloud. In the pictures you can see I made 2 bodies, one is completely transparent the other has a yellow sun out of yellow acrylic sheet. With the supplied files you can choose which one to make.

In the end I chose to do the sun in yellow, the cloud in transparent colorless and the base stand in blue.

I supplied a laser-cut version and 3d file version of the bezel. If you choose the laser version then you need plastic sheet material of approx. 1mm to 1.5mm thick.

I used the laser-cut version because it looks more tidy then 3d printing and there is less light shining through due to the RGB leds. Aligning this laser-cut version to the acrylic body is more difficult since this has no notches like the 3d printed version but it looks much more tight and it lets no light slip through from the RGB (Neopixel) leds behind it shining through the acrylic body.

The 4 corner holes in the acrylic body needed treatment with a countersink. There is a picture added with this step which shows how the countersunken holes look. That way when mounting the PCB to the acrylic body you can lodge the screws in the body and the bezel will fit nicely over it, hiding the screws.

Lastly I used double-sided tape to attach the bezel to the plexiglas body.

Step 3: The Electronics

After I tested my electronics as a prototype on a breadboard (experimental board) I decided to design a printed circuit board, this looks very nice and makes fabrication easier. So there are 2 ways to build your own weather station variant. On a simple breadboard or you can use my PCB design!
The easy way: use the PCB design + parts list
With this instructable I supplied the schematic, Bill of Materials and Gerber files of the PCB. The easy way would be to buy the parts on my Bill of Materials (Farnell/Newark ordercodes included), order my PCB design from your PCB supplier of choice and solder it all on the PCB. No further instructions needed and you can go to the next step after soldering. NOTE: R7 + R8 are DO NOT MOUNT because the OLED display that I used has on-board pull-up resistors on it's I2C SCLK and SDA lines.

To mount the PCB to the back of the acrylic body I used 4 standoff's of 12mm high and 4x M3 screws with countersunken heads.
Building the electronic circuit on an experimental board
As an alternative you can build the circuit on an experimental board and use only the parts you can get your hands on and/or want to use. The schematic + PCB layout are the fancy version but when I pre-tested this all together I connected it using some wires "in the air" and OLED display + DHT22 were directly connected to the ESP8266 with wires, everything running on 3.3V. The Neopixels however DO NEED 5V and the 470 ohm resistor + large Electrolytic capacitor are for protection so do use them.

The extra parts in the end schematic are to make sure every part that was intended to run on 5V gets 5V and can safely communicate with the 3.3V ESP8266 without damaging it. Also a fuse is added just for protection.

Ordering the PCB and the parts from the BOM would be the easiest way to go but here's some information if you want to keep the cost to a minimum. So this information is only for those who want to build the circuitry by hand and using the bare minimum components. You need at least the OLED panel and the ESP8266. The DHT22 is used to measure your inside temperature and humidity. You can leave this if you like.

Also the connection to thingspeak is optional. I just use this to show what I measure right outside my doorstep. If you want to include this on your station it will require you having your own data on thingspeak using your own weather station. There are many options to find on Instructables.com. My own is only using an ESP8266 with a BMP180 pressure + temperature sensor. When I finish this instructable and have time I'll post my Thingspeak station as well and update this instructable :)
About the parts
First of all: all capacitors and resistors are none-critical which means you need them but any will do. So a 5% resistor is fine, a 20% tolerance capacitor too. All footprints (sizes) are the same: 0805 casing.

IC6 is only used to easily program the ESP8266 from the Arduino IDE using a USB cable like with Arduino's. If you already own an UART to USB converter like FT232 or similar you could also skip IC6 and pre-program the ESP8266 with the software. If you do this then S1 and S2 could be skipped as well.

F1 and D1 are for protection. If you do not want this simply do not mount D1 and short-circuit the F1 footprint simply with a wire, drop of tin or fancy "1206" shaped 0 ohms resistor.

IC2,3,4,5 are level translators. I added them to make sure that the 5V components can communicate with the 3.3V components. I've seen at least some designs where people feed the DHT22 with 3.3V although this is too low according specification. You could try this as well and do not mount IC3. In that case directly connect GPIO12 of the ESP8266 to the DHT22 data pin.

The Neopixels are not spec'd for operation on 3.3V logic signals and it needs 5V power for sure: 3.3V is too low. As a compromise some people run their circuit on 3.7V using a LiPo battery. You could do this but keep in mind thats the MAX for ESP8266 and just the MINIMUM for the Neopixels.

In my schematic + PCB design the OLED panel is powered by 5V. I know it works on 3.3V as well (tested it) only the luminous intensity is slightly lower. If you want to build the circuit on an experimental board just feed it with 3.3V and you will be fine.

Step 4: The Software

The last step! Very important, the software.

If you've used my PCB design then programming can be done inside the Arduino IDE. Set the board in the IDE to Generic ESP8266 module. Connect the Weather station to your PC using a micro USB cable. The COM port you need depends on the COM number that your PC gave to the weather station. You can find this in the device manager under Ports. The speed/baudrate that my ESP8266 came with is 115200 so thats what I've set in the IDE.

Press the switches on the board: first S2 then S1, then release S2 followed by S1. The blue light on the ESP-07 blinks shortly and the ESP8266 is in bootloader mode, ready to upload the sketch.

The code is pretty self-explaining and has been commented to explain what each part does.

Inside the code there is a part which begins with:

/*******begin settings*********/

and ends with:

/********end settings**********/

In this section you need to fill in some details for your local wifi, Wunderground and Thingspeak accounts.

