*notcot in playful , 13:40

Laser Smashball Experiment- 07.29.14

smash1.jpg It feels like it’s been summer here since february or so… and when we were checking out at the supermarket, had a nostalgic moment when i spotted Smashball - that beachy wooden paddle ball game thats been around since the 70s with such an adorably iconic logo. It also seemed like a fun one to experiment with in the Laser Cutter! Remember the hexagon experiment from the laser challenge? Well we threw some of those patterns together and played with painting and etching it into the paddles and toying with some custom colored plastidip. Take a peek at more details of the experiment on the next page!

Impulse supermarket buy… lasersmash1.jpg

Drying the paint… and popping it into the laser cutter! lasersmash2.jpg

Lasers in action! lasersmash3.jpg

Clear coating… lasersmash4.jpg

My favorite part of this is definitely the way it looks in REAL LIFE (photos don’t quite do it justice) - at different angles, it goes from looking black with slight cuts in it, then tilt it and it looks like golden wooden colors are popping out of the cracks… lasersmash5.jpg

First comparison to where it started… lasersmash6.jpg

Decided to to with some Plasti Dip Create Your Colorlasersmash7.jpg

… trying out a darker green for the plasti dip… i hadn’t realized quite how much it tightens up to a perfect coating! (And worst case scenario, you can always peel it off!) lasersmash8.jpg

So here’s the current state of the experiment - two paddles - one plasti dipped handle and one as is… smash2.jpg

smash3.jpg

smash4.jpg

smash5.jpg

What next? Not sure yet… but they do look pretty floating around the lab, and are still super fun to play with!

Tags: - - - - -


Copyright NOTCOT INC 2005-2019 - Privacy Policy - Work In Progress! Please be nice!