I am going to attempt to make the MC Esher’s lizards on my SO3. I have turned a drawing into an svg and will cut this out this afternoon from 1/4" plywood. If it works I will cut it out of solid wood and paint the lizards different colors.
Here is the simulation.
Here is what I am trying to make.
Not sure if I will make a wall hanging or a puzzle. First I have to cut the lizards out and see if they fit together. May have to tweak the design. Will post the results.
For a bit on fitting together this sort of thing see:
I’ll be watching this one @gdon_2003 . The grand kids need a new toy…
(This note more directed to the audience, rather than to the OP)
Since the lizards will be at many different angles compared to the angles they are cut at, something to check before you make some is that:
For something like this, it doesn’t really matter if 100mm in the design program comes out to exactly 100mm in the cut. What matters is that 100mm in X comes out the same as 100mm in Y. If they are both 102mm, you might want to fix that later, but it won’t affect how they pieces fit together.
On the other hand, if 100mm in X comes out as 100mm, but 100mm in Y comes out as 102mm, then things are definitely not going to fit together well.
Similarly, if your X-Y axis are not square to each other, then as the pieces are rotated it will badly affect the fit.
The test is just “Cut out a square”, as large as you can accurately measure. Then measure the X and Y (should be the same), and measure both diagonals (should be the same).
Getting these two things sorted at the beginning will remove a huge amount of hassle later.
@WillAdams brought up something I already knew but forgot. When making puzzles you have to do an inside offset. The first batch I cut were all like the original image and would not fit together. I reduced by 0.03" inside and cut it again. The pieces fit but I think I reduce the original by 0.02" and things will work fine.
@mhotchin I have checked my machine for the steps in each direction and I am spot on.
I will be painting these different colors and the trials will be given to a friend for his grand children when they come over. After I get the pieces cut I will make a frame for them to fit inside.
Recently I have been fascinated by 3d illusions. The MC Esher are just an extension of that interest. Years ago I bought a really nice book with his pictures printed in high quality. I cut many out and framed them. Esher had a fascinating mind to see these images in his head and then draw them without the aid of modern computer software.
Here are my lizards cut out of plywood.
Here are a few of my 3d illusions I have been working on. These are not CNC but interesting.
This is a segmented bowl with the star quilting design.
Here is a tumbling block in a small segmented bowl.
I am planning on making a cutting board with the tumbling block design and cut the juice grooves on my SO3.
Fun times integrating my hybrid approach to woodworking.
Got my test finished. Got 9 of the lizards cut. I did a 0.03" inside offset for the pieces to fit together. I think I will reduce it to 0.02" on the final version. The plywood I used was birch but it was lousy. The project was still useful but the test will all go into the fire. I will glue up some solid wood and cut it out using 1/4" hardwood. I also need to figure out exactly how many pieces I need to get a rectangle and make a frame for it to fit in.
Since this is repeating pattern that could go on into infinity I have to layout the pattern needed and prepare enough stock.
Fun making trivial things. I have decided to make this a puzzle.
After getting the final project finished I will post the file for @Ed.E
Got my final version in plywood done. In the end I had to offset the original svg lizard body 0.03" inside to get the pieces to fit together with enough slack to easily put the pieces together. I will make a frame to put the pieces inside and paint the pieces. I will eventually cut this out of 1/4" hardwood. Using the plywood I was able to debug the process. The birch plywood I used was awful. The bottom layers peeled off randomly but I sanded them and after painting only one side will show anyway. This will go to my friends grandkids to play with.
The frame will be 13.5 x 7.5" outside and 11.5" x 5.5" inside. Then I will glue on a plywood bottom. I likely have enough scraps to make everything.
@Ed.E here is the file for your grandkids. Just edit the file for your material and preferences for origin and so on.
esher_lizards_846.c2d (624 KB)
Additionally the file was done with CC v846 (beta) and the cutout tool path was used. If you open it up in an earlier version the cutout tool path will be missing. You can just do an outside contour tool path. I used a #102 (1/8" to cut out the lizards.
If you just keep making the lizards you can infinitely expand this as big as you want. Since I am making this for kids I just made 9 pieces. This would also make a nice wall hanging with the lizards all colored different colors.
Thanks @gdon_2003. My grandsons will love this.
Great stuff, Guy. Speaking of M. C. Escher’s imagination, how many ways can you think of, with today’s technology, to create Escher’s “Hand with Reflecting Sphere”? In 1935, there were none of those advancements available. He created that one in a lithograph.
By Official M.C. Escher website., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9174116
Will your frame interlock with the pieces around the edges?
I tried tracing the bunch with a pencil and scanning. Turned it into an SVG but it was such a mess I gave up. Just going to use two pieces of 1/4" plywood. The top piece will just be a rectangle and then glue it to the bottom solid piece.
I put a coat of Watco Danish Clear Oil on the frame. The project is 99.9% done. May put a second coat on frame.
A clear epoxy pour would go nice on that one.
I am in a turning club. A man that has a tree cutting business stops by randomly and usually brings his two young kids. I gave the puzzle to them. They started putting it together and because there are several ways to put it together there seems to be only one that makes the puzzle fit back in the space. The kids liked it and really liked the bright colors I had painted the lizards. I have made a lot of puzzles for kids and it very rewarding seeing them enjoy the fruits of my labor.