Your WiFi credentials need to be filled in in the Sketch

You need to create a (free !) account on wunderground.com and get an API key with it, fill this in the Sketch

You need to find on wunderground.com the name of your local weather station, usually its the name of your city in capitals but look it up on their site and fill this in in your sketch

If you have your own Thingspeak weather station as well then you need to fill in the sketch your Thingspeak channel ID and API key

If you did not use my PCB design or schematic then maybe you need to change some things regarding the pin used for DHT22 and/or OLED SCL + SDA lines

You can specify how many pages you want to show on your OLED panel with this variable in the code : int numberOfFrames = 6;

So for example if you want to skip the Thingspeak function you need to change this to int numberOfFrames = 5;

Also you need to disable the code for that frame. For each frame there is a function which defines what to show in that frame. For the Thingspeak example it's drawFrame5 so locate that and delete it or comment it out. I think it's required as well that you re-name drawFrame6 to drawFrame5 now.

If you want to add a frame then just re-specify int numberOfFrames = newnrofframes ; then copy one of those functions drawFrameX and change it to what I want to show copy/pasting code from the other frames. I did not try it yet.

To control the RGB led fading I added the Adafruit Neopatterns class in the code. I also added 2 functions:

1. void update_fading_of_my_neopixels(void) //this function is called every 1mS using the Ticker option from the ESP8266 packages. This updates the neopixel fading pattern every 1mS without interfering with the frames sliding on the OLED panel.

2. change_neopixel_color(void) //in this function I change the color of the RGB leds depending on the weather forecast. It's not perfect yet but the idea is clear and you can easily adapt it to your own liking.

That was it people! I hope you enjoyed my (first) instructable and that many Acrylic glowing weather stations in the world will see the light!

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2017

There was a little bug in the original software since the beginning, the code does not pickup daylight saving time. So I kept changing every 6 months the code: the UTC_OFFSET variable needed to be 2 in wintertime for me and 1 in summer. I fixed it now very simply. I do not use the timeclient anymore but instead get the time from the Wunderground local station (the code to do this was already made by Daniel Eichhorn)

In the main sketch just locate the function bool drawFrame1() and change here 1 line, the one where string time gets the time assigned:
bool drawFrame1(SSD1306 display, SSD1306UiState state, int x, int y) {

...............................

//String time = timeClient.getFormattedTime();

String time = wunderground.getHours() + ":" + wunderground.getMinutes() + ":" + wunderground.getSeconds();

...............................}`

We have a be nice policy.
Please be positive and constructive.

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Acrylic Sheet RGB Glowing Weather Station With Indoor/outdoor/forecast Using ESP8266

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The Weather station I made is based on the software of Daniel Eichhorn from Switserland . This firmware includes measurement of the inside temperature + humidity, outside temperature + air pressure (fetching data from a 2nd weatherstation connected to thingspeak) and local forecast data from Wunderground (Weather underground) See his blog at http://blog.squix.ch/ I want to make sure for my project that this time I added really everything required to complete my Instructable.

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Voorbeelden van projecten bij Instructables.com

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Voorbeelden van projecten bij Instructables.com

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Laser cutters are an amazing tool, you can etch, cut, and engrave plastics, wood, and even some metals. Check out these cool laser cutting projects to get some...

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A laser cutter is a prototyping and manufacturing tool used primarily by engineers, designers, and artists to cut and etch into flat material. Laser cutters use a...

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Python bibliotheek om dozen en behuizingen te ontwerpen

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Python bibliotheek om dozen en behuizingen te ontwerpen

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A small python library for generating SVG drawings used for cutting out boxes or other structures using a laser cutter. It also offers a command line and web interface allowing control over many parameters.

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Introduction: Build TJBot Out of Cardboard

In this instructable, we guide you through how to obtain an IBM TJBot cardboard and how to fold TJBot from a laser cut cardboard.

If you already have your TJBot cardboard, jump to step 3 for folding instructions.

Here is a TJBot unboxing video that one of TJBot's friends, Lisa, has put together.

Step 1: Download the Design Files

TJBot is an open source project for building a little robot powered by IBM Watson. You can download laser cut designs from the TJBot website and laser cut your own TJBot. Three file formats are available: pdf, eps, dxf.

You can also download the 3D printing designs and 3D print your TJBot.
In this instructable, we guide you through how to fold TJBot from a laser cut cardboard.

5 People Made This Project!

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Step 2: Laser Cut TJBot

The recommend material for laser cutting TJBot is chipboard. Chipboard (same as cereal box material) is thinner and stronger than corrugated cardboard and can be easily cut with a laser cutter to produce perforated edges that are easy to fold.

If you don't have access to a laser cutter, there are many online vendors who provide laser cutting services. Alternatively, you may be able to find a laser cutter at a local makerspace, along with experts to help you perform the cut.

For the actual laser cut, we recommend using chipboard with dimensions 18" x 18" x .080" (457mm x 457mm x 2mm).

If you are in the UK, instead of chipboard they call it 2mm "craft card".

Step 3: Folding TJBot (Part 1)

Now that your laser cut is ready, it's time to assemble TJBot. Folding the chipboard requires patience and your full attention! :-)

Make sure you set aside enough time for folding TJBot and don't rush. It's easy to make a mistake by folding the chipboard in the wrong direction, and reversing the fold will cause the chipboard to break off. Don't panic if this happens, as you can use scotch tape to repair the damage.

Please note that when folding the chipboard, the following tricks are helpful.

Use the edge of a table or a metal ruler to give yourself leverage when folding the seams

Don't overfold - use the smallest amount of pressure needed to make the seams start moving, but stop just when they start to give. If you use too much pressure, you may tear the seam.

Plan your folds - as the saying goes, "measure twice, cut once", make sure you are folding in the right direction before you begin your fold.

The following videos show an overview of how to fold the chipboard and assemble TJBot.

Begin by laying the chipboard on a flat table.

The first step is to fold TJBot's jaw. The jaw piece is the large one with the four "Fold Down" tabs at the corners. Pop it loose from the larger piece of chipboard.

Fold down the corners that say "fold down".

Next, fold down the rectangular piece connected to the "Fold Down" tabs. This will make a square shape between the rectangular pieces and the "Fold Down" tabs.

