David Kaufman wanted to create a design tool that would make it easy to create repeating patterns that could be used in laser-cut (or other CNC or 3D printable) designs. The result is the Polygonia Design Suite. This free web-based app allows you to draw a few lines, and the Polygonia software clones and mirrors those lines to create your design. You can then save your design to your desktop as an image or vector drawing. From there, the design is ready to use or you can continue working on it within your favorite design software.
On the development of the project, David writes:
I have been working on a project to make it easy to create symmetrical patterns for laser cutting. It all started in May 2017 when I visited the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington, DC, where I saw an exhibit by an artisan from Afghanistan who made wood panels or screens of triangles, hexagons, and squares. I wanted to make my own using the laser cutter at my local makerspace, Nova Labs. So I got out a pad of paper, brushed off my high school math skills, and got to work. My goal was to create an online app that generates a symmetrical pattern based on the lines I draw, calculates the intersections of the lines, connects the lines, and generates a vector output file that I could use on a laser cutter.
The program is fun to play around with, doodling designs, whether you plan to render them out in the real world or not. Read the rest
What a great way to fancy up a broken car key fob. Here is how he did it. Read the rest
Legacy Woodworking Machinery has a great series of videos on how they program CNC machines to cut a hollow spiral candlestick. Read the rest
These amazing plywood art pieces are created in a small work area by Gabriel Schama and his laser cutter Elsie. His work really took off after a successful Kickstarter a few years ago. Read the rest
Fictiv is a rapid prototyping company that can take concepts or finished designs and farm them out to a network of CNC and 3D printing companies to have your design fabricated, finished and delivered within 24 hours; to demonstrate their new open IoT platform, they've announced an open-source hardware IoT motorcycle kit that you're meant to be able to assemble in your garage in a weekend, and drive off on by Monday. Read the rest
This Russian video shows a high-tech, terrifying in-mouth CNC mill that uses built-in cameras and a machine controlled drill to precisely mill out rotten parts of teeth while you clench the machine's anchor in your jaw, whimpering around it (usefully, it doubles as a gag). (via JWZ) Read the rest
Take a picture and put it under glass, but not quite the way you think. The folks at Fracture have a built a business that connects several different technologies into one new way to make large-format photos printed on glass suitable for hanging. Today I talk to Abhi Lokesh, one of Fracture's founders, about the journey from a small village in Africa to a whizz-bang printing and distribution company.
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