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I cut some multi-layer instrument cutouts and they are utterly precise compared to doing it by hand. Also it was less than a minute total and minimal handling/extra steps so overall pretty nice. Never used a cnc hot wire machine; how do you start and end cutting closed shapes with one? Do you have to manually thread the wire for each hole (assuming you don't want to go in/our via the sides) or does it work more like a jigsaw?
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Aug 27, 2016 17:21
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Mister Sinewave posted:I cut some multi-layer instrument cutouts and they are utterly precise compared to doing it by hand. Also it was less than a minute total and minimal handling/extra steps so overall pretty nice. I don't know about commercial CNC hotwire setups, but I've seen some hombrew jobs that are just that, x/y table and stationary hotwire. I don't think a jigsaw style would work as a hotwire is usually a nichrome or steel wire with current passing through it. In this case you'd likely just drill/cut a hole and thread it through to make the internal cutout.
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Aug 28, 2016 02:17
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Most commerical foam cutters use waterjet.
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Aug 28, 2016 04:21
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It hits a sweet spot for me, which is one-offs and small (<100) quantities. When someone's alternative is either cutting by hand (which always looks bush league as hell) or being a nuisance client at Waterjet & Plasma Ltd., or pick-and-pluck foam (time consuming and inexact), or using some conformal foam stuff from ULINE ($$$), then I look like a sweet spot, too 
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Aug 28, 2016 06:16
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Hu Fa Ted posted:I don't know about commercial CNC hotwire setups, but I've seen some hombrew jobs that are just that, x/y table and stationary hotwire. I don't think a jigsaw style would work as a hotwire is usually a nichrome or steel wire with current passing through it. In this case you'd likely just drill/cut a hole and thread it through to make the internal cutout. It'd be possible if you had a loop you plunged in. You'd have to program the routing to keep the second part on the 'waste' part of the cut though. Wouldn't work if you needed your cut outs to be in one piece though.
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Aug 28, 2016 07:35
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You could plunge your loop in so both parts are on the cut line, then you'd need a rotating head to keep both ends on the cut line whilst traveling. Complicated but doable, but is there any benefit?
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Aug 29, 2016 23:03
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So I continue to read up on laser cutters but still too poor and too much of a baby to buy one from China, however I've noticed that the more popular Chinese 100w lasers such as the G Weike 6090 have all been around since like 2009, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of innovation in the market from overseas. Even most of the sellers in the States are just taking similar lasers and refurbishing them. Has there been no advances in laser technology in the last 5-10 years? Or is it just that they keep making newer and better lasers and selling them under the same model? e: Well on further research it would seem like all the ones I was looking at are knock offs of old models such as the G Weike 6090. It would seem like newer models purchased direct from China are much better. CADPAT fucked around with this message at 19:16 on Aug 30, 2016 |
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Aug 30, 2016 16:09
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Woah there's a laser cutter thread awesome. My makerspace is building a 80w laser, upgrading a 40w. Other than the actual shell of the unit, everything has been gutted. The old laser seemed fine being cooled just by a fountain pump and a huge container of water, but the new one will probably need active cooling of some sort. Lasers are cool, I miss having access to one. Just wanted to say hi and mark this thread, I'll probably have some laser questions and stories in the future. Also, lasers are not good at etching finger nails.
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Sep 1, 2016 21:28
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Holy poo poo a laser dork thread. Just read through this quick and a couple things popped out at me. I've found that acrylic itself doesn't stink and it is usually the protective film that makes you want to die. Also, you can filter out the fumes. You just need an exhaust system that costs more than the lasers themselves I've seen people post prices for. Don't ask how I know. I now have a place where I can post pictures of the dumb poo poo I make with mine. I can also answer some questions about lasers. Also being dumb and buying the Bentley of laser engravers and cutters.
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Sep 2, 2016 06:37
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I made dumb poo poo! Here's a puzzle design I cut as a test. It's not a great execution but it's ridiculously satisfying to slide a piece in where it fits perfectly. 