Now, fold down the other two rectangular sides. Fold the inner seam first.

Then fold the outer seam over the "Fold Down" tabs and punch down the little tabs into the holes to finish the section.

Congratulations, you've assembled TJBot's jaw! Set it aside for now.

Next up are TJBot's legs. Pop the two legs loose from the chipboard. The legs have long rectangular pieces with "Fold Up" and "Fold Down" written on them.

The legs are the most delicate pieces in the set and require patience and focus. Begin by folding the piece that says "Fold Up" in the upward direction. Next, fold down the piece that says "Fold Down". We have found it to be easier to fold the "Fold Up" piece first and then fold the "Fold Down" piece.

Now, insert the legs into the jaw. The legs go into the L shaped holes in the jaw until the "Fold Up" piece hits the base.

Insert the legs from the top of the jaw downward. It may take some force to push the legs through the holes.

Next, remove the leg brace.

The brace sits in the two rectangular holes in the legs underneath the jaw. It keeps the legs straight.

Now, remove the feet and place them before you as shown below.

Fold the side flaps downward (in the direction of the table), very weakly. The feet will form a triangle shape that attaches to the legs, so over folding may cause them to break.

Insert the feet into the notches in the leg as shown below.

Congratulations, you can now make TJBot stand on his own! You are now halfway through with the folding. :-)

Step 4: Folding TJBot (Part 2)

Punch out the three retainers from the main chipboard.

Begin with the retainer that has the "Fold Down" tabs, and fold down the two tabs.

Slide the retainer downward through the L-shaped holes in the legs. This may require some force, but work slowly and gently to avoid warping or twisting the legs or the retainer.

Servo insertion (optional). If you have a servo, it's time to insert it on left side hole in jaw. Please see the video for more details on how the servo is inserted in this stage.

Next, we will insert the Raspberry Pi. It is mounted face down, with its ports exposed via the three holes in the jaw. Ensure the pins are oriented as shown in the picture below.

Camera insertion (optional). Remove the camera mounting bracket.

Slide the two camera side mounts into the notches on the front of the retainer.

Slide your Pi camera into the mount and then add the top & front reinforcers to keep the camera snug. The picture below shows the camera mount without a camera; please refer to the video to see how the actual Pi camera fits into TJBot.

The next retainer is the one with the small circle carved into it. Add it to TJBot by sliding it through the L-shaped holes, with the small circle oriented to the right (when TJBot is facing you). Slide the retainer down until it meets with the top of the Raspberry Pi.

Insert the LED into the center hole of the small retainer and connect the three jumper wires to the LED's pins. For now, don't worry about inserting the wires into the Pi; you can hook these up later when following your first LED recipe.

Push the top retainer with the LED through the L-shaped holes in the legs such that just a tiny portion of the leg sticks out from the hole. Run the wires through the small circle in the middle retainer so they can be connected to the Pi. Note the image below doesn't show how the jumper wires are routed; this detail can be seen in the video.

At this point, you don't need to be worried about wiring the LED. Depending on what you plan to do with your Pi, the wiring might be different. But if you are so keen in getting everything connected, here is a general wiring diagram.

We're almost done! The last steps are assembling TJBot's arm and head.

Step 5: Folding TJBot (Part 3)

Let's fold TJBot's head! The first step is to remove the large head piece from the main chipboard.

Fold down all tabs marked "Fold Down".

Fold down the piece with two circles (these are TJBot's eyes!).

Fold down the piece with the large hole in it (this is for TJBot's speaker). Then fold down and over the two remaining sides to complete TJBot's head. The easiest way to perform this fold is to begin by folding the outer seam (very weakly), and then folding the inner seam (also weakly). Next, fold over the entire piece and lock in the tabs.

TJBot's head is complete! Set it aside for now.

The last step is to fold TJBot's arm. Remove it from the main chipboard.

Beginning from the outermost seam, fold everything toward the center rectangular piece (the one with the circle).

Fold the small square piece with the hole inwards.

Fold the remaining pieces inwards.

Fit all tabs into the notches to complete the arm.

All done!

If you have a servo, now is the time to attach the arm to it. Please refer to the video for details. If you don't have a servo, you can attach the arm to TJBot using tape.

Now that your TJBot is ready, bring him to life with one of his recipes! We suggest beginning with Use your voice to control a light with Watson.

We have a be nice policy.
Please be positive and constructive.

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In this instructable, we guide you through how to obtain an IBM TJBot cardboard and how to fold TJBot from a laser cut cardboard. If you already have your TJBot cardboard, jump to step 3 for folding instructions. Here is a TJBot unboxing video that one of TJBot's friends, Lisa, has put together.

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Featured on Hackaday, Make Magazine now it's going to the 2011 Maker Faire!!

Be sure to check out my new instructable , the 'little Tank'!Really nice tracked design complete with cut files!

update: I've had so much response on this instructable, thanks to all. If you end up making one, please let me know! I'd love to put your work on my website!

New new update - The Electric Turtle is going to the 2011 Makers Faire in New York with the LMR (lets Make Robots) exhibit!!!

5" robotic platform, setup for Picaxe or Arduino with sonar ranging mast. This one currently does obstacle avoidance. 90 degree radian etched into the top plate to make turn calibration far easier.

Many battery configurations possible, including lipo (with a regulator) - the deck is spaced to accommodate a large range of power sources.

Designed and made in response to the poorly made/designed commercial offerings - this thing uses I-Beam construction - you can stand on it.

Nice platform to pickup and run with, applicable to many configurations and adaptable to multiple purposes.

Offset ranging mast is provided with cutouts for the ping (what I had on hand), but I put placement holes for several popular models on there as well - tried to make it as universal as possible. Standard IR sensors should fit if you choose to go that route.

