Bespoke Laser UK

After designing my living hinges i originally wanted to get them on the CNC machine at uni, the only problem was that my designs were very detailed and the smallest bit that they use on the big cmc is 3mm this then put me in a difficult place and i couldn’t laser cut the ply at uni because the laser cutter isnt a high enough wattage.

I was then told about Bespoke Laser Uk and emailed Laura to find out if she could cut my flexi ply to the shapes and designs i had done. Laura said that she would do a test to see if the laser cutter would cut the flexi ply for free, which it did. there was a small amount of charing around the edge but i am happy to sand or fix the charing in place.

Laura has been super helpful with cutting the boxes for me. i put together the file and got it sent to her she said that it was going to £50 for me to get the 5 boxes and lids cut. this then makes the price for each of my boxes at least £10 each without the cost of veneering and my time designing.

These were the files i sent to Laura and had them cut.

Formative Assessment

At Easter we had a formative assessment again to check how we were doing with our plans and where we were planning to be by the deadline.

Advice on how you could improve this work in preparation for the final module assessment:

The development of the living hinge is a good move to add breadth to your box designs, the lids are progressing well however we have yet to see completed work, the level of finish will be important so think about that soon, the use of liberol  could fill the gaps left by the laser cutter. You have a lot of work left to do in the time left but you are progressing, How you choose to present them is key to their success…continue to develop a range of designs, You need to identify who are your audience, your comparators, where is your market? Do you offer a bespoke, commissionable service for clients?

For my formative assessment i had just had some fall backs with my work, with the flexi ply being too thick and the need for new designs to compensate, and also having issues with the boxes i made just before easter.

The development I’ve gone through for this project all happened very fast in the last few weeks because of materials. This has made me realize how fast sometimes you’ve got to work to reach a plausible development. From the mistakes i developed the use of the Living hinges in my work which I’m glad have been positively received which initially i wasn’t sure how well they were going to be received since i was focusing on round boxes.

Since receiving my assessment I’ve been working hard on getting bits done finalizing my designs and developing things that have gone wrong in the past few weeks.

The things at the end of my feedback is something I’m working on. There doesn’t look to be many other products like mine that are available on the market at the moment, especially with my living hinge boxes and my round shaker boxes.

With my branding and such I’m planning on having my boxes being bespoke and commissionable for clients, i think i want to stay with my inspiration being architecture this is a interesting thing for people to bring a little bit of architecture into their homes.

Branding

I wanted to make myself a branding tool for when I’ve made my boxes so i can stamp my maker logo on it. This little project i was planning on taking a afternoon has taken me down lots of different roads and i still don’t know how I’m going to make it.

My first point of call was to get a design together, I knew that I wanted to use my initials for it, all my initials SLCJ. This didn’t take me as long as expected I got a few designs done in about 10 mins with just re sizing and playing around with the placement of the letters, once I got that done I was happy with just having my initials. I then started looking at other stamp designs to see if I needed to add anything else and saw a wax stamp and I liked the shape the wax went around the the rounded stamp, and took that element and added in my initials and got a maker logo/mark I just want made as soon as.

I then needed to figure out how the hell I was going to have it made. I started with some wire thinking if I put a current through it it would heat up, this design failed so badly, partly because my piece of wire wasn’t long enough and wasn’t the easiest to bend either.

This then led me to thinking about how I could dremel out the bits I don’t want this didn’t go well either i didn’t want to sit a use the dremel for any longer, did a small test and that failed as well.

After I got angry at the dremel I then thought I would have a look on the internet see what it had to offer. From the internet I found lots of bits that you can upload a image and have it printed for you by shapeways in metal. they had a very handy one would fit on the end of a soldering iron, this would be a good way to be able to monitor the temperature. i then saw one that i just had to give a go, it was a attached to a lighter, you use the lighter to heat it up and stamp.

This i just had to try it so got a badge back and pulled it to pieces, used the dremel to draw out my initials, i did them the wrong way round anyway but the test was successful. Once i had put my initials on it i used some wire to fix it in place to my lighter, very makeshift and rough. The main problem with this is that you can’t tell how how the piece is getting, so my first try on the veneer it just burnt it but the second two i did came out ok.

The problem with doing my stamp like this is that its going to take a lot of time to test and get a material made and done, so i think i might just have to make a rubber stamp and use ink before i finish my boxes.