Laser Cutter #002 - Dice Tower 02 (Summer 2023)

After making and using my family's first ever dice tower, we decided we wanted an upgrade in style. I cut out this lovely castle inspired one and my family enhanced it beautifully. Photos below.

 

I downloaded the pdf version and changed it to a vector graphics file in Inkscape. I'll document that process in a post of its own. I cut it out of 1/8 inch (3mm) plywood we purchased from Home Depot. It was a 4ft by 8 ft sheet that we got them to cut down into 4ft by 2ft sections so we could get it in the car. Then we used a jigsaw to cut it into 12in square and 12in by 15in rectangles to fit in the Xtool M1. 

When I imported the cutting file into the Xtool Creative Space software, I chose for the file not to be scaled down to fit in the workable space. I've had problems with importing files and scaling it a lot. I could see right away that it was too large. I made a 3mm square and used it to help me scale all the finger joints to a 3mm depth and the holes to a 3mm width. After I got it scaled right, I cut out the pieces. 

I don't have any process pictures of this one but I'm cutting another and will have some in that post. 

My husband painted the parts with gray primer. I cut and glued forest green felt on the dice tumbling ramps and the catch basin. My husband had been trying out UV curing resin and decided to add resin to the windows. The resin didn't go perfectly, but it still looked good for a beginner. 

I then glued the tower together. It was more challenging than the previous dice tower. There were more fingers to line up and the crenelations at the top were a bit tricky to join up. I got it together eventually except for the catch basin. The flexible cuts were not flexible enough and it cracked apart. I actually went back into Inkscape, used a previously cut flexible wood design as a template, and redesigned the corners so they would bend. They needed the cuts more closely spaced and I also changed them to only cut from the top and bottom to part way to the other side. It actually worked when I cut the new "courtyard wall" out. My artist daughter painted in the details and added little tufts of grass. It was so nice I had to add LEDs to it. I explain the LED installation in this post.

We've decided that some frames around the windows might add that extra touch of dimension. I've designed and cut out those but they haven't been painted and added as of yet. That will be on a future post. I'll post my remix to Thingiverse and update the link here. I am very grateful to the original poster for such an inspiring design.

Happy Making!

Michelle