Motor configuration is for a Tamiya 70097 motor/gearbox combo - placement holes are in the chassis for either the high or low ratio build configuration of the gearbox. Wheels are Tamiya 70145's.

Capability to use standard servo or micro servo with adapter plate (included).

Here are laser cut parts kits if you'd rather not cut your own -

Lets make robots! is an excellent resource for DIY robotics as well.

To complete this instructable, you'll need:

1. laser cut parts
2. qty 4 1.25" #6-32 screws (hardware store)
3. qty 2 .75" #4-40 screws (hardware store)
4. qty 4 2" #6-32 screws (hardware store)
5. qty 4 .5" #4-40 screws (hardware store)
6. qty 1 servo (standard or micro, standard recommended) and hardware pack that comes with the servo
7. qty 1 sonar or IR (PING used, others may be substituted)
8. qty 1 pair of Tamiya 70145 tires
9. qty1 Tamiya 70097 motor/gearbox
10. qty 1 Arduino, Picaxe or other microcontroler - this instructable uses the Picaxe 28x1
11. Wires, connectors, heat shrink

If you'd like to keep the soldering to a minimum, just use male-male servo extensions for all of the hookups. This will limit your soldering to the 2 connections on each motor. The motors can also be connected with crimp connectors to eliminate all soldering, but I advise a hard soldered connection to the motors in any case.

Soldering iron, multimeter, screwdrivers, etc...

Standard disclaimer about not cutting your fingers off or sticking a hot iron in your nose..

This is the wiring diagram for use with the Picaxe, ping sonar, Tamiya 70097 motor / gearbox and the electric_turtle.bas code. Attached file as PDF for easier viewing.

This diagram will work with the code as is, no changes to the code necessary. File is located below, electric_turtle.bas

This step is the most fun!

Start with the sonar mast. You'll need 1 .75" screw, 2 .5" screws, 2 spacers and 3 nuts.

Attach servo to upper deck. You'll need 2 .5" screws and nuts.

Attach your microcontroler (Picaxe pictured) to your carrier board. You'll need .75" screws + nuts and 4 spacers.

Attach the motor, risers and wheels as a unit to the lower deck. Use the screws and nuts that came with your motor for this step. Also install the fore / aft anti-tip screws and nuts at this time. Use 2 .5" screws + nuts.

Attach the upper deck assembly to the lower deck assembly. You'll need 4 1.25" screws + nuts for this step.

Attach the carrier board to the upper deck assembly. You'll need 4 1.25" screws + nuts and 20 spacers for this step.

Attach the sonar mast to the servo control horn, and attach this assembly to the servo. Use the screws that came with your servo for this step. Also attach your battery usind double sided tape / velcro / adhesive of your choice.

Go conquer the world!

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Featured on Hackaday, Make Magazine now it's going to the 2011 Maker Faire!! Be sure to check out my new instructable , the 'little Tank'! Really nice tracked design complete with cut files! update: I've had so much response on this instructable, thanks to all. If you end up making one, please let me know!

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It feels like forever since I released a laser cut project on WoodMarvels.com but that's quickly changing. The new computer is performing amazing and I'm quickly getting through a backlog of projects for both this site and 3DMarvels.com.

David Newman is the second most prolific designer on WoodMarvels.com (I'm the first) and his newest design is a massive whale... by far the largest model available on the site! Using 9mm thick material it measurements are L: 200cm, W: 100cm, H: 120cm or @ 3/8 inch L: 79 inches, W: 40 inches, H: 47 inches! Here are some pictures David sent to me so you can get an idea of the scale of his model!

It's available right now in EPS, DXF and AI file formats on the site, just go to Collaborations / David Newman to acquire this massive mammal of the sea!

Whale: 3D Assembly Animation (1080HD)

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Massive Whale: New Laser Cutting Project! -

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It feels like forever since I released a laser cut project on WoodMarvels.com but that's quickly changing. The new computer is performing amazing and I'm quickly getting through a backlog of projects for both this site and 3DMarvels.com. David Newman is the second most prolific designer on WoodMarvels.com (I'm the first) and his newest design ...

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Ciao a tutti! I'm Jeko, aka Stefano, from Rome, Italy, and this my submission for the hackster.io IoT contest. I finally decided to join the Particle Alliance and give my contribution! :)

So, this is my project. I called it "The Online Force Detector".

It tells me in real time which of my friends are connected to the Playstation Network.

My friends and I play a lot Battlefront Star Wars, and I really like to play with them, but when no one is online, I like to spend time watching Star Wars movies or playing with my Star Wars collectibles :) And now, with the online force detector, I can know, in real time, who is disturbing the force! I mean... who is online :)

It has eight different lights, each one has an Adafruit Neopixel RGB led which projects the light through a wonderful laser etched piece of plexiglass, each representing a star wars hero, and obviously, one of my friends.

All the lights are connected to a Particle Photon, which is connected to an USB power source (with only 8 LEDs any usb power adapter or USB battery will be fine)

The Photon polls every minute a Javascript API, that responds with a string that contains the color information for all the lights.

This Javascript API is built on top of a Meteor.js web application, which also provides a mobile web interface, that is used to configure the friends Playstation N etwork ids and the corresponding light color.

it's so simple but also so useful!

This model has only 8 lights, and it's connected to the playstation network, but it's possible to connect up to 255 lights and to poll any webservice you like, it can alert you of any kind of disturbances of the force... emails, tweets, IFTTT, Instagram photos, incoming zombies... the customisation possibility are endless!

Here's how I built it

First of all, this is the original plan :)
The hardware
I used 8 WS8212b LEDs, that are compatible with the neopixel library that is provided in the Particle Build web IDE. The great advantage of this kind of LEDs is that they can be chained in series and controlled with a single signal wire, and they are so easy to use!

Since I used only 8 LEDs, I decided to draw the power directly from the VIN pin of the Photon, but if you want to use more LEDs, an external power supply will be required.

