RasterWeb!
I started this blog in 1997, and somehow I never managed to quit. There are some archives and some old archives.
18 years of this is pretty crazy. Some people start blogging and quit after a few months. Some people only write one post. Some people said blogging would never last. I’m not sure what to say to those people… so I’ll just keep posting.
Thanks for reading!
Our latest experiment in recycling HDPE into sheets uses material that one of the guys in the shop got from Craigslist. It’s a giant bag of shredded HDPE scrap. It’s all white, and very clean. I think it was used for archery targets or something.
Here’s a photo of one of the bags with a one gallon jug on top of it. (We’ve got three of these bags!)
I thought this would be the perfect material, and it is good, but it takes a while to melt down. With jugs I could cut them up into small flat pieces and fill the baking pan, but with the shreds it’s mostly a matter of trying to stuff as much as I could into the pan, then heating it until it melted flat, and then adding more. It’s not a fast process.
Despite the time involved, the results were good. I may have rushed things a bit, as the, plastic did not seem completely pliable when I put it on the board (aka “The Press”) but I decided to go for it anyway.
The results were ok, but it’s definitely not as smooth (or shiny) on the surface as the last attempt. Getting it the right plasticity is important in this process.
The size of this (oval shaped) piece is about 8″ x 7.5″, which should yield a square sheet of 6.5″ x 6.5″. I’ll probably go back to using the larger square glass pan next time instead of the loaf pan.
I’m excited to announce I’ll be taking part in the Hidden River Art Festival at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts on September 19th & 20th, 2015.
I decided to make it an interactive experiential thing, and if you stop by you’ll get a chance to operate the Turndrawble, a turntable-based drawing machine I completed earlier this year. (You can also ask such questions as “Is the Turndrawble itself art, or is it the engine that makes the art?”)
You’ll be able to to create a piece of art and take it home with you, or donate it to the growing collection of pieces created by the Turndrawble.
I hope to see you there, help you make a unique piece of art, and talk endlessly about drawing machines and digital fabrication!
In our last experiment recycling HDPE into usable form, we created a brownie pan full of plastic. While this looked impressive, it wasn’t the best idea for something that was going to be milled. It ended up being much thicker than needed, and finding a cutting bit with the proper LOC (Length of Cut) proved to be an issue. I was all set to mill a thicker piece, but we blew a fuse on the Shapeoko.
I decided that I needed sheet material of a uniform thickness, so I ended up creating a simple press using two pieces of wood, with some spacers. Once I warmed up the HDPE block I got it out of the pan, onto the wood, and stood on it until it was squished flat(ish.) I then put some weights on it until it cooled.
It turned out well! It’s a pretty uniform thickness now, and this was just under 1/3rd of a bread loaf pan, so I may need a bigger press if I want to do bigger melts. I can also make different presses with different thicknesses as well.
Funky!
I modeled a laser pointer switch which you can use with your cheap laser pointer to turn it on and do stupid things like throw it in the air while doing long exposure photography. (Actually, that’s not a bad idea! Or is it?)
OK, these are really part of the Laser Maze we’ll be running at Maker Faire Milwaukee this year. The last thing I did for Laser Maze was the mounts, but Vishal is still doing most of the hard work on this project. (Thanks, Vishal!)
If you want one, you can grab it from Thingiverse or Youmagine. And remember kids, laser are dangerous, don’t just go pointing those things around!
