Design This – Circuit Board Pine Tree

Shortly after completing the dead iPod pendant custom request, which included a piece of circuit board in the design, I spied another general alchemy request that offered the prospect of upcycling some of the old circuit boards that I had set back in my materials stash. The title of the request was “Circuit Board Pine Tree (Christmas Tree). The request included the basic size needed as well as a description of what the requester wanted to be different from an attached photo. I submitted my bid and it was accepted.

The first thing to do was to come up with the shape that my customer was looking for. After sending a couple of templates and revisions for approval, we had a winner. I then cut out the center of the winning template and used it to find a section of circuit board that looked good on both sides within the size and shape of the template. Next, I cut out another copy of the template and traced around it onto the section of circuit board that I wanted to use. To cut the shape out of the circuit board I mounted a fairly heavy jeweler’s blade into my jewelry saw and got to work. This proved to be a bit trickier than expected. Straight sections were easy to cut, but I had to bring my skills learned coping baseboards into play for the curved sections and rounded corners. I think I only broke one blade. After the shape was freed from the circuit board, I used my dremel tool to smooth and slightly round the edges and finished off the project by drilling a hole to facilitate hanging.

You always wonder how your creations are used once they have gone to their new homes. I can envision my little tree hanging from a rear view mirror or as an ornament on a Christmas tree.

If you have a project that you think I could help you with, I'd love to brainstorm it with you. Just click on the "contact EDCCollective" button or the "request custom item" button in my shop.