So the first step was making the hardware prototype. Here there are all the components: The Particle Photon, the 8 WS8212b LEDs, and 3 wires stripped from a ...strip.

And then, a little bit of soldering

ant the first hardware prototype is ready!
The design
I wanted to give it a great Star Wars look, so I took my inspiration from the Star Wars empire spacecrafts interiors design

I thought that a very simple black and transparent plexiglass design was perfect.

I used this fantastic free Star Wars Clipart font for the images, and the Adobe Trajan font for the names (it's the official Battlefront font).

Each support is a 25cm x 9.5cm 3mm thick piece of black plexiglass, with the four 5x50mm holes for the signs in the middle

First of all I've cut the two rectangles

Then I bent them

And then I've cut the holes for the signs. It's very important that you cut the holes after bending the plexiglass, and not before, otherwise the plexiglass will shatter in pieces (true story)

And the supports are ready! Now the plexiglass signs.

Each sign is a 50x70mm 5mm thick piece of transparent plexiglass, laser cut and etched

They are so simple, and so effective! Now it's time for the final assembly! So exciting! :D

I taped the LEDs to a white plexiglass strip (I took it from the box of the discarded plexiglass)

...after all it's just a prototype! And I was so eager to see it working! :) And I added two small blue tack balls for each LED, in this way the plexiglass sign, once in it's place, wouldn't move or touch the LED

I glued the parts, and I used a very thin black PVC sheet to close the sides

...and [star wars theme] ta dah! This is the first finished and working prototype :)

It looked gorgeous! (like every son to his father...)

The Software

Premise: The software is just a prototype, but it does perfectly it's job, even if there's no concept of security or optimisation at all. It was made to be simple and readable, not to be production ready, so use it at your discretion and DON'T use it in production! :)

The software architecture is pretty easy. There is obviously the Particle code, and then I developed a very simple server application, that has two main functions: it provides a web interface to configure the Online Force Detector (choose the colors and the PSN ids of my friends) and it also provides an API that tells to the Photon which lights to turn on, and which colors to use.

The photon software polls every minute the API using the Particle.publish() function, and then handles the server response which is a simple string containing the colors of the eight lights in int32 format (when a lamp is off, the color is 0). In this way, the Photon is totally passive, and the Online Force Detector can be easily configured to alert any kind of event, such as incoming emails, tweets, or it can be used with IFTTT, just by adding functions to the server application.

You can copy the Particle code from here, and paste it into the Particle web IDE. The only thing that you have to configure is the Particle webhook, and you can do it with the Particle CLI

particle webhook GET online_status http://<url-of-your-server-app>/colors

To debug the particle application, you can define DEBUG in the Particle code

and then listen to the DEBUG channel with the Particle CLI

particle subscribe DEBUG mine

The server application is ready to be deployed in any Heroku compatible server platform, it's in javascript and it uses Meteor.js, it uses Mongodb for storage, and it use a modified version of the gumer-psn library to communicate with the Playstation Network API.

You can find the application here. I deployed it on a Digital Ocean server, following these instructions.

In order to login to the PSN APIs, you need to configure the PSN_EMAIL and PSN_PASS environment variables on the hosting server.

The server app also includes a test api that forces the Online Force Detector to turn on all the configured lights of their respective color

You can configure the test webhook in this way

particle webhook GET test http://<url-of-your-server-app>/colors/test

And invoke it from the CLI

I know, much of the complexity is in the software, and I am spending very few words on it, but if you know how to code, the code itself is pretty self explanatory and straightforward, and if you don't know how to code, a simple explanation here will not suffice, but you can contact me anytime and I will be very happy to help you, and I will accept very gladly any kind of contribution and improvement to the code (that, as I said before, is only a proof of concept)

So finally the Online Force Detector is ready! You can put it on your monitor

or behind the keyboard

or you can put it anywhere you like! Since it's wi-fi, it's totally independent from a PC or the Playstation, and it only requires an USB power adapter.

I really had a lot of fun making this project, I really hope that you like it!

Thanks for reading (and watching the video, too :) )

Jeko

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Ciao a tutti! I'm Jeko, aka Stefano, from Rome, Italy, and this my submission for the hackster.io IoT contest. I finally decided to join the Particle Alliance and give my contribution! :) So, this is my project. I called it "The Online Force Detector".

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Inspired by the NeoPixel Clock v2 project by David Zweben ( http://zweben.org/2017/12/06/neopixel-clock-v2/ ) this is a smaller take on the idea, using only 1 NeoPixel ( https://www.adafruit.com/product/1655 ) per display segment. The RGB LEDs display their digits in a different color depending on what time of day it is, exploring the notion that you might come to associate the color with the time.

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Introduction: How to Make Anything (Using Acrylic and Machine Screws)

Well maybe not anything, but what follows is an Instructable about how we at oomlout.com build everything we produce.

It is a technique we call Interlocking T-Bolt Construction. It consists of a T-cutout in one piece of acrylic (or any 3 mm stock) and a receptacle in another piece. These pieces can then be bolted together making a very secure 90 degree joint. A deceptively simple technique that has unlimited possibilities.

All that is required is an idea, some drawing software, and access to a laser cutter.

Lets get started.

(shameless plug)
to check out our delightfully fun open source products try visiting oomlout.com

a note on metric units
it should be noted that throughout we refer to 3mm thick acrylic. This is often sold as 1/8" acrylic and is not a big issue as the difference is less than 0.007".

Share

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Step 1: Software

Before we start a simple drawing programme is required. Something like Corel Draw, or Adobe Illustrator will work. But we recommend an open source equivalent, Inkscape.
To Get Inkscape:

Goto Inkscape.org and download the appropriate version for your operating system.

Install it.

If you are new to Inkscape perhaps going through a tutorial or two before hand may also be helpful, but not required.

