How to build an Eiffel Tower...

[Erik King]

Hi all,

When I have time it's been fun making some toys and cool displays just to show off what the laser can do (beyond the obvious commercial applications). But, I have found many of the patterns pretty frustrating when it comes time to figure out how to put them together since most have no instructions, and even the commercially sold ones are very weak in terms of "how to" assistance.

A few days ago I downloaded the Eiffel Tower pattern after being inspired by a previous thread to try and make my own. Now that it's done, I figured it's high time I start contributing more to the forum, so I put together a little photo tutorial to share with everyone since a lot of folks seem interested in doing this...

You van find the complete tutorial on-line at: http://gallery.me.com/erik.king#100190

Here are a few additional tips to go with the pix and captions:

1) The pattern (as downloaded from the Creek) has a bunch of extra parts in it. All you need is what is shown in the first several pix - so you may want to eliminate the spares.

2) The pattern is set up to engrave the squares on the "floors", but on mine I cut them instead as I liked keeping the airy look for everything.

3) I have had good luck using plain out white school glue (Elmers type) as it is easy to apply and dries clear. I recommend applying liberal amounts and smearing it around the joined areas to penetrate and seal all the openings and get a good bond. This makes the finished piece a lot stronger.

4) I find blue tape to be essential to hold things together while building as this glue takes awhile to set.

5) If you keep a wet rag in your work area it's easy to cure the "sticky fingers" syndrome and wipe up random glue drips.

6) The easiest place to go wrong with assembly is to not notice that each of the 4 sides (at each of the three levels) needs to be put together so that the tabs alternate around the corners of the four sides (go tab, blank, tab, blank -not- tab, tab, blank) because they will fit fine at the sides if done backwards - but than the floor will not fit on top.

This is actually a pretty simple project and I agree that it generates a "wow" factor. Everyone who sees it is impressed!

Have fun (and a Happy Thanksgiving)!

[Steve Clarkson]

That's GREAT! I wish more people posted step-by-step instructions for people like me!

How long did it take you to cut it and assemble it?

[Phil Garcia]

I'm cutting mine now, I am using the prism acrylic I just received. My plans are to see what it looks like with a small light inside of it.
Thanks for the Gallery pictures, those are great. With instructions like that, I can't go wrong unless I have one to many Scotch's. :D:D

[Erik King]

That's GREAT! I wish more people posted step-by-step instructions for people like me!

How long did it take you to cut it and assemble it?

About 30 minitues to cut (but I have 120 watts so I can cut at 100% speed, not sure if it would be slower on a lesser power machine), and about 45 minutes to assemble (but it would only take 15 to do it the 2nd time I think).

[Vaughan Raymond]

Thankyou so much for the post on the Eiffel tower. You've inspired me to make some for the grandkids for Christmas.

[Don Gares]

Erik,

I also read that same thread with great interest but I was/still am somewhat confused. First, what thickness of wood did you use? Secondly, I believe that there was more than one file originally posted so what is the exact name of the file that you used? And finally, what was the size of the engraving area on the machine that you used?

Thanks a bunch and Happy Turkey,

Don

[Jack Harper]

I'm cutting mine now, I am using the prism acrylic I just received. My plans are to see what it looks like with a small light inside of it.
Thanks for the Gallery pictures, those are great. With instructions like that, I can't go wrong unless I have one to many Scotch's. :D:D

Phil - I would love to see a photo of yours when you are done. I was planning on cutting one about 50" tall out of 1/4 glass on the waterjet and using some lighting on it. Yours might give me an idea of how it might look before I commit the cutting hours. Thanks.

[Erik King]

Erik,

I also read that same thread with great interest but I was/still am somewhat confused. First, what thickness of wood did you use? Secondly, I believe that there was more than one file originally posted so what is the exact name of the file that you used? And finally, what was the size of the engraving area on the machine that you used?

Thanks a bunch and Happy Turkey,

Don

I used 1/8" (nominal) baltic birch plywood. It's cheap (about $12 for a 5' x 5' sheet) and cuts pretty nicely. Tends to be a bit warped, but some tape and or vacuum table fixes that. My laser is 18" x 32" but I cut the ply for max. yield so I made it out of three smaller sheets (I think they were 12" x 24") - probably could rearrange some more and get it out of less material but I did not bother.

The posted file I used was kind of messed up, so I'll try to build a new one that is more ready to use later on and post it to this thread.

[Erik King]

Phil - I would love to see a photo of yours when you are done. I was planning on cutting one about 50" tall out of 1/4 glass on the waterjet and using some lighting on it. Yours might give me an idea of how it might look before I commit the cutting hours. Thanks.

Might be cool! I'm planning to make another one out of clear acrylic and maybe put some LED's inside it. We're also toying with the idea of adding our own (maybe illuminated) sign letters to it for an advertisement for our commercial sign company (which I also manage). It would be very cool...but I haven't decided if it's worth the trouble just for the grins at this busy time of year.

[James Stokes]

Jack, You have taken my idea, I have wanted to make it out of glass but I do not have a waterjet. I am planning to cut stencil and cut it with my sandblaster. If you do do it in glass I definatly want to see it.