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Sep 2, 2016 17:27
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Mister Sinewave posted:I made dumb poo poo! Here's a puzzle design I cut as a test. Nice. I really need to work on my puzzle making. You draw that yourself?
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Sep 2, 2016 17:39
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Yeah, I learned the whole fractal generation thing (well, how to use the L-system extension in Inkscape anyway) just enough to get something made. Took me way too long and I only barely understand it as a result so no one ask me to explain it 
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Sep 2, 2016 18:52
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Playing around with making some night lights. Everyone wants the Eye of Sauron observing them as they go down the hallway in the middle of the night to take a piss, right? Still need to work on this, find some paint, fix the laser annihilating the tips of the tower.
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Sep 8, 2016 02:27
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That's great! I like how the eye itself turned out.
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Sep 9, 2016 04:36
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Dan will be announcing something about the glowforge next week. apparently pre-release units have been shipping (some nebulous version after beta but before final rev) and release versions are supposed to start shipping in december http://community.glowforge.com/t/thanksgiving-update/3519 Edit: lmao gently caress me and gently caress you dan moron izzard fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Dec 2, 2016 |
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Nov 25, 2016 21:58
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Where do you all get your sheets of balsa / basswood for cheap? I'd use plywood but thats currently not allowed on the laser I'm booking time on
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Dec 20, 2016 09:18
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A Yolo Wizard posted:Where do you all get your sheets of balsa / basswood for cheap? I'd use plywood but thats currently not allowed on the laser I'm booking time on I get basswood (not for laser stuff though) from Midwest Products - http://midwestproducts.com/collections/basswood They also have balsa, plywood and hardwoods.
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Dec 21, 2016 03:05
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Happy holidays, laser thread! It started getting chilly around these parts, so I decided to do some decorating for the holidays: The bulbs get a little warm, but not too hot, keeping the compartment an even temperature. I also dropped in a remote temperature sensor linked to a display inside the house, so hopefully there won't be any surprises.
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Dec 22, 2016 00:33
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poo poo, Christmas lights as a micro space heater never even occurred to me 
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Dec 22, 2016 01:55
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I've been procrastinating on getting that 1W dealie set up on my shapeoko, but the plus side is work is having me take a fiber optics course so by the end of the week I should know everything needed to hook the diode (or another if mine isn't the right size) to one of these awesome fiber coupled collimators. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fiber-Optic-Collimator-for-Laser-Diode-Engraver-Etch-Cut-ST-Connector/251597123585
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Jan 5, 2017 03:46
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Decided to see what's up with Glowforge. Delayed again (now Q2-Q3 2017?) but I just read a Make magazine piece from end of December saying they got a test unit and it's worth the wait. Or will be. The dude does legit sound like he picked up on and set out to fix all the problems with current machines that makes them a pain in the rear end for people who are mainly interested in actually MAKING poo poo instead of teaching yourself to become a low level laser settings janitor & expert on crazy toolchains and fiddly poo poo. The Eyes Have It fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Jan 27, 2017 |
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Jan 27, 2017 12:50
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Mister Sinewave posted:Decided to see what's up with Glowforge. Delayed again (now Q2-Q3 2017?) but I just read a Make magazine piece from end of December saying they got a test unit and it's worth the wait. Or will be. I had kinda lost the hype on Glowforge, but Tested did a vid on a pre-release unit that kind of has me excited again: https://youtu.be/9O2a8CSzOI4 If they get all the camera stuff working right, it should be pretty cool.
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Jan 29, 2017 08:01
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Speaking of crazy toolchains, I have to use coreldraw x7 for this epilog I've been cutting with. If I try to move something to another part of the document after I've brought it in, it will often just leave it back where it started. If I delete parts of the composition (or even just hide them or disable from printing) (I dont know if related to just rasters or vectors) it will move the remaining items left / up. How do I make it stop doing this because honestly, the worst part using a laser cutter is the positioning.