Step 2: The T-Bolt (design Considerations)

When designing anything its important to take into account the properties of your chosen production method. Here are a few things to keep in mind when designing with Interlocking T-Bolt.
Scale

We think a good size window to consider using this method for ranges from about computer mouse on the small end to a loaf of bread on the larger. Of course other sizes are possible, but much larger you get into prohibitively expensive laser cutting costs, and much smaller you start having issues with bolt clearances.

Angles:

This method thrives on 90 degree angles. If you would like lovely flowing curves or a bevy of acute or obtuse angles another method is advisable.

Corners:

Acrylic is quite a hard plastic and as such sharp corners can lead to an object that feels quite rough and angular. To combat this we like to round all corners.

Strength:

Here are a few rules of thumb we use when designing our products to keep them from being brittle. They have been arrived at through trial and error and are just guidelines.

Minimum distance for a hole from the edge (5mm)

Minimum holding run (ie. amount of acrylic to leave either side of a cutout (5mm)

Bolt repeat distance. (ie. if you have a run longer than this an additional bolt should be added) (100mm)

Step 3: The Component Pieces & Nuts & Bolts

There are only 2 shapes required.

The T-Cutout

This is the piece the machine screw extends into, a nut catching in the large cutout portion.

The RCR Slot (Rectangle-Circle-Rectangle)

The cutout the T-Cutout slots into.

To use, simply download the template attached to this step ( 03-TBOL-T-Slot Template.cdr for Corel Draw or 03-TBOL-T-Slot Template.svg for InkScape)
The Nuts & Bolts
Putting everything together is as simple as a single machine screw and matching nut. McMaster Carr is a great source for these.

Attachments

Step 4: Making Your Design

Finally the layout.

To illustrate the process I'm going to use a simple little box I made to hold a little Nixie tube kit i have (pictured below).
Conceptulization:
Complete:

Well a bit of an over simplified process, but it is something that is best experimented with. If you have any pressing questions drop a comment below or send us an e-mail at info@oomlout.com

Moving from a 2 dimensional drawing to a 3d object is something that can take a while to get your head around. To experiment I recommend printing out the example below on paper and cutting it out with an exacto to get a feeling for how it all fits together.

The Process:
1. Import Template

Import the template from the previous step which has the T-Cutout and RCR-Slot in it.

2. Draw the Base

Draw the bottom of your object before positioning RCR-Slots. In appropriate places. Something that makes things much easier down the line is if you keep your object as symetrical as possible.

3. Draw the Sides

Using loads of guidelines pulled down from the rulers position the T-Cutouts so they pair up with the RCR Slots.

4. Add Corner Cutouts

You can see in the design below that half the height is removed from the end of each side. These are to allow the sides to nicely interlock.

5. Make the Cap

Draw the cap. If your piece is symmetrical at this point the cap will have the same hole pattern as the base. Just add an appropriate cutout to it.

6. Laser Cutting

This is something that only a couple of years ago would have been very difficult. However a bevy of cut on demand services are now available.

A Few Cutting Services:
Spikenzie Labs Mini Cuts - http://www.spikenzielabs.com/Store/Mini_Cuts.html - Montreal based and his prices include shipping (to USA or Canada) which is always a nice touch.
Ponoko - http://www.ponoko.com - A great group.
Big Blue Saw - http://www.bigbluesaw.com - Offers laser cutting as well as waterjetting more rugged materials. Which means any design can be rendered in 1/8" stainless steel if you so desire.
Attachments

Step 5: Adding More Pieces

Sadly you can only build so much using just T-Cutouts and RCR-Slots. However one of the best things about laser cutting is if you have anything with mounting holes, and a pair of calipers, you can quickly draw up a mounting hole for it.

I've Compiled a file with the main cutouts we use in our products.

The Cutouts:

RC Servo

Mini RC Servo

LED

NEMA 23 Motor

Skate Bearing

MicroSwitch

Arduino Diecimiela

Pololu Servo Controller

(cutout templates available below)
Attachments

Step 6: The Possibilities

... Endless.

I won't leave it at that. Attached are a few examples of things we have made at oomlout.com .

We'd love to see anything you make. If you make something leave us a comment below or send us an e-mail at info@oomlout.com. We'd love to share what you've done here.

Stuff Made By Others

Doug Eastman made a lovely little box for his still in development Arduino project. I think it looks great (photo below)

We have a be nice policy.
Please be positive and constructive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Make Anything (Using Acrylic and Machine Screws)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Well maybe not anything, but what follows is an Instructable about how we at oomlout.com build everything we produce. It is a technique we call Interlocking T-Bolt Construction. It consists of a T-cutout in one piece of acrylic (or any 3 mm stock) and a receptacle in another piece.

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Neopixel clock - my first project at Reading Hackspace // va.nce.me // Man of few words...

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The Sphere-O-Bot is a simple 2 axis CNC machine that can draw on most spherical surfaces. You can use it to decorate ping pong balls or eggs.This design is based on the 3D printable Sphere-O-Bot. By building your Sphere-O-Bot using a laser cutter, you can achieve a clean look while also reducing the production time of your parts. This design also features an electronics bay for your wires, micro-controller, and motor drivers.

The Sphere-O-Bot described in this tutorial was designed for a workshop in which kids get to build their own motor controllers. For more projects by the Maker Corps interns at the Children's Museum of Houston, visit our site: kidmakers.org

If you like this project, please consider voting for me in the epilog challenge. My internship at the Children's Museum of Houston will end in a couple of weeks and so will my unlimited laser cutter access. Having a laser cutter of my own will allow me to keep developing more instructables for you. Thanks.

Step 2: Laser Cut & 3D Print

Download the design file here and cut it out of the 1/4" wood using a laser cutter.You could probably also cut these out of plexiglass except for the curved part, since it would not be flexible enough.

The 3D printable files can also be found under the same Thingiverse post. The printable files are actually borrowed from this 3D printable Sphere-O-Bot design.

