Tool Shadowbox

rkv34 · May 20, 2020, 1:36pm

Wanted to organize a few of my toolbox drawers. Used the anti-fatigue mats from Harbor Freight. Cut with a 2 flute endmill at a DOC of about 6mm. Modeled using Fusion 360, projected the images to trace the tool layout.

vicious1 · May 20, 2020, 1:42pm

Oh that is just nice!!!

B-26 · May 20, 2020, 2:04pm

Neat stuff! If you don’t mind me asking, how do you project the tool images. I’m just getting into Fusion so if that’s one of its functions, just LMK and I’ll start studying more.

I’m kinda surprised that the HF mats are rigid enough to cut with a regular end mill?

rkv34 · May 20, 2020, 2:08pm

I start a sketch, draw a box of the rough dimensions, then choose insert canvas, select your file, and you’re good to go.

I didn’t know how the endmill would cut the mats but they were so cheap I didn’t care if I screwed up. Used a little 3m adhesive to secure them to a scrap piece of wood.

B-26 · May 20, 2020, 2:13pm

Thanks!

Nice Work!

turbomacncheese · May 20, 2020, 2:23pm

Another way is to capture something of a known dimension in the image (a ruler is nice). You can right click the canvas object in the browser and select “calibrate”. Then you get to pick two points and tell fusion exactly how far apart they should be.

rkv34 · May 20, 2020, 2:24pm

Yeah, I figured that out on the 3rd set I was cutting. It’s the most accurate haha.

turbomacncheese · May 20, 2020, 2:29pm

Nice. I wasn’t sure which would be the better workflow because I’ve never resized a canvas the other way. Only reason I learned about canvases was because I saw one being calibrated, lol.

jeffeb3 · May 20, 2020, 10:42pm

That is a much simpler method than I have done in the past.

jeffw · May 21, 2020, 12:33am

Great project! I have some of these on my LR2-to-do list.

And thanks for explaining the Fusion 360 ‘canvas’ trick. I’ve done a similar thing with Solidworks. There it’s called a ‘sketch picture’, but it can be scaled pretty much the same way.

blainesgarage · May 22, 2020, 5:23pm

I love this idea and want to make a few for my box, but I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be enough foam left to hold itself together. Any thoughts?

merrittgene · May 22, 2020, 6:20pm

Cutlery tray?

jamiek · May 22, 2020, 6:21pm

I was thinking for my situation, I don’t want to pay for drawers, so perhaps I could take the same idea starting with a hardboard base and cutting foam that is deeper than all the tools (perhaps grouping tools by height), and I could have little stackable pallets instead of being all random in a box or drawers.

If the foam is deeper than the tools then I would also want little finger tabs so I don’t have to fight the foam to grab the tools.

B-26 · May 22, 2020, 6:38pm

Bigger box?

Smaller tools?

thejat · May 22, 2020, 6:41pm

Not perfect but something like this might help…

ttraband · May 22, 2020, 7:24pm

Back when PDA’s were a brand new thing, I remember saying “If I need a pocket computer to remind me of all my daily appointments, I’ve got too many appointments.”

Any chance you’ve got too many pliers? (Never mind, even as I typed it I knew that was just crazy talk).

barry99705 · May 22, 2020, 8:48pm

I’ve been thinking about something like that. Quarter inch sheet of plywood, with foam on top. Then you can make a couple towers with slots to hold the pallets. Kinda like Frank Howorth’s latest shelving project, but the pallets instead of drawers.

barry99705 · May 22, 2020, 8:50pm

Also, for scaling images one of my retired CSI friends sent me one of these.

“STOP USING QUARTERS FOR SCALE!”

jamiek · May 22, 2020, 8:59pm

And stop using inches while you’re at it!

barry99705 · May 22, 2020, 9:03pm

He was always yelling that, so we’d use the most random thing we could find for scale.