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Jan 30, 2017 01:30
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I use Coreldraw X8 (now) and used X7 before. I have not had the issue of it moving objects around at all. I'm sort of familiar with the Epilog and I'm glad I don't have to deal with positioning in that manner. Does the driver not allow you to position the job to where the laser is actually sitting? I know you can have the jobs independent of the computer, can they not be moved around? I really like Coreldraw, it handily beats Adobe Stockholm Syndrome, I mean Illustrator on a pure UI basis, nevermind workflow and curve handling. There are things I like about Illustrator that Corel doesn't have, but not enough to actually want to use it.
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Jan 31, 2017 07:29
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You can manually set home points on the epilog - I'd just prefer to know where it's going to end up without the extra step, or having things shift when i wanted to add to an engraving without it going over the previous spots
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Jan 31, 2017 17:57
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Bought one of the K40s from a coworker today and my plan is to pull out the control board and swap it with something else, probably either an Arduino + Gshield or maybe even a TinyG. Has anyone else here tried this?
Parts Kit fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Apr 17, 2017 |
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Apr 17, 2017 23:11
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Are there domestic "works out of the box" options that are worth it if you have the budget? I've been looking at the Muse in a pre-pre-purchase research way, and I like the removable floor and rotary option for it. How flexible is rotary laser engraving regarding distance from surface to laser. Pretty much straight cylinder to wine glass or could you do a wood Munny figure (provided you figure out a way to rotate it evenly)? I assume Matryoshka dolls are close enough. The Aphasian fucked around with this message at 15:44 on May 22, 2017 |
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May 22, 2017 15:40
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glowforge is sending out shipping notices (still six weeks out but holy poo poo its somethin)The Aphasian posted:Are there domestic "works out of the box" options that are worth it if you have the budget? I've been looking at the Muse in a pre-pre-purchase research way, and I like the removable floor and rotary option for it. Are they selling the muse yet? their hobby series is still pretty decent. moron izzard fucked around with this message at 03:34 on May 23, 2017 |
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May 23, 2017 03:32
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After several months of it being packed up in storage I finally got the K40 cooking again. Couple of projects to knock the rust off: Earrings - acrylic with foil backing.  Plaque accessories: the emblem on top was laser cut from 1/4" poplar and then had a grayscale image engraved on top, filled in with paint. The nameplate is black/gold laser-it aluminum, also engraved. The plaque itself was cut from 1" poplar on my shapeoko.
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May 25, 2017 04:34
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I made some refrigerator magnets. Laser printed cardstock glued with Super 77 to 1/8" hardboard, rare earth magnets super glued on the back.    
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May 25, 2017 14:42
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That's pretty sweet. You said you had the Bentley of laser cutters; who made it and what about it makes it worth it?
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May 25, 2017 15:27
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Trotec. With the camera and rotary attachment. Was ~45k.
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May 25, 2017 16:55
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What's the camera do, exactly?
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May 25, 2017 18:23
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If I drop black 6mm circles on an artwork I would like to cut out, the camera will go and find them and know exactly where it is supposed to cut. Slightly crooked when you place it in the laser bed? Adjusts for that. The printer scaled it 1%, it'll adjust for that. It is accurate enough I don't put bleeds in. Print this on a laser printer:  Send this cut file to the laser cutter/engraver  Cuts on the red after finding the black circles. I have more trouble with the laser printer registration than I do with the engraver.
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May 25, 2017 21:36
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Holy poo poo I had no idea, and here I am using jigs and poo poo like a sucker!
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May 25, 2017 21:38
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So, my local hackerspace's laser cutter had a bit of fire. It's mostly ok, but the timing belt took some damage. It seems to be a HTD 3M by 15mm wide. Which is basically what every replacement laser cutter belt on amazon/ebay/whatever is, so that's all good. The problem is that when I compare the new belt to the old belt the new belt's tooth pitch is just a tiny bit longer. By my rough estimate, after 117 (351mm) teeth, it's longer by half a tooth pitch (1.5 mm). Now I doubt I got a high quality belt with the cutter, and I didn't buy a top shelf belt now, but this seems high. Looking at a random pdf the tolerance it claims is .2mm up to 500 mm. Another one says .5. So it could be bad belt (I don't know which is further from "ideal" I just checked relative), but it could also mean that I got the wrong belt? Is there some imperial pitch belt with semicircular teeth that's almost 3mm pitch. For example .125" pitch would be pretty close to 3mm, though after 117 teeth the error would be 20 mm, in the other direction, so it's clearly not that. For all this, I don't think this will actually matter.
