thanksgiving pumpkin truck
Instruction
Not only children, but also many adults love cars, especially classic cars! Why not combine the whole thing with a 'Thanksgiving' motif? Can also be extended with a candle pumpkin as decoration!
Here is a first impression of the thanksgiving pumpkin truck!
If you like 3D design like I do, you can use the free tool
'SlicerforFusion360'
to generate beautiful files from your 3D files for the laser engraver!
For example, I created and modified a vintage car as an stl file (for 3D printing).
In the slicer software I can now automatically generate a multilayer design from it and then even have a dxf extracted for a specific wood sheet size!
Depending on the complexity and imperfections, this still needs to be adjusted a little. I then save the customized dxf files in their final form so that I can upload them to XTool Creative Space.
I used the same slicing software for the pumpkin, but here I opted for 'radial slicing', which looks much better on a round 3D object (see images 1 and 2 for comparison).
Here, too, I can then extract dxf files and improve them slightly, especially if I want to adapt the pumpkin so that a candle can be placed inside.
The next step is to import the files (a total of 3 for the truck and 1 each for the normal pumpkin and the one with the candle) into XTool Creative Space.
- Now place the material in the laser and make sure that you use the full processing area!
- Either measure the height of your material automatically or enter it manually!
- The XCS files should be directly usable, but if you have your own design, I recommend that you use two colors for cutting and scoring lines and then set the above settings for 2mm birch plywood.
- If you want to add extra text somewhere, you can also do this in XTool Creative Space using the 'Text' button.
- Now press Start and make sure your laser is closed! XTool's 'Air Assist' makes the result even more beautiful!
Repeat the whole process on the truck for all 3 files!
Here you can see that assembling the truck is very easy. You can use the engraved numbers as a guide:
- Sort the parts by number before assembly. There are 4 parts left without numbers, but you should be able to identify them from the pictures.
- ATTENTION: If you want to color your truck like I did, then you should continue with the next step and color the parts first before you continue with the assembly here.
- Make sure that you arrange the two long truck parts the right way round. If you look at the truck from the front, the part with the 1 is on the left.
- Start with the rectangular part (rounded) at the very back, carefully push it into the two slots of the long parts and then continue with 2, 3, 4... etc. towards the front.
The truck will be fully assembled in just a few minutes!
The pumpkin is put together much more quickly:
- Make sure you put the horizontal layers in the right order: 1 is at the bottom and 5 at the top!
- At the points where the first of the twelve side parts is attached, either a 1 is engraved or the number (1-5) is directly above the slit!
- Start by inserting all 5 horizontal layers into the number 1 of the side pieces.
- Now continue with parts 2-12 and insert them into all 5 layers!
- This process works for both the normal pumpkin and the one with a cut-out for the candle!
If you want a colorful truck with a matching background and text, you can either paint the truck as a whole or, like me, paint the individual parts in completely different colors.
- Please note that you could theoretically color the parts with the M1 Ultra before the cutting process.
- However, spray paints are often much stronger and you can also use them without an M1 Ultra.
- Make sure you have good suction when using it!
- The letters for 'Happy Thanksgiving' are included in the 'truck road' file and can also be adjusted and of course colored as desired.
Finally, here are some pictures how it looks with a candle!
Have fun with the build!