Our Blog
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Five Laser Cutter Resources We Absolutely Love
Our members are amazing designers, maker and creators. One of the tools that new members gravitate towards are the Laser Cutters. We have also had a few members purchase a laser for home because their ideas really took off when they found a niche and filled a need. In each of our training sessions we…
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3 Simple Reverse Engineering Tools and Tips For Prototyping
So you have an item sitting in front of you and you need to recreate it digitally. What now? There is no short-cut in getting a digital model, even with laser scanning and photogrammetry, you will need to make it (or pay someone to do it for you). I am making the assumption that you…
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Digital Design Made Easy: Starting with Tinkercad’s Scribble Tool
Introduction to Digital Design Digital design is not just a skill reserved for professionals; it’s a tool for hobbyists, educators, students, and anyone with a creative spark. With the advent of user-friendly platforms like Tinkercad, delving into the realm of digital design has never been easier. Tinkercad, a free online 3D design and modeling tool,…
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Is Your Idea or Product Stuck In Your Head? Here is an easy and fun way to sketch it out.
Got an idea you have been thinking about over and over? Todays post is about taking that idea and getting it out of your head. This week around 757 Makerspace members have had some wonderfully big ideas presented and we use these same tools to help them move their concepts and ideas ahead. Rough Sketch…
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Tired of Burn, Char and Scorch Marks on the Top and Bottom Surfaces of Your Laser Cut Wood Projects?
Are you getting surface scorch marks on your wood when laser cutting? Here is a tip that will help: First, why are you getting this? When the laser is cutting/engraving on wood the fumes are being dragged/pulled over the material across the surface. On etching you may also get more hot debris flowing across the…
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Tool Tip: Fusion360 Export to SVG for Glowforge
In digital fabrication we have many design tools available that can help you to take your ideas, design them and make it. One that we love is Fusion360, this tools lets us design in 2D, 3D, test, render, simulate and more… but when it comes to taking that design and sending it to the Glowforge…
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Simple Software Creates Complex Wooden Joints – An interactive system to design and fabricate structurally sound wood joints
Cut near-impossible joints with free software by the Japanese team called Tsugite (the Japanese word for joinery) – their research allows you to design your own system or choose pre-calculated combos, excerpt from their website and presentation details (and link to download and try) below: Tsugite: Interactive Design and Fabrication of Wood Joints Maria Larsson,…
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Quick Tip Design to Laser Cut
We are big fans of our Glowforge Lasers, we have found them to be easy to use and quick to learn for first time users. Here are a few options to make that easier including a bonus tool that you should download right now. Raster to Vector Conversion Got a Raster Image that you need…
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Tool Tip: Layout Fluid. Take Your Idea, Draw It and Make It Easily In The Metal Shop
Do you have an idea, something you want to make? We are making more products and having some fun in the metal fabrication shop this week. This one tip surprised a lot of people and is one of our favorite things in this area… blue layout fluid. Dyke Steel Blue Layout Fluid Also called marking…