I finished designing the frame of my Nether Portal lantern, It was difficult to figure out how to create the finger joints for the hollow part and also figure out how to handle kerf. Now that I am done with drawing in Inkscape I will be able to cut the parts on Friday, and assemble the lantern over the weekend. I made some design changes to the portal as well: I am using thin black paper behind the frame so that it looks solid black, but glows purple when turned on, and I have decided to secure the acrylic with tabs on each side.
Artist Question:
I have ordered a strip of LED lights, what is the best way to set it up so that it goes around the frame and also lights the acrylic from the inside? The frame is 6.4 by 8 in. Any ideas for the configuration of this strip would be much appreciated.
Update: The project was a success! Pictures below:
I notice how the patterns look very similar to the actual Minecraft textures in your piece. One question that I have is are you going to use an n’off switch somewhere on the outside of the portal or are you going to have the LEDs plug into the wall? In my opinion, I think that the LED strips would look best mounted to the inside of the box around the outer layer facing in towards the acrylic. This would make the acrylic light up as well as the holes in the side.
There is a wire at the back which can be plugged into the wall. I ended up doing something similar with the LEDs to what you suggested, except the LED is wrapped around the inside of the frame.
In your description you mentioned it was hard to figure out the cutout finger joints and the kerf, how did you figure it out? I agree with Sage’s opinion about how to add the LEDs.
I had to reverse the direction of some of the finger joints in Inkscape, and I did some math and tried to reverse the kerf to add kerf in the opposite direction.
After cutting it out it turns out I messed up horribly so every piece needed a lot of sanding before it could be put together :/
I loved how you made a nether portal. I think this is a really cool idea to do. You should set your LED lights around the purple portal part to make that shine through. I have an opinion on where the light shines through. I know you mentioned that you want the obsidian to also shine but I think it would look cooler and more accurate if you only made the portal part (The purple part) only shine through.
Thanks! I did end up wrapping the LEDs around the portal part on the inside. I used black paper so that the light wouldn’t shine through the frame as much and that way it gives it more of a glow effect rather than being completely lit up.