[Phil Garcia]

I got it cut and just kinda held it in place by hand to see what it looks like, and it's unbelievable. The prism effect makes it look like it's made of crystal. When I finish I will post a pic.

[Bob Keyes]

Erik,
Thanks for the tutorial. It's great and the results look fantastic.

Phil,
Can you tell about this prism acrylic? Where to get it etc.?

Thanks a lot.

[Phil Garcia]

I'm using florescent (javascript:showCorrections('florescent,%20fluores cent,%20florescence,%20efflorescent,%20fluoresced' ,'w0')) light fixture diffusers (javascript:showCorrections('diffusers,%20diffuser \'s,%20diffuses,%20diffuser,%20differs,%20diffuse, %20defuses,%20diffuseness','w1')) that a electrician (javascript:showCorrections('electric%20an,%20elec tric-an,%20electrician,%20electrical,%20electrics,%20el ectric,%20electron','w2')) friend brought (javascript:showCorrections('Bright,%20bright,%20b rought','w3')) over, just to see if I want them to practice on. There are different kinds of diffusers on the market and these (javascript:showCorrections('thief,%20thee,%20thie ve,%20theft,%20theme,%20there,%20these,%20theed,%2 0thew,%20thees,%20three,%20the,%20their,%20they\'v e,%20Thea,%20Theo,%20they,%20chef,%20them,%20then, %20thief\'s','w4')) are the prism type. Most commerical (javascript:showCorrections('chimerical,%20chimaer ical,%20comical,%20clerical,%20numerical,%20geomet rical','w5')) electricians (javascript:showCorrections('electrons,%20electron \'s,%20electricians,%20Electra\'s,%20electrics,%20 electrician\'s,%20electron','w6')) throw these away went they do remodeling jobs. I have now contacted a couple of community groups that are pushing GREEN(recycle-able (javascript:showCorrections('recycle%20able,%20rec ycle-able,%20recyclable,%20recyclables,%20resalable,%20 resealable,%20recycles,%20recycle,%20revocable,%20 reliable,%20recycled,%20scalable,%20recyclers','w7 '))) products. Since these diffusers (javascript:showCorrections('differ%20users,%20dif fer-users,%20diffusers,%20diffuser\'s,%20diffuses,%20d iereses,%20defrauders,%20differences,%20diaereses, %20defuses,%20difference\'s,%20defrosters','w8')) are not ending up at the dump but instead on Christmas trees as recycle-able (javascript:showCorrections('recycle%20able,%20rec ycle-able,%20recyclable,%20recyclables,%20resalable,%20 resealable,%20recycles,%20recycle,%20revocable,%20 reliable,%20recycled,%20scalable,%20recyclers','w9 ')) ornaments and things like Eiffel (javascript:showCorrections('Effetely,%20Eiffel,%2 0Eyeful,%20Fearful,%20FOFL,%20Earful,%20Offal,%20A ffable,%20Ireful,%20Useful','w10')) Towers, Windmills, etc..I think it's a great idea. I am my part of being Green. I'll get off my soap box now....

[Erik King]

Hi All,

As promised here are the files I used that have been cleaned-up and rearranged a bit. I am posting the same file in three formats: CDR, AI and EPS so that you can download the posted ZIP file and have them in the format you prefer. The file sizes are too large to attach to this posting (and for some reason the forum does not allow .ai files!), so I have posted them on my own file server so that you can download them by clicking on this link instead: http://snipr.com/6zcbm-qth1fj

Please note that I did not create these - all credit belongs to the original poster/creator (whoever that was) all I did was get them ready for use a bit.

Please also not that because I use a ULS laser I have everything set to be a RGB red (255/0/0) hairline (.001) so that everything will vector cut. There are no raster engraved items in the file. If you use an Epilog you may need to adjust color and line width to suit your driver. They are also set up in one 32" x 24" sheet - if you have a smaller bed you will need to re-nest them on a couple of smaller sheets instead.

Hope this helps - have fun!

[Don Gares]

Erik,

How 'bout uploading a Corel file of the tower in X3 or lower?

Don

[Erik King]

Hi Don,

If I get a minute I will convert it for you but I don't keep Corel on anything but the laser computer (as it pains me greatly to use Corel on a PC rather than AI on a Mac) which is not near my office, so I may not be able to do it right away...

Meanwhile, why not just import the EPS file into Corel? That is how I do everything (since I prefer to do layouts in AI and just use Corel to "print" from) and it works great.

(By the way - I tried to answer your PM but your ISP said I was spam and bounced the message.)

Have a good one!

[Jim Watkins]

Good evening all,
Here is my tower which I made last year. I saved the file down to an X3 file.

Some of the pieces will have to be duplicated and all will fit onto two 12 x 24" baltic birch panels with the exception of one of the bottom supports, it will have to go onto a third piece. Just rearrange it and it will work.

I would have sent the whole file, but the detail made the file really large, about 411kb, so I could not attach it.

Let me know what you think...

Jim