WoodMarvels Blog

I’m now done the first batch of testing and CNC’ing (thanks to my Desktop Shopbot) of toys which I’ll be releasing as the animations and other production videos are done for each. Unlike their laser equivalent, these CNC router specific projects have been modified to be as much “load and cut” as possible. These files will be available in DXF which includes the Partworks file (which you can import into Aspire too)- the same one I used to cut my [...]

I had a great time last week visiting ShopBot Tools HQ, getting CNC training and then getting my very own ShopBot Desktop machine. I made a video of my experiences there which you can view below. Angus Hines of Hines Design Lab also helped me out tremendously along with Bill to get me organized and cutting in record time. 2011 ShopBot Tools Roadtrip

I fully realize it’s been over a month since the new project release at WoodMarvels.com – I’ve been busy working on pretty big project for an upcoming trade show in Europe which I’ll make public in a little over a month’s time. That being said, I took a short break and designed a flying car just to give myself a break from all the calculations required from said big project! I’ve been designing cars almost since the very beginning, one [...]

I mentioned repeatedly over the years that I want to get into full scale woodcrafts, basically, BIG ENORMOUS pieces. As such, I come across a few designers (they are rare) who exhibit what I want to get into eventually and… of course, sell the plans of for others to make at home! So far, my largest pieces have been the Syndey ANZAC War Memorial which, if made using 6mm thick material would be roughly a meter cube and the Mars [...]

I was reading a few blog posts when I came upon this amazing car, the outer shell is all made of wood and it looks amazing! Even better… you can actually buy one, though I’m unsure what the local sheriff in town would say regarding road worthiness. The car is designed and manufactured by Sada-Kenbi out of Japan and they call this the “Wooden SuperCar Maniwa” which to me sounds like a very apt name for this creation. Here are [...]

Since I discovered the nuances of laser cutting the designs found on WoodMarvels.com, I’ve become very good at optimizing files to make them affordable using as much board space as well as few doubled-up lines as possible. This means that I can usually cut my production costs in half as I wrote about earlier here: (link no longer works) The Advent of CNC on-demand manufacturing About a month ago, I started selling my optimized EPS files for download from WoodMarvels.com [...]

Here is how I would see the typical Chinese citizen living their life in the year 2140. Why Chinese? Because China WILL lead the environmental crusade through this century. They have the brain power (population x education x competition), the will and importantly, don’t live in a democratic country… these billions of people will be pushed into changing their lifestyle fundamentally with little choice but to comply or face severe consequences. 7am: Zhi Wen wakes-up to a flowing symphony of [...]

I believe that things will get far worse environmentally before they get better, I also believe that we are but on the fine cusp of a HUGE fundamental shift in how the glocal economies of this world operate… and desktop on-demand manufacturing is a vital piece towards solving the global warming puzzle. What is desktop on-demand manufacturing? Change this question to “what is a desktop printer” to get an idea of how much of a revolution on-demand desktop manufacturing will [...]

We have just launched our laser cut dolphin kit available in two sizes, 6mm and 10mm. The nice thing about the 10mm kit is you get two with that order! You can find it on WoodMarvels.com under Theme / Sea Life and the approximate dimension of the 6mm kit are 16cm long, 10cm high and with a width of 3cm while for the 10mm kit, 27cm long, 7cm high and with a width of 5cm. We have also released a [...]

We have released two sets of coaster or surface protectors on our site. They are based off the ones we produced blueprints for about a year ago but these are only one layer thick, meaning no need for dowels and are easily cut. Each set includes matching 24cm, 18cm and 4 x 10cm surface protectors. You can find these coasters (more to come) on WoodMarvels.com under Category / Kitchen. We have also launched a new Amazing Mega Train which is [...]