More laserin’
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My wife showed me some ziplock bag holders she thought would be nice for the RV.
Why would I buy one when I can make one and customize it.
Ziplock bags and a spice rack.
I used screws for the front because as soon as I get a laser cutter I’m cutting it properly, my jigsaw skills aren’t too steady.
Cricut stencils come through again.
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if you want to laser cut that (what looks to be 1/4" plywood) you will need a higher power laser than mine (5W diode laser) and one with a large cutting area. something like a CO2 laser, but that’s gonna get spendy.
my little AtomStack A5 M40 has a 40x41cm area and i bought it mainly for engraving and etching. it cuts 3mm basswood slowly and in several passes. not powerful enough to cut hardwoods, but will engrave them nicely. i mostly cut heavy card stock (~22-40pt = .022 - .040") for intricate pop-up cards. those are fun. and challenging to my old fingers!
nice cabinet for your RV. looks good!
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I’m not great with a jigsaw either. In fact, I usually go by hand with a fret saw for inside cuts, and use the scroll saw for outside cuts. But still, cut just outside the live then refine with a rasp or file, depending on just how far outside the line I was. Works fine, and feels good.
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I’m looking at a 20 watt diode that can be upgraded to 40 watt.
They claim 1/4" with the 20.
I do way too much research before dropping the cash, I really need to just do it.
The plywood on my cabinet was some project panels I bought for another project, I think they were 4 or 5 mm so not quite 1/4" but still pretty sturdy.
I’m not against a few passes for occasional stuff like that.
I almost made a template for the router but I was almost out of straight scrap wood so jigsaw it was
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Hey, that’s what I did, eventually. I first tried a spindle sander that I made for my tabletop drill press but I didn’t have enough control.
I looked around the garage and saw the rasp, that went much better.
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That sounds about right. I am using this 10w diode that has no problem cutting 1/8" plywood.
You might have to do two passes and adjust the focus between, unless your laser has Z-axis control.
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I will admit full carpenter bias, but I would go with a cnc machine (i love my shapeoko) and a laser addon. Then you won’t be limited with a smaller laser when you want to cut thicker.
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Great, now I have more research to do.
Thanks.
I briefly looked at the brand you mentioned, looks cool.
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i can upgrade mine to 10W, but it requires fitting an extra circuit board to my existing set up. it may have to be done someday, but not for what i am mostly doing.
from what i gather, RE: your shopspace, you will be cramped to fit a cutting table that size. i know i am and, like i said, the cutting/engraving space is not big. i tried to fit a 12x18" fiberboard in there and - nope - the 18" is not gonna fit. 12x12 fits.
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We have a spare room for the laser cutter with a nice window or even through the wall for a vent.
You’re right about my garage, everything has a place and I have to put away the miter saw to use the table saw. Or I have to give up my workbench to bring out the router table.
Everything is portable so in the summertime I can work outside and spread out.
I keep threatening to raise the roof on the garage, something I can do on the cheap but permits and inspectors turn it into a long process instead of a weekend DIY.
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My last, and biggest laser cutter project: A contour map of the area around Easley, MO. It’s six layers, about 240mm x 300mm.
This was just practice. The next one will be painted or stained. The process:
I started with a lidar-based DEM of the area:
This was processed to contours in QGIS, then exported to DXF and opened in Illustrator, where I simplified the contour lines, made them into closed paths, and put each contour elevation on a different layer:
Lightburn (the laser cutting software) can import .ai files directly and even maintain layers. For each layer of wood, there is a cut line and a “glue line” to help me glue the pieces of the next layer above in the right places:
Then it was just a matter of cutting out each layer and gluing up.
TBH, the glue-up was the most tedious part, especially towards the end with all those little bits. Even with the glue lines, it was hard to get the little pieces in the right spots. And some of the little bits were just too small to glue at all.
Still, it turned out pretty well, and the next one will be much better.
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I’ve been getting a lot of projects done recently.
I finally cut my St. Johns Bridge layer cut on the Glowforge a few weeks ago. It was originally going to be layered cardstock paper art, and that version may still happen, but I decided to cut it in birch.
After sitting on it for seven years, I made a non-destructive laser cut insert for my 1933 Majestic radio case for a set of Bluetooth speakers. The lack of bass with the speakers makes it sound great for playing old timey jazz.
A visitor to my STEAM Center brought a laser cut map project, so I finally got around to doing a simple map of downtown Portland. It’s not the size or complexity I’ve wanted to do, but it’s a start.
I laser cut some snowflake earrings for my significant other.
And I made a moon cat treetopper.
On the 3D printing side, I recently helped a visitor make a fidget toy with magnets inside, which is particularly problematic when your printer has magnetic parts that pull up the magnets mid-print. But it turned out okay. I need to adjust the file to make deeper holes and superglue the magnets in before resuming the print to cover them.
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Those are quite cool.
The assembly would be simpler with a pocket instead of an outline. Does the laser cutter have any concept of depth?
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Not as such, but it can do a fill that burns out material. Not very deep but it wouldn’t need to be. It’s worth a try, for sure! Fills do take more time and make a lot more smoke.
Another thing I thought of (when it was already too late) was to include a frame around each layer. That would help considerably with alignment of any areas that connect to the edge, and as a bonus would neaten the edges of the stack. It wouldn’t help much for the disconnected small pieces, or if I was making a model of (say) Mount Fuji.
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prototype “proof” of small motorboat element for a pop-up display. i was just trying out my pattern that i drew up in Illustrator, saved as a .svg file and sent to Laser GRBL app to cut on the AtomStack. after assembling, i see where i need to make some modifications to the file for a cleaner finished piece. this one is cut from 12pt 100# uncoated cover. the finished one will be on 24pt coated. measures about 6cm bow-to-motor.
folding and gluing is a real challenge for these old eyes and shakey hands. it is very tiny to me, especially the motor with extra teeny little glue tabs!
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Looks awesome, love the project, and fuck yeah for getting it done after 7 years. Just the kind of motivational reminder I need lately that those old projects will get done!
Specific question about this one:
What did you make the cat out of? Looks so fuzzy and realistic.
Thanks for sharing all your projects!
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and fuck yeah for getting it done after 7 years. Just the kind of motivational reminder I need lately that those old projects will get done!
It’s good to look back and realize you’re already over the old hurdles, skills gaps, and mental blocks that were stopping you from completing an old project.
What did you make the cat out of? Looks so fuzzy and realistic.
I used Illustrator, referencing photos of my cat, Fergus.
Today, I made a version of the same graphic as an iron-on using a Cricut machine and a heat press for a t-shirt for my significant other.
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EDIT: removed photo to prevent mischief aka image theft. Apologies!
Received a delightful postcard via snail mail from the Conch Republic
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