Laser engraver/cutter ideas and experiences - it's here and i'm cutting things!

WezV · April 2023

First update. I ordered from Geekbuying, which stated items were in stock in a UK warehouse, and stated a 2-4 days shipping estimate.

What is less clear is that it can still take up to a week for them to process the order and dispatch the items before that 2-4 days starts.

So even though everything was in stock in the same UK warehouse, it has been sent out in 2 separate packages at very different speeds.

The extension kit arrived very fast. The laser and cutting beds have only just had their courier booked.... so I assume it will arrive after the bank holidays now.

One of the first things I need it to do is make some headstock facias, complete with logos. i have some 3mm flamed maple and walnut, so the plan it to cut two and swap the colours for the logo disc

First i made the drawing in inkscape, i changed the colours so it imports nicely into lightburn

Once in lightburn i can set the order, speed and power of each colour independently - they will be set for this file after I have done some cutting tests

and i can run it through the preview to make sure everything flows in the right order

in other words, i'm ready to go and itching for it to turn up!

Sporky · April 2023

I am definitely interested in this.

Bennyboy-UK · April 2023

PhilKing said:

I am starting to feel the need for a metal face Zemaitis type guitar with a dragon behind the bridge and on the upper bout, with the Tarot Card world between the pickups!

Something like this do you mean?

Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52560121333_9982569888_o.jpg

Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52559573521_06690bf4eb_o.jpg

or this?

WezV · April 2023

This won't engrave or cut metal.... I would need a fibre laser or cnc mill for that. The most it will do is change the colour of stainless steel coating,

What it can engrave is coatings on metal, which potentially gives a few options for a Zemaitis inspired build

I could spray the metal first and engrave through, just leaving the painted design where i wanted, but that could wear easily... or potentially do that as a negative and then chemically etch the design into the exposed metal before stripping the paint.

I will try both at some point.

I did start one by hand a few years back, but messed up on the rope border

OilCityPickups · April 2023

The Beast at 'Oily Towers'
Best investment I ever made

Sporky · April 2023

I have some of that racking.

OilCityPickups · April 2023

Sporky said:

I have some of that racking.

It's great stuff :-)

The laser is sooooooooo heavy I had to build the cart under it with industrial casters (and a materials storage area).

WezV · April 2023

It's due to be delivered this afternoon, 12 days including Easter bank holiday isn't bad, just a bit longer than anticipated.

Assuming I don't miss the delivery, the plan for the next few weeks is.

1) Build and connect - Done
2) Cutting and engraving test patterns - Done

and assuming it all works okay...

3) Wedding lanterns - cutting 3 mm ply - success
4) Headstock facias/logos - cutting and engraving 3mm hardwoods - success
5) Pickup templates - 6mm ply
6) Scratchplate template - 6mm ply
7) Pickup winder box - 6mm ply
8) Fretboard cut/engraving/marking out - various hardwoods
9) Guitar templates - 6mm ???

WezV · April 2023

Arrived

All the parts are nicely labelled and it went together quickly.

There were a few bits not covered in depth, but the sculpfun YouTube channel answered them all.

Frame

All wired up and ready to go

And I got an engraving test card done on one of the included bits of ply, says S10, but its the S30 I have

Sporky · April 2023

That looks promising.

WezV · April 2023

Well it went halfway through the ply on that top 100% test, and cut the outline easily. Should do well once dialled in for what i want

WezV · April 2023

I set up outside today for a few cutting tests. workshop isn't quite ready for the machine.

First thing, like with all maker machines, is to make something to help use the machine. I made some holding pins out of 3mm ply

Then i used those to hold a bigger sheet to make a wedding lantern

Now onto the first guitar task - headplates. I picked out some wood first. The maple is actually 4.5mm thick, walnut is rough sawn and varies from 2 to 3.5mm

it worked really well. It would obviously look better if i had thicknessed them first, but as proof of concept this is great

an edge shot of the maple, this is a good cut, no burning to speak of

For reference, the maple was cut at 300mm/m, 80% power, 2 passes. That took about 5 minutes. The thinner walnut only needed one pass, so half the time.

The ply cut in one pass up to 500mm/m. It didn't quite make it all the way through at 600mm/m. The lantern took about 35mins in total, but has a lot of detail to cut

WezV · April 2023

cleaned up a little

downbytheriver · April 2023

You are starting to tempt me…

Sporky · April 2023

Is the laser exposed?

WezV · April 2023

it has the red guard round 3 sides, exposed from the back... but it also comes with some fetching green safety goggles

FelineGuitars · April 2023

It is certainly more "open-plan" than lasers I've seen in the past which all look like the one Ash has there

m_c · April 2023

The diode lasers typically have minimal guarding, unlike the CO2 ones which are usually fully enclosed.

Diode laser's aren't that powerful in comparison, but can still do a lot of damage. However the beam should only ever point directly at the workpiece, and the biggest risk is it being reflected off something.
CO2's on the other hand bounce the beam of a few mirrors, so there is a greater risk of the beam pointing somewhere it shouldn't.

You can use whatever colour safety glasses you like. The shade just kills the brightness, it's the plastic that is enough to diffuse the beam and prevent permanent damage. Just like welding masks, it's the glass that stops the damaging rays burning your eyeball, the shade just makes it so you don't get blinded by the brightness and can see what is actually going on.

WezV · April 2023

Yeah, you can buy enclosures for them, but diodes do seem to often just be the frame.... i suppose it helps keep costs down and makes them more portable for smaller or hobby workshops

I've just spent the evening laying out a true 24 3/4" scale length, calculated with a straight rule of 18.

Took about 30 mins in excel and inkscape to lay out something bespoke like this. It says it will be 12 minutes cutting time to give me a board with marked/engraved fretslots and the inlays and board cut out.

Sporky · April 2023

Sounds like you'd like Rhino3D and Grasshopper. Grasshopper I'd the inbuilt parametric system. I have files set up that generate all the fretboard data from the scale length, number of frets, nut and heel width, and nut and heel radius.

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Laser engraver/cutter ideas and experiences - it's here and i'm cutting things!

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