Machsupport Forum
General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) => Topic started by: balsa burner on April 09, 2011, 12:30:08 PM
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Ok so it may not be a looker but it's more or less there.
It's 1100mm by 550mm running on a 80w Co2 laser
Parts from all over, but mainly B&Q !
Now I know it'll do what I want it'll get a proper bed and bench under it.
Then It'll get boxed in.
It's been a steep learning curve and i have a feeling there is a long way to go yet.
Parts are over engineered and others bits i know are gonna need revisiting when they fall apart.
Oh yeah, I'd like to say a big Thank you to everybody here, without you lot I'd never have got this far with it.
Reading this forum has been an education.
BB
http://youtu.be/FHNfl_26zyE (http://youtu.be/FHNfl_26zyE)
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Thats look great ! What material are you cutting ?
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In the vid it's cutting old birch ply, what you can see in the photos is pieced, expanded steel sheet. In time it'll become the bed.
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Hey, that's great.
I can see some really nice planes on the horizon. ;)
Tweakie.
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Doh, sussed !
I have a few plans and parts patterns for old time free flight and control line planes, plus the last 4 years of being laser less have produced a few designs of my own to play with.
Mainly small fast or edf stuff. Oh yeah my mate wants a 1/3 scale Luscombe Silvare. ! Dunno what I'm gonna do after lunch tho.
BB
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I fly the hard hat stuff (pylon racers) for a few months of the summer but I just love to watch the free-flight at Old Warden, Bedfordshire. If you ever share any of your free-flight designs I would be very interested to build.
Tweakie.
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AH Old Warden ,,
The russell of Bri nylon, and tweed jackets, the smell of pipe smoke, ether, glow / diesel / castor oil fumes, mingling with the clasic scent of deep heat applied liberally after sprinting off the day before to recover a jetex Miles M52.
The melodic sound of a paw diesel being sworn at for 30 mins in an old English accent then the louder swearing as it starts when least expected resulting in a deep cut, much blood loss and 6 Hrs spent in A&E.
The sight of a bunch of silly old codgers chasing a plane round in circles waving their walking sticks and laughing like teenager. While the Mrs shakes her head and wonders why he needs his walking frame at home to go for a pee......
A great weekend out, spent with fantastic people.
Most of the plans i have are Keil Kraft from the 50 / 60. If there's any particular one you fancy I'll see if i have it.
They take quite a while to cad up, the parts are scans of photo copies of badly printed wood that were never square in the first place.
Sharing is a given, the more people building the better. It is a hobby that's literally dieing out.
BB
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Yep, plenty of castor fumes and how about the tethered car racing ?
We could start another thread on this. I think Eddie Keil died a while back but Keil Kraft were located in Wickford, not far away from where I live now. Most of my buddies buy the artf planes and as you say, few build their own from scratch now.
Getting back to lasers, have you seen the Z axis table mechanisms that Bart has used for his machines ? http://www.buildlog.net simple yet effective.
Tweakie.
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LAR LA LAR LA LA I'm not listening !!!!!
To be honest, i do really need one of them,,,,,,but, i also NEED the new Alfa that was on top gear.
Mk 1 is being built to help a couple of model shops produce their own laser cut kits. the bed size is to accommodate 3ft balsa and 900 x 600 lite ply etc.
It will also front load a full sheet of depron so it can be cut into a more manageable size. as half an inch is about as much as i need to cut through moving
the object lens manually is just the easiest way to go at the mo. Having a moving bed will probably happen on the next build.
For now i have got to finish what I've started. And i still have a long long way to go. So stand by for some dumb ass questions.
The next one will be smaller and faster, with all the toys i can afford. :-)
BB
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Cutter news, the base is being cut and picked up tonight, so tomorrow i can bolt the thing down to something solid and set the beam alignment
up properly.
@Tweakie
love the garden markers, my Mrs asked me to do the same last weekend, told her I wasn't donna waste the laser time. 0 points for me them Doh !
