Messages

7101

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 21, 2010, 07:37:01 AM »

I really should not do this because I have no permission to use this image which I came across on the internet but as it is just for my own testing and not for commercial or any other purpose I hope the artist will not mind too much.

This is a piece of 10mm acrylic, the reverse of which was sprayed black. The image was then laser etched into the paint/acrylic and then sprayed white. This is the result when viewed from the front. The next stage is, possibly, to laser engrave a foreground into the front of the acrylic - could have interesting results, perhaps.

Tweakie.

7102

FAQs / Re: Tutorials?

« on: December 20, 2010, 11:10:32 AM »

Talan,

Pleased to hear you are making progress.

The Z axis is usually set by touching the tool to the surface of the work then zero the Z Axis DRO. Initially I used a thin piece of paper to set this Z Zero but now have moved on to a Touch Plate and using the auto tool zero function.

Hope this helps.

Tweakie.

7103

FAQs / Re: Tutorials?

« on: December 20, 2010, 04:41:21 AM »

Hi Talan,

I am sorry you have not yet received an answer to your question.

I think that the best tutorial is probably 'hands-on' practical experience, provided you don't use your best cutting tool and you choose a soft material such as the hard model making foam you really can't do much harm and I am sure you will learn fast. Not sure why you should have that problem with Road Runner but you could try Sam's Wile E Coyote here http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,12140.0.html I have run this a few time without problem.

If you have any specific problems or issues please post them under the General section where they will get the most exposure.

Good luck.

Tweakie.

7104

General Mach Discussion / advice please

« on: December 18, 2010, 02:41:55 AM »

Mike,

Is your robot an 'arm' or 'linear flatbed' device ?.

Tweakie.

7105

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 18, 2010, 02:35:50 AM »

Thanks Guys.

JH,
This thread has just somehow grown and grown, I was going to stop after about page 10 once the build was complete but with the ideas and suggestions from others I keep trying new things and learning new stuff. By sharing my experiences I hope others can build on them and in turn feedback their experiences etc.
The laser, as a tool, has certainly turned out to be more versatile than I had originally expected and thanks to the extra work Art has put into improvements to the Laser/Engraving plugin over the last month or so, things have just got better. Although my machine is not built for raster engraving, the Mach plugin has enabled me to obtain reasonably high standards of work (equal, I think to the low/mid price range professional machines).
It would be really nice to have someone else do a laser project / build log etc.

Tweakie.

7106

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 16, 2010, 06:08:17 AM »

Thanks Guys.

As a matter of interest, perhaps, the minimum achievable laser spot size is a function of the lens focal length and in my case the minimum spot size is about 0.1mm diameter. However, the photons (or whatever laser particles are called) are more concentrated across the center of this 0.1mm spot in the direction of it's travel (because the centre line of the spot is longer than a chord) and as the burn rate is time related, with a fast scan, a much finer line than 0.1mm can be drawn on an object. In some ways it is a bit like sharpening a pencil except that the faster the laser scan, the finer the burn line that can be achieved (within limits that I have yet to discover).
This is to a certain extent demonstrated in this Aztec calendar as finer detail than 0.1mm can be observed.


Tweakie.

7107

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: The Laser Project.

« on: December 16, 2010, 05:04:45 AM »

A revisit to the Aztec calendar, as I had some mirror tile left over from another job.

This is laser engraved on the back of the tile and before anybody tells me - yes I know that I forgot to flip the image horizontally so the calendar is backwards 
This was a lot easier to make than it was to photograph - I took about 20 shots before I got one reasonable one. I have only just discovered how hard it is to photograph mirrors. 

Tweakie.

7108

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: My first attempts at laser engraving.

« on: December 14, 2010, 01:30:07 PM »

Off hand I would say yes, but I have no experience of using a diode which I don't actually have the manufacturers specification for. It is important to know the maximum current that can be used as it is a very fine line between bright and blown.
Can the maximum current be decided by guesswork ? and if so how ? - these are questions for which I have no answer. If the diode cost nothing then there is nothing to be lost by trying or experimenting but some of these diode on eBay fetch real money and I think that 'trial and error' with these would be just plain daft.

Just my opinion but I am not a gambling man and never have been.

Tweakie.

7109

*****VIDEOS***** / Re: Vector Laser Engraving.

« on: December 14, 2010, 01:16:44 PM »

Thanks.

Daft really, but this was the first thing done with the new laser head (which was some 7 months in the building) so I am really quite proud of that little bit of MDF.

Tweakie.

7110

Show"N"Tell ( What you have made with your CNC machine.) / Re: My first attempts at laser engraving.

« on: December 14, 2010, 01:07:38 PM »

You are welcome my friend, copy anything you find useful.

I have now learned (took a while) that you never stop building a CNC because it is never ever finished -  it is just an ongoing project. 

Tweakie.