laser cut acrylic coaster with rgb leds inside

Your Mug Will Like This Glowy Coaster

[Charlyn] wanted to highlight their friends beautiful mug collection, so the Glowy Coaster was born.

The coaster is made up of six layers of laser cut acrylic. The top and bottom layer are cut out of clear acrylic, providing a flat surface for the coaster. A top pattern layer made of pearl acrylic has a thin piece of vellum put underneath it to provide diffusion for the LED strip sandwiched inside. The middle layers are made of peach acrylic and have their centers hollowed out to provide room for the electronics inside. The top pearl acrylic layer gives the coaster, as [Charlyn] writes, a “subtle touch of elegance”. The coaster itself is screwed together by an M3 screw at each point of the hexagon that feed through to heat-set inserts.

inside of glowy coaster with electronics exposed

The electronics consist of a short NeoPixel strip, cut to include 12 LEDs pointed in towards the center of the coaster. The LEDs are driven by a Trinket M0 microcontroller with a LiPo “backpack” to provide power, attachment points for the exposed power switch and recharging capability to the 110 mAh 3.7 V battery. The code is a slightly modified NeoPixel “rainbow” wheel loop (source available as a gist). The design files are available through Thingiverse.

Creations like these highlight how much care and work goes into a project with minimal beauty, where decisions, like the opacity and thickness of the acrylic or countersinking the M3 screws, can have huge consequences for the overall aesthetic. [Charlyn] has an attention to detail that brings an extra touch of professionalism and polish to the project.

Coasters are a favorite for laser cutting and we’ve covered many different types, including
coaster bots, coaster engravers and even a color changing, drink sensing coasters.

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Laser-Cut Lamp With Magic Switch

This laser-cut lamp is an awesome example of what you can do with a laser cutter and a bit of creativity. It was completely laser cut and features no fasteners, except for a bit of glue.

[PaisleyGarbage] has been making lamps for a while now and had the concept for this one early on. After rendering a model of it on the computer, he decided it was finally time to try making it. It wasn’t quite as easy as he thought it’d be, but the challenges along the way only help you to learn when doing a project like this.

He laser cut alternating strips of wood and acrylic to create the unique sandwiched light look of the final product. Instead of using fasteners or anything, he even slid the pieces together on acrylic dowels keeping the design as minimalist and clean as possible. But the part we really like is the magnetic switch.

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