Month: February 2020

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42 Drill and alan key Bits Storage shelf with added removal function

The problem

been buying quick release bits from wish and other suppliers just storing them in bags is not cutting it any more to time a made a storage tray for them all. was doing a tidy up in the cave last night came across more bits. put them in a draw. was lying in bed about to sleep when I had this design in my head last night waited till morning to put it into a design. the joys of dyslexia.

I had made a shelf for my retro pi NES box last night teaching my self new skills with tabs so i thought of what i had done and thought how to incorporate it with the design i was thinking of to make it a wall-mounted shelf.

  • Back showing tabs.
  • Quick and dirty retro pi shelf
  • Done works well

So the principle for this is that all screwdriver hex bits are 1/4″ or for us, brits 6.35mm hex so on that principle i am going to do a test cut to make sure if i use the laser to cut that size it will fit if not will adjust its size.

first up lets design the tray going to be made up of 3 layers.

The first layer will be the baseboard and slider, Slider I hear you say what that for, all will be explained in the design. layer 2 and 3 will hold the bits.

Time to fire up my trusty Lightburn software to design and then cut it using a laser cutter.

Have made H counter leaver design for the wall if this does not hold the weight might go from tabs to another idea but cross that bridge when we come to it.

The first draft of the tool shelf with quick slide made the design up on the fly. for 4mm MDF

I will release the design once i have perfected it as with any project it might or might not be 100 per cent right the first time but let’s give it a go.

Time to test the hex size and then cut the full pattern, the joys of using light burn select the test part and then turn on cut selected graphics will only cut the one hexagon so i can make sure it fits.

Don’t forget to turn the option off after test cut.

Tested and yes i was right it was a little off and my thoughts of it being wrong were right so a little tweek. So now to test cut the design and make sure it all fits together before i glue it.

Wait I just thought of something to make it better!

Ok, i have decided to make 1 design change before the first cut to make the shelf more stable by adding second stabilization bar to stop any movement when taking the shelf in and out. the joys of having a dyslexic mind can figure out issues without even putting thigs down on paper.

Spot the 4 extra tabs in the design.
almost done.

So to assemble going to use 4 m3 screws and nuts to hold the 3 layers together will then mount to the wall using 2 X 4mm self tappers. going to glue using quick contact spray and glue.

Screws ready to put it together.
Screwfix special nice and cheap but great.
all glued right few issues but let mount it on the wall.

All glued let’s mount it and test it.

Not as tight as i want it. on the hex time to modify.

I am going to revamp the design slightly as a little too much play in the hexagons. and 2 back screws are binding so removed works fine so might just change base plate slightly to get it to work as well.

So back to the power of lightburn. Changed the dimensions by .300 in x and y to get a tighter fit. will test it tonight. I removed 2 back screws to stop it hitting the cross braces. I then took a few mm out of the back to stop it binding. will do cut of modified bits tonight and post findings later.

The fix changed the dimensions of the hex.

Will update this later once i have had time to cut modified bits. will then post the design.

did some more finessing of the design to make it much more usable have adjusted holes to make a tight fit and removed all bolts apart from m3 which are used for aligning the 2 hex panels during alignment and then glued boards in place.

the updated file works fine.
updated not bolts version just glued in place
all working fine.

Lightburn File download. please find a link to the file i have added information to the file that should be removed LINK

please enjoy and don’t sell my work.

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Using Lightburn to make quick key rings for fun gifts on a 50w laser cutter.

Thought i would out a quick video for your entertainment as ran lots of these before Christmas as gifts for son’s nursery they are quick and easy to do.

Enjoy the video.

Heres how i did it in non-video format.

Step 1.

Open up Lightburn create and name in whatever font you like in my case have used army chalk font and my son’s name.

Step 2.

Using the offset toolset 3mm or bigger offset outwards with rounded selected.

Step 3.

Then i add the Ring for the keyring. this is done by adding a 4mm circle then adding 4mm offset as shown below.

Step 4.

Time to join them together place the rights and the outer edge together as shown below. select the outer edge of the keyring and outer circle then select the weld all shapes tool just below the offset tool.

Selected edges before the weld.
Selected edges now joined after weld.

Step 5.

To change the inner test to engrave path. in my case, I have the blue layer set for engraving. so, first of all, I select the text. then click on the blue layer to change it to fill layer.

Inner text selected before i then clicks on my blue layer to change it to a filled layer or engraved.
All ready to engrave and cut.

Step 6.

Settings in my case as i currently using 4mm Laserply that is a little unstable with glue blobs i currently cutting at 40% power 4mm/s and Engraving at 65% power and 350mm/s. now it’s ready to engrave and cut. This usually is around 2mins per keyring. can be done with an array of fonts i tend to do sheets at a time to make it cost-effective.

Step 7.

Wood prep work i tend to go over my laser ply boards with 400grit sandpaper on my orbital sander both sides before applying paper finishing tape. can see me smoothing it down int he video. now ready to cut.

Step 7.

Clean up and ringing of the key rings. i tend to peal all finishing tape and then light sand if needed i then grab my keyrings that have a solid ring with a split in it using snub nose pliers i insert it inside the ring and force apart i then place the ring through the wood and close using the pliers. bit hard to photo there is some over headshots of this in the video.

Finished items. from the video.

can use whatever font you like. to do this.

hope you enjoyed this project as much as i did. great gifts and work out under 50p each to make. did 100s of them over the Christmas and new year for friends and family.

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I will be adding more videos

New projects got some fun idea coming up on the site already filmed the next video which i will post this evening. if time allows it as have been busy working on getting on of my rental property ready for new Tennent.

Have already filmed another video that one is more of an experiment to improve a project i saw over on a friends youtube channel.

So the next video is a how-to make quickly customizable keyrings for gifts using a laser cutter and lightburn software.

Followed by Resin pour using ink and glow in the dark powder if this works will lead on to a bigger project as thinking of doing some night lights for my boy using led fairy lights and some resin cast stars will be also making my own silicone mould to cast the stars.

Hoping to get my CNC machine working as well as want to do some cool stuff with that shortly.

got any ideas for a project and need some help drop me a line as always looking for ideas and would love to help some other bloggers or youtube channels.