This instructable will walk you through the steps for how to make an internet radio player with a custom acrylic casing. All of the necessary files needed to laser cut the custom casing is included.

Check out this webpage for the story behind this project

Step 1: Materials

* 8 Acrylic Sheets (7/32" Thick, 24" x 36")
* internet radio player
* hot glue gun and LOTS of glue sticks
* sandpaper
* acrylic paint(for decoration)

Need Access To:
* laser cutter
* bandsaw

Nice to have:
* chisel
* filer
* other typical tools found in a maker space

Once the materials are acquired, the actual steps in making The Flying Z is quite simple, albeit time consuming. The "nice to have" tools are especially helpful to fine tune the product. In this instructable, we provide the dxf files for the custom casing that we designed. You can replace them with your own, but be sure that the internet radio can stil fit inside. For the streaming radio player, we purchased the Logitech Internet Radio for streaming internet radio stations. You can replace it with any player, maybe even one that you make! Perhaps using a Raspberry Pi.

Step 2: Laser Cut Acrylic Sheets

After obtaining all of the necessary materials, laser cut the acrylic sheets into separate pieces defined by the CAD model. The DXF files used for the laser cutting is attached. This process is pretty straight forward if you have experience with laser cutting.

Step 3: Assembly

After laser cutting all of the pieces for the casing, it is time for assembly. The pieces should be put together according to the design specified in the CAD model. After confirming that all the pieces fit where they are supposed to, use a hot glue gun to glue all of the joints together. Use the chisel and sandpaper for smoothing the corners and edges.

Our design has two main pieces: the guitar casing and a base for it to stand on.

After putting together the entire structure, sand the edges for safety because they are very sharp.

Step 4: Sanding

After assembling the casing, it is important to sand everything both for safety and for decoration. Round out the sharp corners, especially for the Z structure so that it is safe for transportation. Also sand down all the flat surfaces where you plan to apply paint. This will help the paint stick. The included images shows the sanding process.

Step 5: Decoration

After assembling the structure, we want to decorate it with paint. Before painting, the outside surfaces of the casing must be sanded down with sandpaper. This will help the paint stick.