Laser Cutting : Wood Mechanical Toys

Automata - small wood mechanical toys

Inspiration

I always have a thing for paper and small wood toys and have made easy mechanical toys from papercard and simple wire before. So, with the laser cutting machine, I wanted to make a replicas of my old paper toy from plywood by cutting the mechanical parts individually and hoping that the piece could last longer.

Materials / Machines

• Plywood 1/4”

• Paper

• Glue

• Scissors

• Paper Tape

• Laser Cutting Machine

Figure out the mechanical parts using the model from the internet

Process

To see the mechanical parts of my old paper toy again, I went on to find the old tutorial link of it but the link was not there anymore. Though, I ran into the other mechanical toy link which is offer many ideas of small mechanical toys also a model for laser cutting of the walking man automata. So, I used the model that I found and laser cut the walking man model out first to understand the mechanical parts of it.

Here is the link : https://wolfcatworkshop.com/index.php/walking-man-automata/

After the first model, I kinda get the sense of how the toy work. so I started to make my own version for the automata by adapting from the old model and decided to make a fly swatter automata.

Cover the wood with the paper tape before cutting

the parts that cover with the paper tape is obviously looks better without the burnt

I also learn from the first cut that cutting the wood in small pieces will burn the pieces and creates dark color on the surface so I covered the whole cutting surface with paper tape before cutting.

Conclusion

Laser cutting is pretty easy to use but the design that come with it must be very precise. Before the final piece, I did brake many piece of the mechanical parts because I didn’t calculate the thickness of the wood well and ended up still using paper in some parts if the toy. Anyways, it was a really fun project which I learn a lot about laser cutting and ended up with the products that I love.