I want to create a 3-D duck lantern out of acrylic. I don’t know how to use CAD well enough to make a duck, so I figured I would 3D scan a duck (or duck shaped object) and then slice the scan to get layers that I can cut out on the laser cutter. I have already played around with a few 3D scanner apps, and I have figured out how to get it into the right file format for the fusion360slicer software. Below is my first attempt at scanning my duck. He came out a little lumpy, especially on his head, but I may be able to fix that in Inkscape after I slice the layers.
I also want to do some rastering on the layers to create a 3-D heart inside the duck. I will also have to find a good light source that I can put under the duck to make it glow! I have a plant light that might work well for this, but I’ll have to do some experimenting to ultimately decide if it’s good enough.
Are you thinking of artificial light or candle/fire?
Probably artificial light since I don’t want to melt the acrylic
How do you plan to make the part of the piece that you have the light in accessible?
I will have to experiment with the lighting, but I was thinking I could just put the duck on top of a strong light source.
What is your plan for differentiating the heart from the duck?
I plan on using clear acrylic, so hopefully the rastered heart will be visible from the outside. Thinking about this question gave me a new idea – I could cut out the heart shape from the duck layers, and separately laser some pink acrylic so it fits inside the heart spaces
Are these colors the same as the ones you are planning to use? Or are you going to use one color and then paint/draw the features?
Yes, I plan to use clear acrylic for the body and yellow acrylic for the beak. I may find small buttons for the eyes so I don’t have to buy a whole sheet of acrylic for those. I may also get some pink acrylic for the heart.
How are you planning to deal with connecting the pieces together and the resulting line that could appear, if you use certain glues?
Honestly, I’m not sure yet. I will have to do research about this and am open to suggestions.
How many layers of acrylic do you think it will take to achieve your desired design, and how thick will the acrylic be?
I will buy 1/8in acrylic, and the rough estimate is about 40 layers I think? I don’t want this to be too big so I hope to fit a bunch of layers on each sheet of acrylic.
How do you intended to make the eyes and beak? Will you make them separate or a part of the shape as a whole?