Tasha's Kitchen - Good "F" Words...

Fun Filled Fabrication (FFF), that is!

I got my black PLA, and let me just say that Hatchbox is the bomb! No clogs, no drips, no errors. My only crash in the learning curve was not applying enough glue stick to the printing bed. It resulted in lack of adhesion for the gas cooktop trays and caused a couple pieces to lift and harden off the bed. Nothing for it but to start over.

A whole bunch of mini cooktop components printed in black this time!

But I learned, adapted and moved on. And my tenacity resulted in a smaller gas cooktop version, this time a four burner measuring 2" x 2" x 3/16" high. It comes with either black or red knobs - whichever mini chefs prefer.

I sold two gas cooktops this week! Thanks Kathy and Ann for taking a chance on me! 💗

If you'd like one of your very own, kit or complete, Click Here.

Next on the production board was the exhaust fan for the cooktop in Tasha's kitchen. I had an Island Extractor Kit from Elf Miniatures, but you know me! I've gotta try to make a good thing great! 

Measuring for placement. Standard is 30" to 36" in real life, so about 3" in 1/12th scale. Russ says people pretty much put them where they want, especially with good models which are rated for farther distance from the cooktop. Since my ceiling is vaulted, I needed to put it on the high side. I also had to cut the ceiling angle into the block of wood. Russ made quick work of that for me and promised that "once he gets his garage organized" he'd get the saw set up in there for my self service. 😁

Once I had the wood cut and aluminum adhered to the "pipe", I had to think about how to improve the look and function. I wanted the cooktop to have lights above it so I needed to create a slim housing for the fan and the lights. 3D printer to the rescue again! I made a frame, the light/fan insert, a back cover and a trim piece to wrap the pipe. All three bottom pieces snap together, then the trim piece sits on top sandwiching the "glass".

I was working on this before the black PLA arrived, so like the first gas cooktops, I printed in red PLA and then painted with the Posca marker. I used a silver Krylon marker to paint the fan's screen, as well.

Once the pieces were dry I began to assemble the insert by attaching the screen and installing the pico LED lights.

To assemble the fan unit to the "glass" and "pipe" I used 5 minute epoxy.

Pretty flippin' cool, huh?!? With the lights on... 

Now to get it onto the wall. I had to remove a section of the protruding tile trim so that the "pipe" would lie flat against the wall.

And add a trim piece to the wall above to bring it to level with the tile.

Test fit...

SCREECH! I better take a moment here to talk about the third wall... I attached it.

With the roof on...

And then fed the extractor wires through the back wall...

And then installed the extractor...

and then the wet bar lower cabinet...

and the tile backsplash...

And the upper cabinet...

And there you have it! Sheila asked in the comments last week where the fridge was. Because I was working in such a compact room box, not wanting to overwhelm Tasha with a giant first vignette, we are opting to imagine that both the fridge and the spacious walk in pantry are somewhere beyond the "Fourth Wall". I hope you'll all play along with that narrative!

Next week... Island, potential stools and maybe even shelving! Whatever comes, I hope all the "F" words in our lives will be good ones!

xo xo,

Jodi