merlin46 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Guys Back in February 2013 WFRM members decided to dip into their funds & purchase a laser cutter. We decided to go for the LS3040 from HPC from Halifax. Initially our attempts to pick up the item were thwarted by bad weather, but during the second week in February we visited HPC for some training & to pick up the item. I was quite surprised how big the device was & on measuring it I found that it would not fit on the existing benches in the Foel View workshop, so we decided to build a trolley to take it & it's peripherals (water tank/pump for cooling the laser tube & the air compressor to supply air to the lazer nozzle). Plus a store for the materials to be burnt. Once the trolley had been built we they had to get to grips with the machine & remember what we were taught at the training session. After over coming initial problems with a couple of laptops we soon burnt our first item with success For me I had not only to learn how to use the laser cutter & it's software, but I also had to learn a drawing package! Fortuantely for me I attended an Adobe Illustrator course before Xmas & Mikey is already a CAD monkey Next came the purchase of various suitable materials for burning, ply, MDF, perspex, foam etc............. Anyway a few weeks have passed & Saturday has become the day for a good burning session & this past Saturday Mike & I produced some parts that we happy to share with you. Our first success was the insert for A4 box files. We use these for stock boxes & now they are partioned with 3mm MDF & padded with 12mm thick foam. Next came Mikey's needle file stand again made from 3mm MDF. Mikey is excellent at Templot & from this he produced the timber drawing for our test track. This is in two parts as the bed of the laser cutter cannot accomodate the whole thing in one go. This is made from 2mm ply. Also Mikey was looking for a way to produce textured stonework so it was decided to burn some cork & this is the effect achieved. Now to make a start for the buildings for our next project. Here is the plate layers hut.made from 1.5mm MDF. Hope to report back as we progress. HTH Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelmaker87 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Tim, any experience covering the material you guys asked me to buy and mail over to you...? Cheers, Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Horn Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Tim, Good work and progress shown The 1.5mm MDF i have here is actually 1.7mm when measured. I can see that the corner bricks stick out, are you just going to sand these down? I've stayed with 1mm with a bit of card backing My latest burning project under development . . . Keep at it Cheers Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Can I check the model number as a 3040 isn't listed on HPC's website,, but there are 3020pro and 3020lsct models shown? Thanks, Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Bigcheeseplant Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Sorry if this is a bit cheeky but how much is the laser cutter our club is thinking of getting one, does the cost include everything or do you need to buy software or extraction bits as extra Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted April 2, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 2, 2013 Sorry if this is a bit cheeky but how much is the laser cutter our club is thinking of getting one, does the cost include everything or do you need to buy software or extraction bits as extra http://hpclaser.co.uk/ Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin46 Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Sorry if this is a bit cheeky but how much is the laser cutter our club is thinking of getting one, does the cost include everything or do you need to buy software or extraction bits as extra Hi Dave It was £2450 plus VAT HTH Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin46 Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Can I check the model number as a 3040 isn't listed on HPC's website,, but there are 3020pro and 3020lsct models shown? Thanks, Jon Hi Jon Just re-checked the makers plate & it states LS3040. Perhaps it has been superceded! HTH Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin46 Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Tim, any experience covering the material you guys asked me to buy and mail over to you...? Cheers, Tony Hi Tone I have not tried it out yet, but I do have a planned use for it. It's just that I am very slow with drawing with Adobe Illustrator Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Jon Just re-checked the makers plate & it states LS3040. Perhaps it has been superceded! HTH Tim Hi Jon I seem to remember when checking out what to buy HPC only list what they have in stock. We had 1 of 4 LS3040's they had in at the time. Regards Mikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Tone I have not tried it out yet, but I do have a planned use for it. It's just that I am very slow with drawing with Adobe Illustrator Tim Plus Tone we have only just graduated to Perspex from MDF as we are trying to understand the different tolerances for the materials and burns. We are getting there... :-) Mikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Hi Tim, Good work and progress shown The 1.5mm MDF i have here is actually 1.7mm when measured. I can see that the corner bricks stick out, are you just going to sand these down? I've stayed with 1mm with a bit of card backing My latest burning project under development . . . Bridge paint test TJH01 1st April 2013 Copyright Tim Horn.jpg Keep at it Cheers Tim Hi Tim Our MDF comes out at 1.6mm (in places :-) however what we did is once the brickwork was engraved and the panels cut out they were flipped over and an area around each joint engraved 'laser milled' if you want down to 1.3mm. Yes once glued up the bricks will be sanded back flush. We will post some images to show what we mean but you may have to wait until Burnday sorry Saturday. Regards Mikey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted April 21, 2013 Share Posted April 21, 2013 Hi Guys A few weeks ago I promised to expand on how we are doing our brickwork corner joints so here goes. Firstly the chosen material (1.5mm MDF in this case) is positioned on the bed and and held down with magnets. Next corner jigs (see Fittings, Fixtures and Jigs post) are placed up against the sheet and again held with magnets. The walls are cut and the material removed without disturbing the corner jigs or the laser head start position - very important. The walls are flipped over and fitted back in their holes clean side up then the material is placed back on the bed in the same position using the corner jigs as a guide. The laser is now used in engrave mode to "mill" away an area around the joints thus reducing the MDF to the required thickness. Once assembled the bricks can be filed back flush. Hope this helps. Regards Mikey WFRM CAD Monkey Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Can I check the model number as a 3040 isn't listed on HPC's website,, but there are 3020pro and 3020lsct models shown? Thanks, Jon Hi Jon Just noticed the 3040 is back on the HPC website http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=80 Regards Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Keep up the great work guys!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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