hi peeps
having gotten my new whiteboard and after being inspired by a certain robot i decided to design my own tracks for my pet "akira".
Tadaaa!!!
oh yeah - and spending 3hrs disecting vhs video cassettes for the single metal bars you find in each one - eeesh.
anyway
the idea of these tracks is that even when glued together you have full choice of how many segments go into a track and the bars are also removeable - yet under no circumstances will they separate under movement (while they are on wheels they are fully stable)
the thing is...
ive never done any form of plastic cutting or 3d printing in my life
i'm assuming the images must be produced in a vector based program like inkscape or blender as the guy i talked to about his laser cutting machine says it runs on coral draw - but how do you tell the machine which order to cut things in? its no use cutting out a segment - having it fall out of the sheet - then trying to cut a hole in the segment. is it a colour coding or layer thing?
also having seen this im wondering if perhaps 3d printing is a smarter option than some guy at a sign shop cutting spare bits of plastic?
also also - what sort of costs should i be looking at (english pounds) for the various options - cos one of my main raasons for doing this was the fact i wanted this but couldnt afford it (creating my own tracks would be a good ego boost too tho ;) )
in fact peeps - i'll take ANY advice you can give
thanks
dominic