Disclaimer: It's ok if the renders/pictures in this Instructable don't exactly match the design file on thingiverse. That just means that I've been doing some design changes to help things fit better.

Step 3: Assemble the Frame

Using the 6-32 screws/nuts, join the curved part to the bottom piece. I found that if you insert the screws into the large piece and loosely attach the nuts, you can then bend it around the bottom piece and secure it with ease. Keep in mind that since the wood was originally flat so it will try to fight back against bending.

Now all you need to do to finish the frame is to secure the top and front panels of the electronics bay. BUT WAIT!!! You haven't installed the electronics yet. Your life will be easier if you don't attach the last two pieces of the frame until after taking care of the electronics.

Step 4: Marker Gantry

UPDATE: After realizing that the original design suffered from severe jitter, I re-designed the marker gantry to make it more sturdy. Check out this short animation to see how it works and how it is assembled. The micro sized servo is attached using M2 screws and the rest of the screws are M3. The hinge that I used can be found here, but feel free to replace it with any other hinge of a similar size. If you can't find a hinge, you could probably just glue a flexible piece of plastic between the two main wooden pieces of the marker holder. The file for the new holder design is titled holderV2 in the Thingiverse post.

For more detail: Laser Cut Sphere-O-Bot using Arduino

This Post / Project can also be found using search terms:

stepper arduino EDM machine project

ligando o servo no shield cnc eggbot

made cnc egg bot by arduino

photo sphere arduino

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The Sphere-O-Bot is a simple 2 axis CNC machine that can draw on most spherical surfaces. You can use it to decorate ping pong balls or eggs.This design is based on the 3D printable Sphere-O-Bot. By building your Sphere-O-Bot using a laser cutter, you can achieve a clean look while also reducing the production time of your parts.

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Epilog Laser Sample Club: Downloadable Project Files

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Download free engraving and cutting samples from Epilog Laser's popular Sample Club. Try the files on your own laser, or use them to get new ideas.

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Slicer: 3D Modellen omzetten in 2D Vectoren

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Slicer: 3D Modellen omzetten in 2D Vectoren

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Slicer for Autodesk® Fusion 360™ is a tool to turn your digital 3D models into appealing artefacts. It slices and converts 3D models into 2D patterns that you can cut out of any flat material. Slicer for Fusion 360 also creates 3D instructions you can interact with, to help build a model.

Create a model in Fusion 360 and with a few clicks you can send your model to Slicer for Fusion 360. Apply various slicing techniques to your model and create 2d plans in EPS, DXF or PDF formats that you can cut using Laser cutter or CNC machine.

Slicer for Fusion 360 can be used as standalone or as an add-in for Fusion, and lets you use different construction techniques to build your model based on 2D slices and animated assembly instructions.

If you download with Firefox, please make sure you remove the .zip extension that Firfox adds when downloading a .exe. Then just Open the .exe and the install will begin.

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Slicer for Autodesk® Fusion 360™ is a tool to turn your digital 3D models into appealing artefacts. It slices and converts 3D models into 2D patterns that you can cut out of any flat material. Slicer for Fusion 360 also creates 3D instructions you can interact with, to help build a model.

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o.a. uitleg over de lasersnijder van het Xperium

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We've been hard at work on the new YouTube, and it's better than ever. Try it now.

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Laser cut and stack T-Rex head model. Creating 3D models is possible with an epilog laser and Autodesk 123D Make.

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Things tagged with 'Lasercut' - Thingiverse

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Thingiverse is a universe of things. Download our files and build them with your lasercutter, 3D printer, or CNC.

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Whether you're a CAD/CNC hobbyist or a professional, you'll have undoubtedly worked with the DXF format at some point or another. It's the gold-standard format of the CAD industry-it's easy to share and it's supported by practically every CAD program on the market. Due to the popularity and accessibility of the DXF format, many websites and companies have made it a priority to sell DXF designs to CAD enthusiasts and professionals. These designs can then be used for further work in CAD software, or for CNC cutting. But what if you don't want to fork out money for DXF designs?

Have no fear! Scan2CAD has put together a handy list of 13 websites that offer a variety of free DXF designs-so you don't have to pay a single penny! If you love freebies and CAD, you might want to also check out Scan2CAD's other list of top CAD freeware. Enjoy...

We'll start the list off with the handy Vector Ink! This site has hundreds of free DXF designs available-just waiting to be downloaded. The designs are all grouped into broad categories, e.g. 'Animal', 'Pattern' and 'Symbol'. This categorization makes it pretty easy to find what you're looking for. Plus, you can subscribe to the site to be sent emails when any new DXF designs are uploaded. When you download a design, you're given a zip folder with a PNG, SVG and DXF version of the design.

At Scan2CAD we offer our very own free DXF designs. We release a pack of royalty-free dxf downloads every week. Each pack focusses on a theme. Past popular themes include Medieval Shields, Vintage Frames and Birds. Scan2CAD commissions a professional designer to create every pack so you will be sure to discover fantastic designs every week. Importantly, each design is also 100% cut-ready for CNC purposes.

My DXF has a decent selection of free DXF designs available. The DXF 'projects' aren't categorized the same way as the above sites-they're grouped by specific keywords like 'cowboy' or 'dolphin'. So you can either look through the entire list of keywords, or you can manually search through the entire selection. There's around 600 DXF designs on offer, so there's more than enough to take advantage of. When you download a design, you're given a zip folder containing the DXF file.

Love SVG offers both SVG and DXF designs, absolutely free. The designs consist of personal quotes with custom designs, which are frequently updated on a daily basis. These quotes are perfect for people who enjoy DIY projects and so forth. There's over 600 designs to choose from, however there's no categorization feature so you would have to look through the selection manually. When you download a design, you get a zip folder containing a PNG, SVG, DXF and EPS version of the design.

