Laser Cut Dinosaur Safety Gear Holders
45-60 min
Ages 11-18
What Will You Learn?
This project tutorial will show you how to make dinosaur safety gear racks for storing and displaying your earmuffs and safety glasses. They can be mounted on any wall and provide a stylish and novel way to store your safety gear! There are four different dinosaurs available for download: tyrannosaurus rex, velociraptor, brontosaurus, and triceratops. You can make as many of these “T-racks” as you need (haha, get it?), and can easily add extra heads to your workshop walls as you acquire more safety gear.
These dinosaurs are laser cut from acrylic sheets and then glued together with acrylic cement. ⅛“ acrylic was used because it comes in many pretty colors and is also cheaper than thicker acrylic. Translucent acrylic was used in this post, but opaque colors can be used too.
The vector files are designed for ⅛“ acrylic, but you can easily use different thicknesses of plastic, you’ll just have to alter the illustrator files slightly. The width of the slot in the mounting plate will need to be changed, and so will the width of the interfacing notches in the bar for the safety glasses. Laser cutters typically have a 0.008” kerf (the kerf is the amount of material removed by the laser), so take this into account when tweaking the files to ensure a tight fit.
Note: Initially, the bar for the safety glasses was just a thin metal rod press-fit into a hole in the dinosaur’s head, but an acrylic version was added into each vector file to nicely package all the required parts on one sheet of material. However, if you like the look of the metal rod better, then all you have to do is drill a small hole in front of the notch in the dinosaur’s head, and slide in a 6” chunk of the rod.
Make Your Dinosaur Racks
Step 1: Download the files
Download the vector files using the link. The Illustrator files and a .dxf version are both included. Each file has a dino head, a mounting plate, and a bar to hold the safety glasses.
Step 2: Cut the Acrylic
The files are designed for ⅛” acrylic (which I’ve found to be closer to 0.116″). If you plan on using a different thickness, you’ll have to tweak the files a bit so that the various slots are wide enough.
Cut the acrylic on a laser cutter. Double-check that you’ve got all the settings right!
I like to leave the paper backing on the acrylic and peal it off after the cut.
Step #3: Assemble
Glue the dinosaur head to the mounting plate.
Optional: Glue the safety-glasses-bar to the head.
Step #4: Mount the Heads
Screw the mounting plate to the wall; take care to not tighten the screws too much as the acrylic is prone to cracking.
You may need to use drywall anchors.
Step #5: Hang your safety gear
Hang your earmuffs and safety glasses as shown in the photo!
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This article was originally posted on Make: on July 30, 2015 by Sam DeRose.
PARTS
- ⅛" acrylic, 1'x1' sheet
- Mounting screws (4)
TOOLS
- Laser cutter
- Acrylic glue
- Screwdriver or drill