BOM, techniques and timings

ID	Material	Where to find	Material Cost	Technique	Work Time
Base	MDF 3mm (60x30cm)	Bricolage shops	0.85 €	laser cutter/engraving	7m:53s
Middle section	plywood 8mm	Bricolage shops	3.25 €	laser cutter/engraving	24m:55s
Top cover	plywood 4mm	Bricolage shops	2.25 €	laser cutter/engraving	15 min
Top diffuser	chiffon	Textiles shop	4.50 €	composite?	n/a
Hardware	10 x magnets (10x1mm) 2 x spring steel laminae nails neoprene glue	Hardware shops	10 x 0.50 € 2 x 0.30 € -- 6.00 €	n/a	n/a

Work files links

Preparing the base

Before cutting the piece with the laser cutter, I spent a lot of time to try all different settings trying to find a good tradeoff between speed and power for the job, for all the different job types and materials. In the end I obtained these parameters for 3mm hardboard:

Job type	Work speed	Work acc	Corner acc	Pow	Min pow	Repetitions
Light Draw	150	800	800	16	14	1
Cut	35	800	800	55	30	1
Engrave 1mm depth	200	800	800	60	60	2 (scan 0.2)
Engrave 0.3mm depth	500	800	800	80	80	2 (scan 0.2)

After the parameters were ok, I exported the base design in DXF format and loaded into the LaserCut software.

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I cutted in 4 parts, roughly of 20x20mm, the spring steel laminae, I sanded a little bit the engraved squares and used a drop of super-glue to put the parts in place. This is where the magnets will hold parts of the top cover.

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Work files links

Preparing the middle layer

Once again I spent some time to search the optimals parameters. In the end I obtained these for 8mm plywood:

Job type	Work speed	Work acc	Corner acc	Pow	Min pow	Repetitions
Light Draw	150	800	800	18	13	1
Cut	19	800	800	80	70	1
Engrave 1mm depth	500	800	800	80	80	2 (scan 0.2)

Once again, I exported the base design in DXF format and loaded into the LaserCut software.

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After removing the excess parts, I glued the magnets into the circular grooves with a bit of super-glue. The other grooved parts are needed as clearance for the PCBs.

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Work files links

Preparing the top cover

Once again I spent some time to search the optimals parameters, with no need for engraving settings. In the end I obtained these for 4mm plywood:

Job type	Work speed	Work acc	Corner acc	Pow	Min pow	Repetitions
Light Draw	150	800	800	18	13	1
Cut	35	800	800	55	30	1

Once again, I exported the base design in DXF format and loaded into the LaserCut software.

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The top cover is really simple because it has no grooves and no incisions at all.

Work files links

Assembling and finishing

The last step in building the frame was to assemble the parts together and give them a nice finishing look. The assembly process is quite simple and straightforward: glue the parts together and then apply pressure for a couple of hours to tightly attach them.

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I used a neoprene glue, spreading it evenly on the two surface to attach. Then waited a couple of minutes and joined the parts.

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The final result is really good and the two main parts fits tightly together.

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As a finishing touch I decided to paint everything with black acrylic spray.

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To diffuse light evenly I wanted to try a kind of experimental composite if I can call it that. After a couple of trials I found that the best material to diffuse light without blocking it too much has to be a as thin as possible. I tried to avoid material with strong "texture" (plain paper for example) and ended up choosing the tissue paper.

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The next step was to choose another material to mask what's inside the frame, so that only the lit segments will be highly visible, and nothing else. There are a lot of materials that could be used for this, and I tried a couple of them, ranging from smoked plexyglass to thin black pvc sheets, but all of them worked too much, and attenuated the light coming from the LEDs a lot!

So I focused my attention on fabrics, and I experimented with flax and cotton, but they were all too tick. Then I found a fabric called chiffon, that is essentially a really thin synthetic material.

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To hold everything together I used spray glue, and kept strong pressure between parts for about an hour. The resulting composite was layered like the sketch below, and the effect is really neat!

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