Baseball lineup board (glowforge)

My youth travel team had our first baseball game of the season last night and it was the perfect opportunity to put the Glowforge to use.

The problem: like many coaches I have a magnet board that we hang up on a fence. It shows the lineup for our team and which position the players will be playing that inning. It’s great - except for the fact that the magnets get lost or fall off in my backpack, the papers with the names fall out, and it can cause more problems than it solves! (like searching in the dirt mid-game for a lost magnet)



Yesterday I woke up and had an idea to solve the problem. Within two hours, I had a prototype built and ready for the game, using draftboard and baltic birch. At last night’s game, it held up perfectly! No lost pieces, no headaches! The simple locking mechanism kept every piece in place even when the kids bumped into the board.

I love my !

version 2 of the lineup board is already in the works - I may try a clear acrylic board, and use block print on the names so the kids can read it from farther away.

Baseball Mitt (glowforge)

Coach Rey gave me the idea to see if the Glowforge can engrave a baseball mitt. It was a real pain to get it flat - which may be mostly because I decided to try a catcher's mitt first.

Used the leather proofgrade settings, set the height of the object by seeing how much higher it was than the tray, and it worked perfectly!

The engraving is really clean and not too deep.

Iris Box draft (glowforge)

First attempt at an Iris Box, made with 3mm baltic birch. It's a lot larger than I was anticipating! I used soap on the screws and in the grooves so it could open easily. It also falls apart too easily if you flip it upside down - I think I can make the screw holes smaller to prevent that.

Instructions came from an Instructables project.

D&D Character Sheet Clipboard (glowforge)

T made this for his friend's 14th birthday. It's sized to hold a 8.5"x11" sheet of paper in the middle, the character sheet his friend uses for their Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The engraving is his friend's character.

This was our first attempt at graphic engraving at this detail and it worked out pretty well (after a few false starts). The trick was to make the graphic light enough so it didn't engrave too deeply into the wood.

Switch holder (glowforge)

This is the kind of everyday thing we use our Glowforge for. L's gecko has two lights on top of his cage, one for light, one for warmth. The lights we purchased have the most annoying cords with the switches at the least convenient spot on those cords.

L has to deal with it daily, so he wanted to make something that would help him keep those switches accessible. 10 minutes of design, 2 minutes of cutting and we have a solution:



It has held the cords/switches in place for 2+ weeks without fail and L's gets to reap the benefits of something he made every day.

Our board game - Nagasaki Plaza (glowforge)

The boys and I have been working on a board game for years. We have tested and honed it, improved every part of it many times over, but I think it will always be a work in progress. One of the reasons I was excited for the Glowforge was that we could fabricate components whenever we wanted.

This game is loosely based on 80s-90s action movies like Speed, Die Hard and Air Force One. I wanted the game to have an office tower (the original name was Tower Seven) and I went through many versions with cardboard and foam board. With the Glowforge, I was finally able to make the tower the game deserved, and that would keep the cards and components organized:

Baseball Scoreboard (glowforge)

This weekend I made a scoreboard for our baseball team that is designed to hang on a fence. The team names and numbers are all on plates that can be changed out.

The base of the scoreboard is made with 1/4" birch plywood, as is the middle layer that forms the frame. The face is proofgrade maple plywood from Glowforge.

Notebook (glowforge)

This actually came out better than expected on chipboard. I measured the existing covers and quickly replicated it in Designer (after trying a scan/trace and failing). The chipboard is a perfect notebook cover - not too thick or heavy but stiff and sturdy.

Family Sign (glowforge)

Our family sign that sits on our mantle. Made this in December, using sanded plywood as the background and red oak as the lettering.

Ironman Plaque (glowforge)

Another XMas present, this was my first attempt at an acrylic inlay in wood. Lots of trial and error - the shapes within the shapes (O, D, A) were extra hard.

I used cherry hardwood with clear acrylic.

Viticulture insert (glowforge)

Yesterday we finished up a session of one of my favorite games, Viticulture, with the “Tuscany” expansion I received for XMas. I found myself wishing that everything would fit in one box. Glowforge to the rescue!

I have been loving the box maker at http://www.festi.info/boxes.py/TypeTray1
Designing inserts to better fit game components seems to be very relaxing for me for some reason. Lots of math and measuring clears the mind.

Everything now fits neatly in one box, which has allowed me to ditch the annoying plastic insert the game came with, as well as the second box.

Everything was made from 3mm Baltic Birch ply bought from Woodpeckers/Amazon. I want to change the box with the large cards to have holes on the sides so that you can grab the cards easily, and maybe a tray to separate the coin values. Those are my main regrets.

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Beer 4-pack (glowforge)

I made a couple of these beer 4-packs as XMas gifts and will make more as time permits. It's a fun gift to make. I used 1/4" red oak ply from Home Depot for most of these, although I used birch ply in the one pictured.

Baseball Clock (glowforge)

This clock was my Christmas present from T., who worked on this in secret for days. It's a pretty big piece and he was learning Affinity Designer as he went (since he prefers Fusion 360). Our baseball team is called the Storm, and we constantly joke about the rain cloud that follows me around on game/practice days so this clock is perfect!

To Do Board (glowforge)

My favorite project thus far, a to-do board for myself and the kids. This has 3 separate layers, with cheap Baltic Birch in the back and proofgrade Maple up front. The task pieces are birch. My friend aptly described it as "Artisanal Trello" ;)

Death Star Earrings (glowforge)

T. made these Death Star/Baseball earrings for his friend's birthday, along with an earring stand. The earrings are made out of 2-tone silver/black acrylic from Inventables.

Miniature Drum Pad (glowforge)

L designed and made this miniature drum pad with some baltic birch and a double layer of EVA foam. He designed this completely by himself in Affinity Designer - could not be prouder!

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Meeple Coasters (glowforge)

I thought I would start posting some of our favorite creations with the Glowforge. This was a design shared in the Glowforge community. These are a permanent fixture in our dining room, on our game table.

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Kitty Ornaments (glowforge)

Another XMas present, on proofgrade Walnut.

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IIE Ornament (glowforge)

This was an ornament I made as a gift - it has the logo of Danielle's unit at AU. It's proofgrade maple inset into clear acrylic. Getting the kerf just right took some trial and error.

Terraforming Mars boards (glowforge)

This was a design we found on Thingiverse, very quick and easy make with draftboard and EVA foam. Makes the game so much easier to play, since we no longer knock our pieces around.

SVG Files: Chipboard Foam