Pentimo design changes

Black Pentimo with no dividers (rendered)

In the interest of refining the aesthetic and lowering the 'making' cost, in terms of laser burn time, I filtered off the dividers between the facets on the Pentimoes.

I am pleased with the appearance of the 'refined' tiles. The pips are sized and arranged so that the dividers were unnecessary, and removing them makes sense.

Unfortunately, removing the dividers did not significantly lower cost (just a few cents per tile). It turns out that laser etching is a fairly affordable process relative to thru-cutting. With 104 tiles and the assorted chad created by so many 'irregular' cuts, there isn't much to be done to minimize cost on the making front. I could remove the center hole and trim around 5-10% of  the cuts and cost, but I consider the hole a critical part of the design; several of my game concepts for Pentimoes actually need a thru-hole.

For now, I am going to maintain both versions and choose one when I am ready to drop the dime.

Ponoko para Pentimoes

Cherry Laminate Pentimo (render)

I have tweaked my laser cutting patterns a bit and resubmitted my Pentimo design to Ponoko so I can order a complete set. I am holding out for now though: At about $3.50 each for thin wood dominoes, that makes a complete set (51) a bit rich for me to spring for on a whim. I will need to sweet talk myself into it.

Black Plastic Pentimo (render)

I have also worked out a similar set in a thicker 9mm black plastic at just over $5 each. Even more interesting, to my sense of aesthetic at least, are the sets I designed that are etched on a 4.5mm plastic, with decorative backs and pipped faces, so they can be bonded together to create Pentimoes with decorative backs that are about 9mm thick too. These also run just over $5 for each completed domino, but require assembly.