Just for Fun - Mt. Washington

[Nate Barnes]

Howdy,

I am new to Sawmill Creek (and my laser engraver) so this is my first post. I had to teach a lesson on reading a topo map so I scanned a topo of Mt Washington. I cut the elevations so they stack so students can build it like a puzzle. It is build on a piece of plywood that has the top engraved on it to help see how the paper map translates to a 3-D image.

No idea how to sell it but it was fun to make and watch people play with.

[Tom Bull]

And you could sell it to educators by promoting it for their area, whatever hill or mountain or river valley, etc. is near their students. They could study the real maps, use the laser puzzle to teach the relationship of the lines to the shape of the hill and take a field trip to the location to see what it looks like in real life.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Nate.......as one who has elk hunted in the mountains of Idaho for 20+ years and carried topo maps that is interesting. The lines on the map and the elevation changes you experience on the ground are often hard to visualize and even harder to experience when you hunted all day and still have to climb out of that steep hole!

That would be a great learning tool for those just studying topo maps!

[Chad Voller]

That is a very interesting piece. Coming from Minnesota where most of the topology maps I see are for lake depth, I could see this done for lake resorts, high end cabins, and what not. With a pane of glass set in or acrylic cut out for the water. And it would be fairly accurate to, if you got the map from the right source of course. Sitting around this display of the lake you are on with your buddies, planning your next fish slaughter on a full 3D model of said lake. That's something that might sell here.

You could even fill in the steps with clay or some type of filler and order props from those miniature hobby railroad catalogs to make it even more realistic. But then that goes beyond the laser.

[Sandra Force]

I showed the photo to a member of the local Sherriff's Posse who does search and rescue and he loved the idea for doing some for this area. It would make it a lot easier to see possible places to look for lost hunters and hikers.

[Pete Simmons]

I did one for Florida but it was only one piece of wood with a small second level of wax paper. Even then the paper was to thick to keep it to scale.

[Cary Fleming]

That is pretty cool. My mother is a map freak and lives on the side of a mountain in Arkansas. I might just have to make her a model of her land from a USGS topo map.

Thanks for the great idea!!!