Recycled Christmas Decoration From Laser Cutting Offcuts

If you're like me and do a lot of work with laser cutters, you'll find that over time you build a not insignificant collection of offcuts, excess, and random pieces from projects. From one of my most recent projects - the baseball cap storage rack - I ended up with 40 odd triangle pieces from the truss sections that I cut out of the main backboard. Obviously, I'd love to give these pieces a second life, and with Christmas coming up right around the corner the idea to make a tree of them was definitely worth a shot!

So follow along as I bring some leftover cutouts to life in a fun and quick project. If you want to join in but don't have the cutouts, try making my other project to get them! Or, if you prefer, I've included the dimensions of the triangle pieces in the supplies section so you can cut them out directly. Hope you enjoy this fun little project

Supplies

15 short "isosceles" triangles ~ 39mm x 35mm x 35mm
(quotation marks because my offcuts didn't have perfectly equal sides)
11 isosceles triangles 61mm x 37mm x 37mm
Wood/craft glue
Rubber bands

Step 1: Try Some Arrangements

There isn't really to much to creating something from recycled offcuts like this, but the main step people often get frustrated with is just having a play around with what you've got! Take some time to see how everything fits together and if any inspirations come to you in the process, for me, with the quickly approaching festive season and triangles I was left with made a Christmas tree Decoration worth a try!

Step 2: Figure Out Layers

Once I had something that I was pretty happy with, it's time to take some photos and then separate each layer of the decoration for gluing.

Step 3: Glue Up Top and Middle Layers

Due to the irregular shapes of the triangle offcuts, the bottom layer has some gaps between pieces meaning we can't glue it up on its own. So instead we'll start with the two layers we can. For this I simply applied a small amount of craft glue to each one edge of a piece at a time and built the diamond shape up gradually. Once everything was glued and in place, a rubber band around the outside kept everything together to dry.

The top layer is just the two pieces, so a little glue on each of their inside faces and another rubber band was plenty.

Step 4: Attaching Layers

Now it's time to glue everything together! With the bottom layer assembled to the correct fit. I applied a liberal amount of glue on the surfaces the middle layer would contact. This now sturdy middle layer will connect and hold secure all of the base plates, except the outer two triangles at the bottom. These can just be attached with a little glue on the edges like the previous step. Place something on top to weigh everything down together and let dry.

Once this is done just repeat for the top layer!

Step 5: Add Stand

To keep the tree standing I decided to use an extra of the thin triangles to create a little stand. This is as easy as gluing the piece onto the back such that when it sits on the tree legs it leans backwards slightly to be stable.