Steve's Gallery - Cheers 2016

These are some of the things that have been produced on the laser. The machine was bought for about $500 from China and has been used to make a heap of different stuff, from toast to breadboards.

I discovered the hard way that you need to ensure the laser is well ventilated and take the vent pipe outside. It produces a lot of smoke.

I made a set of silky oak coasters for all the staff in my branch a month or two back. They came up failry well. Looks like they are mementos to remember me by now. Pity I didn't take a photo of them.

A lot of time has been spent on Arduino (microprocessor board) projects. These range from a coffin that opens when someone approaches (complete with skull and glowing eyes) for Halloween, to an arrow sign with flashing LEDs and various other LED projects. None of these look much in a photo, much more impressive in real life.

The Arduino boards (or Chines clones of Arduino boards) can be had for about $2.50 off eBay, so I have built up a stock of them, just waiting for a project to beckon. I have also accumulated some ESP8266 boards to experiment with internet control.

The laser cutter makes a great adjunct to electronics, as you can custom make cases for the circuitry.

What can I say. It is a lot of fun. I have ticked a few off the list during the year. Probably only 500-odd to go. I even finally patched up a few that had got broken on the trip north, 2 years later.

I have been mainly making 1/72 models, owing to space constraints with display of the finished articles. Emily even joined in, putting together a Texan AT-6 while she was home over Christmas. That's why there is a photo of a small model plane in the 2016 gallery.