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May 29, 2017 03:57
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Would this machine and this upgrade kit be a good starting point for getting into the hobby (without ever putting power to the machine until after installing the upgrade kit)? I have a small shop with climate control, so I'm less worried about the cooling system being underpowered for the area I live in. Would the central vacuum system I use to suck up all the woodworking particles be good enough for the exhaust hookup or do I actually need to run a "pump this poo poo outside" line? Also what does the air assist need to be regulated to?
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Jun 12, 2017 16:23
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You want an outside exhaust so when hot debris gets vented it doesn't set your poo poo on fire
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Jun 13, 2017 00:27
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biracial bear for uncut posted:Would this machine and this upgrade kit be a good starting point for getting into the hobby (without ever putting power to the machine until after installing the upgrade kit)? I think those kits are overkill. You don't need those huge drivers or a new power supply, and the control panel is superfluous if you are going to have a computer right next to the machine to control it anyway. Here's what I got to upgrade my K40: $100 Cohesion Mini3D controller board & drivers - This is made specifically to drop right into a K40 as a smoothieboard controller replacement with pre-installed custom firmware just for the K40. Took me less that 15 minutes to swap out my stock board, no problems at all. $35 Aquarium air pump $20 4" Inline duct fan - Very quiet but I might upgrade to a more powerful one, I can still smell some acrylic fumes when cutting. $12 4" duct hose $6 4" Dust hood adapter that fits almost perfectly in the rear air vent. $7 10x15mm Drag chain for air assist hose. This will just barely fit, you might want to buy a slightly smaller one. $20 Laser head w/ air assist $28 Laser focus lens for new head $10 Air hose $41 CO2 protective glasses $0 LaserWeb4 controller software. Was hoping to run mine on a headless Pi3 & accessed through a web interface on another PC but it looks like it isn't powerful enough. Works perfectly on my old (2014) laptop though. Total: $279 As far as exhaust goes you don't want to risk a small piece of cardboard or plywood with a glowing edge landing in a can of sawdust. I've had heavy cardstock smolder for almost a minute after I stopped cutting. Plus if you plan on cutting acrylic that stuff stinks so you won't want it vented into an enclosed space. Realistically you don't need a huge amount of airflow, just enough to create negative pressure inside the case so smoke won't seep out while cutting.
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Jun 13, 2017 15:56
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Nevets posted:I think those kits are overkill. You don't need those huge drivers or a new power supply, and the control panel is superfluous if you are going to have a computer right next to the machine to control it anyway. I won't have a PC right next to the machine. Was thinking about using a Pi3 with LaserWeb to drive it (already have a Pi3 set up with a keyboard, monitor and mouse to function as a really space saving shop PC, though I don't actually use it for much except to run my 3d printer with an instance of Octopi that also lets me view the desktop directly if I forgot my phone). quote:As far as exhaust goes you don't want to risk a small piece of cardboard or plywood with a glowing edge landing in a can of sawdust. I've had heavy cardstock smolder for almost a minute after I stopped cutting. Plus if you plan on cutting acrylic that stuff stinks so you won't want it vented into an enclosed space. Realistically you don't need a huge amount of airflow, just enough to create negative pressure inside the case so smoke won't seep out while cutting. I would swap the barrel at the exhaust end before engraving anything. Also, whenever I'm done doing any particular woodworking for the day I go ahead and pile any burn-able trash (within what's legal where I live, mostly just the sawdust, chips and any paper products) in the same barrel and burn it all with a fine mesh grate on top of the barrel to keep anything from flying out. EDIT: I live way out in the boonies where nobody gives a poo poo what I do so long as it doesn't make too much noise. Some Pinko Commie fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Jun 13, 2017 |
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Jun 13, 2017 16:38
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