Bought another laser engraver.

[Bert03241]

5 hours ago, dikman said:

Yes, a CO2 will be faster and will cut thicker stuff but the diode has a finer laser "point" and should provide more detail in engraving. Plus this one is significantly cheaper than a CO2 unit (excluding the K40-type units which are generally referred to as a "tinker's delight", to coin a phrase). And the CO2 units are bigger and much heavier, and considering I'm already struggling to find a home for this open-frame unit a CO2 unit is out of the question.

Well I'm not sure about the finer laser point , I've done the Aztec Calendar on a 3.5" coaster, that pretty fine work for sure. But yea it is bigger and need more room I get that. Looking foward to seeing some of your work. 

[dikman]

Adding an extension would be relatively simple but it then puts the shed into the category of needing council approval and I'd rather not go down that path!!!

Bert, don't get me wrong I would have loved a CO2 laser (I'm well aware of their advantages) but it just wasn't practical, unfortunately. I'm currently watching youtube vids trying to learn to use Lightburn (another learning curve, sigh).

[kgg]

21 minutes ago, dikman said:

I'm currently watching youtube vids trying to learn to use Lightburn (another learning curve, sigh).

I am going to assume you are use to using a CAD program for your 3D designs. I would do your design there and then use a Snipping Tool type program to capture the design and save it as jpg or gif which I think Lightburn will be able to import. That may cut down some time.

kgg

[Dwight]

I messed with light burn a while . . . finally gave up . . . went back to LaserGRBL and it does everything I need.

Maybe I'm just not fasisteecaited enough to use lightburn . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[dikman]

kgg, no, I haven't used a CAD programme, I started to learn a couple of times but for some reason I couldn't maintain the interest. The closest I've come is messing around with Photoshop. Lightburn should do everything I'm likely to need without any other programmes so will be worth the effort, it looks like it will be easier than a 3D CAD programme (no shortage of tutorials on youtube).

Dwight, if you can use LaserGRBL then I reckon it shouldn't be too hard to step up to Lightburn, don't sell yourself short, but I guess if Laser GRBL is working for you that's all that matters.

[kgg]

6 hours ago, dikman said:

Lightburn should do everything I'm likely to need without any other programmes so will be worth the effort, it looks like it will be easier than a 3D CAD programme (no shortage of tutorials on youtube).

As long as it works for you that is the main thing.

kgg

[dikman]

Arrived yesterday so started putting it together, finished today. It was well packed and overall quality is pretty good. Assembly was ok but the instruction books leave a lot to be desired, having watched some youtube vids helped a lot!!!  I'll hook up a laptop later too make sure everything is talking properly but I won't be trying it just yet as burning something in the house won't go down too well and it's too bloody hot to do anything outside (it's Autumn here but we're having our first real heat wave, 40*C is no fun outside).

Next job is to cut the board to size and make some brackets so I can attach it to the board.

The cylinder on the left is a variable speed air supply for the air assist, the other thingy is the roller unit for engraving cylinders, bottles, glasses etc.

[dikman]

Started playing with the engraver today, I was printing a test grid on 10mm plywood and thought it was producing a lot of smoke so stopped it and found a few holes burnt through!! Luckily I'd put a sheet of steel on the table first and this was a bit scorched! I also tried a piece of aluminium, it engraved ok but I don't think it will cut through (doesn't matter anyway, engraving only is fine). I'm going to try and cut a maker's stamp, maybe out of hardwood first, to see how it goes (lots of smoke ahead!).

I bought a cheap Toshiba i5 laptop some time ago and it's perfect for this, I can leave it down in the shed with the engraver.

[Bert03241]

I design in corel draw. It was a bit of a learning curve for sure and I have nowhere learned it all just what I need for engraving  and still learning more.

[dikman]

I made a maker's stamp using jarrah, a dense Australian hardwood. Lots of charring, smoke and smell! It actually worked, inasmuch as the fine detail was there but I overlooked the fact that structurally the wood is very delicate and the lettering fell apart as soon as I touched it.

Next was some Zenolite, this is a hard perspex with a thick coloured acrylic coating in this case white. It worked beautifully while engraving the white coating but once it burned through that and into the clear perspex it got interesting. The laser went through the perspex and started burning into the wood layer underneath. I had read that it won't cut clear perspex so this just confirmed it. The smell was not good even though I had a fan blowing over it next to an open door. I have an old kitchen rangehood that I'll rig up as an exhaust fan as in wet weather I can't keep the door open.

All good fun.