Pond Coasters

Instructions

This is a quick project exploring the possibilities of cutting Forbo furniture linoleum with Origin - and it turns out it cuts incredibly well! Next up: linoluem inlays... Step 1: Laminate linoleum to ply base I used a low-nap roller to apply DAP Weldwood contact cement to both the linoleum and plywood. Two coats were necessary - the first coat saturates each material, allowing the second coat to sit on the surface and provide adhesion. Once both coats are dry, carefully roll the linoleum onto the plywood, working slowly from one end to the other and taking care to not trap any air bubbles. The bond is both strong and instant, so, again, work carefully. And watch out for fumes and stray adhesive! Step 2: Generate blobs I used https://10015.io/tools/svg-blob-generator to generatively create the organic shapes for the coasters. Changing the fill color to black - #000000 - means that the saved image will automatically register as an outside cut on Origin. Tweak the number of edges and growth factor until you have shapes that you like, then download them one at a time onto your computer. I then uploaded all the files to a folder on ShaperHub. Step 3: Cut! About as easy as it gets - just stick your workpiece to a spoilboard, apply Shaper Tape, scan, and go! I did not create a grid for this project, rather choosing to place my files by hand. The blobs are not dimensioned, so the only additional design work is to scale each blob appropriately. Scaling the long axis of each file to 3.5" worked well for beverage coasters, and I made some bigger ones for plants as well. The linoleum is very soft, so I was able to cut this material combo with a 1/8" up-spiral cutter in one pass at the full 6mm depth.