Jason Henry at CNC DXF Files offers a range of free DXF designs, and also sells DXF bundles. Jason has been kind enough to offer Scan2CAD readers a growing unique selection of free DXF files. The website offers bundles of DXF designs for a price, e.g. Nature Scenes (16 designs) for $35.00. Now, the site doesn't have a categorization feature so you'll have to browse through all designs to find any you might be interested in. You have to create an account to download any designs-and once you've found a design, you have to 'add to cart' to proceed.

Vision Engravers has just under 100 free DXF clipart designs on offer. These designs are grouped by theme, e.g. ' Christmas' or 'Easter'. The site is updated regularly, so you'll find the selection expanding with time. The site doesn't have a categorization feature, so you will have to scroll through the clipart selection to look for anything that might interest you. The site's true value comes with its variety of file types however. When you download a design, you're given a zip folder containing an AI, CDL, EPS, JPG, PDF, PLT and DXF of the design. Needless to say, they give you plenty of options!

Sign Torch only has a small selection of around 35 free DXF designs available. While this might not seem like much, you might find the odd gem or two if you look hard enough. The site also offers cheap DXF design collections that won't set you back too much-buying in bulk saves you money, and they run frequent discounts. The site doesn't have a categorization feature, but with it being such a small selection, it won't take you long to look through. When you download, you're given the option of a CMX, DXF, EPS, SVG and AI.

CNC G-code has a small selection of free DXF designs available for CNC cutting. While it might not have that much to offer, you might find one or two interesting designs. It does have a small group of categories available, like 'Numbers' and 'Sea Creatures' which could make browsing a little easier. When you download a design, you're given a zip folder containing a PNG, DXF and NC.

Despite its name, Free DXF only has a limited selection of free DXF designs on offer. Currently, there are 10 free DXF designs that are ready to download. While this is slightly disappointing, bear in mind that the site will add or change designs every month or so. The site also offers DXF design collections-it can be cost-effective to buy in bulk sometimes. Despite the small variety, you might find something worth your time. To download, you have to create an account and then you will be given the DXF file.

Like Free DXF, DXF for CNC only has a limited selection of free DXF designs available. There are currently 10 designs on offer, but as with the site above, this selection may be prone to changes with time. In addition, designs like 'custom names' are very versatile and useful, so the small variety isn't necessarily a bad thing. The site also has a variety of 'cheap' DXF designs on offer-they throw plenty of sales, so you might find a bargain or two. To download designs, you have to create an account.

Plasma Spider is a forum for CNC plasma cutting. They have an entire board dedicated to sharing DXF clipart files-you can upload and download as many DXF files as you want (after registering to the site). Arguably, this is more useful than any of the sites listed above-here the selection of DXF designs will always change and update. Not only can you download designs or request designs, you can also share your own DXF designs.

Like Plasma Spider, Ready to Cut is a forum also dedicated to CNC art file sharing. While it isn't as extensive as the above forum, it's still a very useful resource to have. It has a large selection of free DXF designs available, all of which are categorized into sections like 'Symbols' and 'Scenery'. As with Plasma Spider, you will have to create an account before you can download any files-but it will be useful in the long run. Forums are a great resource for learning and sharing.

DXF 1 also has a variety of free DXF designs available-all of which are CNC ready. These designs are all categorized into sections and subsections, e.g. 'Animals' and 'Objects'. These categories are rather broad, so it might take a bit of browsing through them all manually to find anything you're interested in. Some sections have more files than others, like 'Icons', but there's still quite a range of designs to take advantage of. When you download a design you're given a single DXF file.

Bonus Tip: Don't forget Pinterest

Pinterest is less of a site that offers free DXF designs, and more of a resource to help you find free DXF designs. You can use it to look through the variety of DXF designs available, all created by fellow hobbyists. You just need to type in your keywords like ' free DXF ' and off you go! Obviously, some of the designs will actually cost you-it's a matter of refining your search. You might even find a hobbyist or site that offers cheap DXF designs that you'd be willing to pay for. It's also a great platform for sharing your own designs or creations.
For more DXF-related information and tips, check out our blog! Each week we look at different topics in the CAD industry and its related fields. We have guides like The DXF File Specification and Converting from TIFF to DXF and even CNC Project Ideas.

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13 Sites with Free DXF Designs | Free Downloads | Scan2CAD

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Whether you're a CAD/CNC hobbyist or a professional, you'll have undoubtedly worked with the DXF format at some point or another. It's the gold-standard format of the CAD industry-it's easy to share and it's supported by practically every CAD program on the market.

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Ontwerp eenvoudig een doosje voor op de lasersnijder

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Ontwerp eenvoudig een doosje voor op de lasersnijder

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MakerCase is a web-based application for designing laser-cut project cases. Design custom laser-cut cases for your projects.

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Soma Cube

Collection of the 7 concave polycubes with 4 or less cubes. These seven pieces together can form the SOMA cube. That is, if you manage to solve the puzzle. The SOMA cube was invented by the Danish mathematician and poet Piet Hein.

The Platonic Solids

All five so-called Platonic Solids. The Platonic Solids are the five regular convex polyhedra. The Cube is the most famous one, of course, although he likes to be called "hexahedron" among friends. Also the other platonic solids are named after the number of faces (or hedra) they have. I.e. Tetrahedron, Octahedron, Dodecahedron, Icosahedron. (Now you know how to count in classical Greek, too!) There is only parameter：the diameter of the midsphere. The midsphere is the sphere from the center of the object that touches all the edges exactly in middle.

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Collection of the 7 concave polycubes with 4 or less cubes. These seven pieces together can form the SOMA cube. That is, if you manage to solve the puzzle. The SOMA cube was invented by the Danish mathematician and poet Piet Hein. All five so-called Platonic Solids.

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Newlydraw cursus om u snel op weg te helpen. Newlydraw wordt geleverd met MetaQuip Lite series 2015.