BTW: total materials on the desk were…
About Aus$150; it’d be substantially less in US dollars.
There’s nothing in it that couldn’t be easily done with basic hand tools. A saw, a plane, a square, a drill, some chisels, some clamps and some sandpaper are all that’s required.
Laminating tabletops is pretty easy and it looks so nice. Here are a few shots of a coffee table I made a few years ago using a similar technique.
Sketchup layout, based on my supply of source wood, which included salvaged barn oak, fir from an old house remodel, redwood salvaged from a demolished deck, and cedar.
Glue up. I used threaded rods to add strength, then trimmed the ends of the rods and added rim pieces to hide the ends.
Planing the top. I borrowed a rig from my neighbor that adapts a router to “sweep” a surface to plane it.
The legs were custom made by my welding chum.
The finished product, after many coats of spar varnish.
It was interesting how the different wood types changed color after varnishing.
I finally have my lathe back up and running:
…but the table it’s on is (a) too high, and (b) insufficiently stable.
So, time for Workbench: the Sequel.
Where do you get 5 and 10 meter DEMs?
There is 30 meter DEM available at:
https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
But I cant find anything with global coverage better than that.
Well, I am fortunate that in Missouri, we have a very good and comprehensive public GIS data repository (Missouri Spatial Data Information Service) that includes DEMs at multiple resolutions and coverages, LIDAR data, shapefiles of every type, imagery, etc.
I’ve looked for national and other states’ DEMs. They are hard to come by – at least the stitched-together ones are. Small tiles are not difficult to find.
The GMTED2010 on EarthExplorer looks interesting – large tiles at 30-, 15-, and 7.5-arc-second resolutions. Might be worth exploring.
Thanks!
I’m currently using 1-arc-second (about 30 meters) SRTM from EarthExplorer. I’ll have a look at GMTED2010 too - SRTM has holes in Himalaya mountains, maybe these two can be stitched together for hole-free coverage…
Right now I’m having lots of fun with SRTM map of smaller mountain range in Europe, a slab of plywood and CNC milling machine. Will post photos soon 
I’m very interested in your project. I have a CNC router and want to do some 3D topography in wood. I’m having great difficulty translating DEMs (or contours) to something my router can make. Maybe I’m using the wrong tools. I thought Fusion 360 might work, but by god that program is hard to learn.
It’s a part of Tatra Mountains, milled in 30x20x4cm block of Baltic birch plywood:
Holy shit, this is amazing!
I love the way the plies form contour lines – it’s a perfect explanation of a topo map. The flat sides are really interesting too, with their pseudo-geological stratification. Did you glue together plywood sheets to make the stock?
Wow!
The gaming nerd in me is imagining what kind of tabletop battle can I setup on that.
Thanks!
I used water-resistant plywood, because it has dark glue between layers, this greatly enhances the effect.
Aviation grade plywood would be even better for this. Koskisen manufactures 8mm thick plywood sheets that have about 17 layers, but it’s extremely expensive so I used standard plywood here.
Yes, there are 2 18mm sheets on a third bigger sheet for easy clamping to machine table. For gluing I used regular PVA wood glue and lots of clamps to squeeze excess glue out. I make furniture commercially, so there are lots of scrap plywood pieces lying around. For bigger pieces I intend to glue 30mm thick sheet to 18mm one.
Large hex terrain pieces made like that would be awesome, especially with photoluminescent lakes
Love it, that’s awesome!
Poor garlic never recovered from being choked by weeds earlier. Most bulbs are only the size of a bottle cap. Only 3 or 4 are a decent size.
Bed has cleared out though so I may throw in some peas and radish for a last crop before the frost.
So, 54mm in all? The photos make it look much thicker. What are the x & y dimensions?
Side note, BBS has encouraged me to “involve others in the conversation” so maybe we move this to another thread. I definitely want more info, if you’re willing to provide.
