One of our pandemic projects has been coming along nicely: a modest remodel of one of our bathrooms! Jen had recently completed the painting and we finally finished replacing the floor tile, but when it came time to put some of the trim and shoe molding back in place, we noticed that there was a gnarly blotch of laminate peeling off of the bathroom sink cabinet.
That cabinet didn’t originally have trim on it, but we wanted to cover the damage without replacing the laminate itself. Since Jennifer was already planning on replacing some damaged trim elsewhere, she found a length of similarly-shaped trim and stained it to match. The trim piece was long enough to replace the damaged trim as well as add a piece over the laminate.
Since the trim piece that would hide the laminate was perpendicular to already-existing trim and shoe molding, a straight-edged piece would leave an obvious gap where they meet. But the laser cutter, ever the versatile tool, was going to come in handy once again! We decided to cut out the shape of the existing trim and shoe round using the laser’s precision.
I used a piece of the existing trim and shoe molding to trace the shape out on paper. I then measured the shapes and recreated it in vector on my computer. While the first draft was pretty close, I ended up making a few adjustments after the first cut to get the pieces to fit more closely together.
The piece of replacement trim was a little long, so I needed to defeat the laser’s security interlock again, bypassing a safety feature that would prevent the laser from functioning at all while either door was open. I covered the piece in masking paper, but you can see from the photography that the trim was especially adept at burning, even with the paper in place. Thankfully, the stain meant we could just wipe it clean rather than having to sand it down.
Once I had the shape correct and cut out, I cut the other end of the trim piece (a boring straight edge) as well as the other straight-edged piece for a different spot in the bathroom. With the trim pieces finished, all that’s left of the bathroom renovation project is to nail everything back down and stick the toilet back in place! Sadly that won’t be quite as fun a project as this one.
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Good job but perfect example of Maslow’s Hammer. Why use a coping saw when you’ve got a laser ;-). I have have the same affliction though the pandemic has stripped away access to the library laser I was using and I’m going through withdrawals. LOL
Thank you! And yep, if I can find even a tiny reason to use the laser for a project where it would be entirely unnecessary, that’s reason enough for me!