How do ya fancy building one of these ? I have dug out some rough dxfs for it.
BB
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Get it all bolted down then lets see some pics of the stuff you make, please.
How do ya fancy building one of these ? I have dug out some rough dxfs for it.
One of what ? (no picture file attached)
Tweakie.
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::)
smaller file this time.
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I think I will wait for you to kit it.
The Replikit laser cut kit for the Snipe sells for £39.95 plus p&p.
Tweakie.
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Don't think I'll be kitting that one soon, but saying that if you wanted one cutting out you'll have to let me know.
I bought an old plan of a 60' DH 2 beaver a while back. that'll be the first one i make for myself.
Or maybe a double size ladybird.
Not gonna get anywhere near your results, too many errors in the building. but you only learn by making mistakes, or reading about other peoples.
Would like it to do some engraving but i'll get it stable and cutting first.
BB
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Getting there.
http://www.youtube.com/user/coastalcnc#p/a/u/0/Rmspy-RyqVU
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ROCK N ROLL !! Looks great !
JH
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Neat idea using the RC fuel filter in your air assist feed. ;)
Tweakie.
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Neat idea using the RC fuel filter in your air assist feed. ;)
Tweakie.
Jungle engineering at it's best eh ! It was the only thing i could find in the workshop that would fit, i did cut a thread in it though it's not just superglued in. ;D
The one real problem i have now is corner speed, mach slows the head down to get a square cut on the corners, this is all fine and dandy if you're using a spindle and bit but on a laser it will make the cut deeper or give you over burn.
Is there a way to link spindle speed to head speed ? If so is there an easy way to set the ratio, as different material will require different setting?
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BB,
I don't think there is an easy way.
You need to experiment with velocity and acceleration settings in motor tuning as well as your feedrates in the GCode.
You should be able to find a point where constant velocity just rounds the corners a little but the speed reduction is not too great. Everything is a compromise.
Keep us posted on your progress (I haven't really tried cutting balsa wood yet as I always seem to buy ARTF nowadays).
Tweakie.
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I still have a little Satan with a .049 in the basement. Probably still has a piece of streamer on back when me and a buddy used to play control line combat
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where did you get the laser, adn what is the thickest wood material it can cut?
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@ Tweakie.
Balsa cuts nicely but as with most organic materials it's density can vary widely from inch to inch, not much of a problem when you need to cut it but if you want to engrave a rib number on the part going all the way through can weaken it.
A high power high speed cut gives you a nice almost polished edge, to slow and you get a bit of carbon. A lot of air assist helps with the cut and has the added effect of pushing the balsa onto the bed if it's a bit twisted.
It also leaves behind a nice sticky brown tar like residue, the best things for cleaning it off are cheap and nasty baby wipe from ASDA. ( also available from other supermarkets )
On a safety note don't leave the room if you're cutting balsa, if the air assist fails and the balsa catches light, it will smolder until your left with just ash and a room full of dense smoke. Or possible just a pile of ash and no room.
I fly ARTFs and the park zone Bind and fly but they never feel as good as flying one you've stuck together yourself though !
@jonny quest
Get it out the basement, build a plane. attract it to a couple of bits of wire, and the spin round on the same spot as fast as you can until you puke !
How much fun can a boy have ?? What ya waiting for dude ;D
@jjenkinsruthie
Q, where did you get the laser? A, The peoples republic of China.
Q, what is the thickest wood material it can cut? A, depends on the wood, up to 1/2" balsa, after that it looks too messy, 1/8" bitch ply, probably 1/4" birch ply although i've not tried that yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=cjye-hShux4
The above is 1/8" ply.
the end result.
BB
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That looks really great bb, nice job and nice clean cuts.
Just one thing, I think you may need to look at the software you are using to create the toolpaths as it seems to be cutting a little too close to the edges in places. Perhaps using offsets may help.
Tweakie.