HOWTO turn a loved one's head into a laser-cut 3D model with a secret compartment

CarlBass on Instructables (who's also the CEO of Autodesk) created a 3D modelled, laser-cut version of his son's head, designed to have a secret compartment instead of brains.

We made a box in the shape of my son’s head. We laser cut pieces of taskboard (corrugated cardboard works well, too) and laminated them together. The heads pivots on a dowel and is held in place by two magnets... Round magnets have been added on the top and bottom of the head so it snaps close and conceals the secret hiding spot.

Making a cardboard head with a secret hiding spot (Thanks, Karen!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: happy mutants • howto • instructables • maker • parenting

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Dom Fletcher

I have say when I saw the first picture I thought the title of the article was going to be “HOWTO turn a loved ones head into a novelty toilet”
dioptase

Sometimes I wonder if some of my loved ones already have a secret compartment in their heads.
http://www.wristflick.com/ Christina G. Smith

Oh wow it’s just like the old puzzles of king tut. I hadn’t thought of using laser cutting to do that yet but it makes total sense!
Fogbert

Coolest dad ever. Depending on the scale, this could be a good MakerBot project too.
Josiah White

Thanks, Cory, but I don’t need a 3D printer to turn my loved one’s head into a storage compartment. I already have three.
http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios

Any idea what the total cost would be on a project like this?
http://profiles.google.com/bentobjects Terry Border

Great secret stash spot for pot-heads.

But- why the need to make it “useful”?
- http://profiles.google.com/bentobjects Terry Border
  
  Little known fact- All those works by Rodin aren’t merely sculptures, they are also hide-a-keys.
- bo1n6bo1n6
  
  Headstash.
Marktech

a secret compartment instead of brains

So you can cut out a couple of steps if you start with an adolescent.
Lobster

I turned my loved one’s skull into a cereal bowl, but my method was not quite so technical.
kichigaijin

I keep imagining Beetlejuice hiding out in there.

http://youtu.be/pj1UwqlN3ZA
abstract_reg

But… I like my loved one’s head where it is. On my loved one.
SomeGuyNamedMark

Wait, I was supposed to use a 3D printer to do this? Crap…
RedShirt77

How can this become a giant chia pet or a batman batcave switch?
iamlegion

How long until these are sold as funerary urns? ‘Cause that would actually be kinda awesome.
- RedShirt77
  
  The urn shaped like your loved ones head? How deep in the uncanny valley would that be?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    http://boingboing.net/2009/07/28/cremation-urns-that.html
    - RedShirt77
      
      I remember that now, it’s even creepier than I imagined. Looks like a NPC from Half-Life.
    - Donald Petersen
      
      Wow! I want one of these. About 30 years ago, my brother got to play a zombie in a certain music video, and kept the life-cast they made of his face (upon which they built the makeup appliances before affixing them to his actual face). He’s had that life-cast hanging on his wall ever since, and I’ve always been insanely jealous. I would love to make a bust of myself with that degree of accuracy, and stash it away against the advent of my demise. Might as well commission my own immortality rather than trust to the hand of an artist after it’s utterly beyond my power to give notes.
      
      In the Warner Bros studio museum there are about eight dummies of Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith from The Matrix Reloaded, complete with sunglasses and black suit. If I were Weaving, I’d have taken as many of them home as the production would have allowed. One in every bathroom, a couple standing sentry by the front door, etc.
      
      I mean, why the hell not? As Carlin noted, “let ‘em know you’ve been there!”
show me

These must be pretty popular in the zombie culture. Stash your extra braaaaaiiiinnnss in there.
semiotix

The trick is getting your loved ones to hold still while the laser cutter is doing its work.
http://twitter.com/awlawl Allen Lyons

This headline is misleading. The resulting product is made from wood product, not my actual loved one. I am disappointed.
- Ito Kagehisa
  
  I am somewhat relieved, myself.
Preston Sturges

Now with Trepanation Action Play Set!
Guest

Ha! That is pretty cool.