Laser Cut Topographic Map
A laser cut topographic map of Westport, CT, my dad's hometown. I've seen topo maps like this one around for the last couple years, but their prices are often off-putting-ly high. Given that I already had access to a large frame laser cutter, I thought it would be useful to figure out how to make one on my own. I made this map as a Christmas gift for my father and included markers for all of the landmarks in his life; his childhood home, his high school, the golf course he learned to play at. The project had sentimental value for me too, as visiting the Maritime Aquarium and Compo Beach with my grandparents was a monthly routine. The build for the project was time consuming, but I didn't mind it. It was kind of nice to take a walk down memory lane.
Required Resources: 10 hours, $30
Size: 32" x 20" x 1.5"
Materials: Birch Plywood, Walnut, Blue Wood Dye
Finish: Furniture Polish
Tools: Laser Cutter, Planer
New techniques: Laser Cutting Maps
Design the Map
Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as just finding a map online and letting the laser cutter work its magic. I needed to find a suitable map (or in this case stitching a set of maps together) and translate it into CAD. Only then was it ready for the laser show.
My first task was to find a suitable topographic map of Westport, CT. I also wanted to include water depth, so the map would ideally also have bathymetric isolines on it as well. I searched and searched to no avail. Finally, I found a repository of bathymetric/ topographic maps on the NOAA website and was fortunately able to find one for the area in question. The only problem was that it was split into 6 separate files. After another 45 minutes and some Photoshop magic, I finally had a "traceable" map.
Solidworks does have an Autotrace function, but it's pretty bad at picking up anything that is not a black silhouette on a white background. I had to trace the topo lines from the NOAA maps by hand (well, manually with splines in Solidworks). The next step was to label all the landmarks, which was a fun bit of nostalgia for me. I threw in a quick compass rose and was ready to export to .dxf. Ready for lasering.
Setting up the laser file was simple. After about 20 minutes of laser time, I had the flat pattern of the map ready for assembly.
Putting it all together
The glue up, framing, and mounting.
Assembly was also not terribly difficult. The first step was to dye the water blue. Then, starting with the base plate (the lowest elevation piece) glue consecutive layers on top of one another, making sure to align the edge of the part with the etched isoline on the part below it.
Adding on the frame was the final step. I had couple sticks of walnut that I planed down and cut to length. A real frame would have involved some form of clever jointery, but not for this project. Nope, I just glued the walnut pieces to the side of the assembled map. It actually looks pretty good, but I can't help but to look back now and feel a little ashamed I didn't try something more ambitious. I used some furniture polish to darken up the walnut and it was ready for gifting.
I carried this back across the country with me on a plane (That was an ordeal) and presented it to my Dad. He loved it! Eventually he mounted in a place of high honor.... above the computer desk no one uses! It actually looks quite nice where it is. It's always nice when some one willingly displays your work at their house.... even if they have to becasue it's your parents.
Lessons Learned:
There's Always a Better Way: The first half of this project was actually pretty brutal. Finding a suitable map took 3-4 hours of internet searching. Then, even after I found the right map, it took another 3 hours to trace and label it in Solidworks. I knew there had to be a better way. And, wouldn't you know it, there is! The first step is to find the website for the county you are looking to map. Search the website for GIS data. GIS stands for Geographic Information and is digitized data pertaining the town in question. Most towns will have free, downloadable GIS data for topography, road data, lot delineations, sewer and power lines and pretty much any geography related or mapped information. The next step is to translate the data into a usable vector file. The easiest way I have found is to download a GIS viewer/application like QGIS. QGIS is free, open source and pretty easy to use. Load in your .SHP file (or multiple) that you downloaded from the county website, manipulate (you may have to do some learning here to get exactly what you want) and then export to your favorite vector file format. SVG is probably your safest bet. If you want to add text or other graphics, the easiest way is to import the exported .SVG into a vector program like Adobe illustrator. Once you get the file looking the way you want, you're ready to laser! Ok, so this may not sound any easier than the "tracing from a .pdf." method, but if you get the process down, you can save an incredible amount of time. From deciding which location I want to map, to having a laser-able file now takes as little as 90 minutes; as opposed to 6-7 hours using the other method.
