UK MSE-6 Builder's Club Mascot Droid

[kresty]

Since Savage mentioned how huge they always seemed, I thought I'd post a picture of Alan's UK Builder's Mouse that was at Celebration London.

Laser cut and all decked out in UK Mouse Builder's Club garb.

MCK-Y posing with the UK Mouse Droid Builder's Mascot

I love the lasercut tongue & groove edges, very fun.

[alr2]

Since Savage mentioned how huge they always seemed, I thought I'd post a picture of Alan's UK Builder's Mouse that was at Celebration London.

Laser cut and all decked out in UK Mouse Builder's Club garb.

MCK-Y posing with the UK Mouse Droid Builder's Mascot

I love the lasercut tongue & groove edges, very fun.

That's my "UK" mse!
It's designed for 3mm styrene so was a rush job for display at CE. Hence why the edges of the grooves where showing as the material wasn't scaled..

[kresty]

That's my "UK" mse!
It's designed for 3mm styrene so was a rush job for display at CE. Hence why the edges of the grooves where showing as the material wasn't scaled..

I thought it looked really cool!  I knew Giles said someone had made it but I forgot who, sorry on the mixed up attribution!  (ok, fixed the original post)
 
I was actually thinking it would be fun to build one similar (changing the UK bit of course). I like the laser cut construction and the interlocking edges.

Do all of the edges interlock or just the top bits?

[kresty]

Oh, funny story too, I didn't know the top greebles weren't glued on. Giles said we could move it over for the photo with Lara's MCK-Y Lego mouse, so I carried it over and took the pix and everything. Then I picked it up to move it back and the greebles fell off Can't believe I got it moved the first time without jarring them!

[alr2]

The entire shell panels all interlock with each other.
It was designed so there was no guess work as to lining up, speed and more surface area lock onto.
The CE3 mouse design was created separately (with the Union Jack lasered in separate acrylic pieces.

The top greebles weren't stuck on, mainly due to the fact they where a late addition.
I took them off my mse, which I just won't have time to finish...
Along with the base.
So I thought it would be a nice addition.

The flashing light inside, also a late addition... It's a remote control hot tub disco light lol.

I can upload the tongue and grove files for the mouse if you want, but it's far too fiddly to cut by hand.
It's 1:1 size.

I also created a similar file for R2 boosters and battery boxes. (which also interlock with each other)
I went through a phase if redesigning parts purely for speed building.

[alr2]

Apologies for the extra holes in the MSE, I was trying out an idea with ultra sonic sensors, to avoid obstacles (it was a self roaming idea)
But gives you an idea of the way it all fixes together.

Also the battery box.
I grabbed the images from my Instagram account as I continuously delete images off my phone.

[savagecreature]

Those are cool! Excellent looking work. Was it as fast to put together as you hoped? The interlocking sides like that are a common laser technique 'cause of that really small kerf lasers are so good at. I've used it on a few things in the past, too.

I most often do the tab and slot thing, though, probably due to the fact that I most often use CnCs and because I'm lazy, (T&S is faster and easier to set up because there's less of them) but for the same reasons. It makes it really fast to put together because everything just lines up.

[alr2]

A pair of battery box shells takes around 8 mins to laser and around 5 mins to glue up (so 13mins to make a pair up...
It actually all holds together solid without any glue. Pretty much snap fixes.

The MSE, takes slightly longer to laser as Hips has a low melting point, so less power, more speed but multiple passes (around 7)
Once lasered, probably around 30mins, it's a case it taping it up and applying solvent.
It's designed to all line up nice and square, so it's not really a case of speed (though it is quicker) it's more how precise the build is v speed it can be achieved. But 40 mins from start of laser to gluing up is a ball park figure.
The lip isn't shown but it's lasered at the same time, along with a lid support frame that goes inside the shell.

[savagecreature]

Cool stuff, to be sure. Gotta love those machines!

It's the same deal, pretty much, with the tab and slot sorta design. An astromech leg, once it's cut, is about twenty minutes to glue together and it all lines up perfectly. (which is the best)

I'm impressed with the 8 min cutting time. Takes a bit longer with the CnC

[kresty]

Pretty cool! Lasers are great at this kind of thing.