Dishwasher Magnet Thingie
My wife made this ugly pair of magnets to go on the dishwasher:
I
figured I might be able to do a little better. I have some thin (.183")
plywood with a fake oak finish that looks pretty decent.
I fired up Solidworks and went to work. Bearing in mind our farm motif in the kitchen, I decided on a barn shape. I wanted one magnet to indicate clean or dirty without switching to another or flipping it over, so a movable arrow was in order. I used the text tool to add the words "Clean" and "Dirty" along arcs in a "Comic Sans MS" font. An extruded cut .125" deep took care of the engraved look.
I fired up Solidworks and went to work. Bearing in mind our farm motif in the kitchen, I decided on a barn shape. I wanted one magnet to indicate clean or dirty without switching to another or flipping it over, so a movable arrow was in order. I used the text tool to add the words "Clean" and "Dirty" along arcs in a "Comic Sans MS" font. An extruded cut .125" deep took care of the engraved look.
A pair of .125" diameter pine dowels make the stops for the arrow to rest against.
After cutting on the CNC Router, my wife gave the Thingie to her artistic sister, Brenda Wallis, to paint:
After cutting on the CNC Router, my wife gave the Thingie to her artistic sister, Brenda Wallis, to paint:
I
expected them to clean the burrs out of the lettering and off of the
arrow, but my wife said it added to the rustic look. Brenda folded a
piece of paper and stuck it in the hole to hold the arrow to show it to
my wife. It still needs the dowels and a screw for the arrow. I have
some advertising magnets I plan to glue on the back.
And
the finished "Thingie". It has a 4" square magnet glued to the back. I was going to crop the photo, but decided to
leave the background for scale. I used an 8-32 screw, cut to length so
it didn't protrude from the back. I just force threaded it into the
hole, even though it isn't a self tapping screw. The hole in the arrow
is drilled slightly oversized to slip over the threads. I tightened it
to just snug to give the arrow some friction so it wouldn't flop around.
Now another sister-in-law wants one in an apple shape...
The solidwork rendering as a .JPG
And the finished "Thingie", less paint.
Email me any comments or suggestions, and I'll add them below.
Now another sister-in-law wants one in an apple shape...
The solidwork rendering as a .JPG
And the finished "Thingie", less paint.
You
may notice the lines on the edge of the arrow. I cheated and cut this
out on my bandsaw and hit it on the belt sander. The CNC is nice, but
simple things are quicker using other methods.
I was a dummy and made the whole thing from scratch.Then, when it was on the CNC Router, I realized I could have saved the first part with a different name and just changed the basic shape! The lettering, and hole locations stay the same. In the future, I can knock out a brand new "Thingie" in record time.
I was a dummy and made the whole thing from scratch.Then, when it was on the CNC Router, I realized I could have saved the first part with a different name and just changed the basic shape! The lettering, and hole locations stay the same. In the future, I can knock out a brand new "Thingie" in record time.
Email me any comments or suggestions, and I'll add them below.