Giles Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 .... And he can definitely keep his bl**y spiders - but I like the gothic! The short answer is -yes- you could certainly do a bit at the time. You would need to tape or clamp down a 'fence' to keep your material accurately aligned, and then do a test or too, and make some index marks - but the machine is quite accurate enough to do what you're asking - you just need to make sure you step the material along exactly the right amount. Three foot is what, only two joins, anyway..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted March 14, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 14, 2016 Yes, it is. Thanks for that Giles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
teetrix Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 (edited) Just a question: How intense is the smell? When I open a package of lasered wood (MDF and plywood), I always think someone has started a barbeque I wonder If this thing needs a casing and some kind of exhaust? Btw this round window looks superb... Michael Edited March 14, 2016 by teetrix Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 (edited) Just a question: How intense is the smell? When I open a package of lasered wood (MDF and plywood), I always think someone has started a barbeque I wonder If this thing needs a casing and some kind of exhaust? Btw this round window looks superb... Michael I have been doing any timber and plastic outside (the emblaser is easily portable) so haven't experienced what they smell like. The card window above I did inside last night, all up it took about 40 minutes of non-stop lasering and I only smelt anything if I was directly above the unit checking its progress, in this case it was like faint burning newspaper but that didn't linger or travel beyond the unit . There was certainly no build up smoke or smell during or afterwards. I think that is mainly due to me getting the settings finely tuned so there is no excess scorching of the material. Thank you for the window comment! Edited March 15, 2016 by monkeysarefun 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
teetrix Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 ... and thanks to you for the fast answer! Michael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 (edited) To add to that, I agree - it very much depends on how well you've got it focussed. I've had a problem, insofar as I can't see well enough to focus it properly (I can't see the change in the dot size as I get 'flare' from astigmatism). I've been aware that my laser probably wasn't focussed to its optimum (and could smoke when cutting MDF), but yesterday, more by luck than judgement, managed to set the laser soooo much better, and found it cutting very much cleaner, with less smoke and smell (and getting more penetration into the bargain) The only downside to this is now I'm going to have to do double cuts for mortar courses as a single cut is now too narrow! The plus side is that I get no charring when I cut right through the 2mm MDF, and more - My wife Diane, although she is properly fascinated by brickwork and joints etc., seems to have an interest in what it will do with things like leather..... (For glove making, purses, all sorts, before you all get carried away...). The info on Darklylabs website is that it will cut through 1.5mm leather, which we thought was useful enough. However, I find that it will actually (and practically) cut through 3.5mm thick leather - which makes it REALLY USEFUL. The etching on the leather was 15mm per second at 80% (1pass), and to cut was 10mm per second at 100% (8 passes) Edited March 15, 2016 by Giles 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 The only downside to this is now I'm going to have to do double cuts for mortar courses as a single cut is now too narrow! Thats easily solved. You simply have two emblasers, one high precision one for cutting and leatherwork and the other set to 'blurry' for bricks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Trofimow Posted March 15, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2016 Resistance is futile..... I've been following the Silhouette cutter thread since the beginning, and been amazed at the work that has been demonstrated. I was going to buy one as a retirement present to myself, until this thread came along.... I was only looking at the Darkly Labs site out of curiosity - I tried to resist, honest, but somehow the "order now" button got accidentally clicked. It's all the fault of that monkeysarefun. Just hope one of his arachnid friends doesn't come along for the ride. Alan 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted March 15, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2016 Hi Alan, a card problem meant that I had to click the order button accidentally about five times. I think this is the first time I've bought something where I only want bugs in the software! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
backofanenvelope Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 After a brief message with Jason (JCL) with all the new people getting or thinking about getting a emblaser would it be beneficial to set up a thread for it so people could show and tell, like the Silhouette one? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon A Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 I thought that was this thread was all about and the threads title is "Darkly Labs emblaser"? Gordon A Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
backofanenvelope Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 ok just wasn't sure whether people wanted to share threads or go it alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 For those of you who are mildly interested in brickwork - I've made good progress (though it may not appear so). I've off-set the mortar courses diagonally by 0.1mm to give a little width. But at least I now have a formula that works in all respects. The etching is 15mm/sec @ 100%, 1 pass and the cut is 10mm/sec @ 100%, 4 passes. I also bought some aluminium honeycomb (10mm deep, 6mm cells) from eBay, which I've sprayed black and taped to the bed... Seems to be ok so far....! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted March 15, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2016 Hi Gordon, the DM I sent to Tom and Monkeysarefun a couple of days ago was a long winded way of asking if tutorials would be ok on here (Silhouette style thread) or if it was worth putting them separately (Mike T's Inkscape thread). Academic at the moment in my case, and given the fact I've not used one yet, but I didn't want to assume. Hi Giles, I'm more than mildly interested in brickwork. I have problems with embossed plasticard, so this is going to be a great help. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon A Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 JCL / backofanenvelope, Thanks for the explanation. My thinking is that it is better to have everything relating to the Emblaser under one thread / heading so it is easy to find, share and check. Gordon A Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted March 15, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 15, 2016 I would agree Gordon, thankyou. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on setting up some kind of folder, say a public dropbox one where people willing to share dxf, pdf and cutting files can put them?I'm happy to provide copies of files I create if people want to play around with them. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 Hi Gordon, the DM I sent to Tom and Monkeysarefun a couple of days ago was a long winded way of asking if tutorials would be ok on here (Silhouette style thread) or if it was worth putting them separately (Mike T's Inkscape thread). Academic at the moment in my case, and given the fact I've not used one yet, but I didn't want to assume. Hi Giles, I'm more than mildly interested in brickwork. I have problems with embossed plasticard, so this is going to be a great help. Oops, I didn't notice I had a message there - I've just beeln a bit of a lurker here until I got the Emblaser so I didn't realise that there are messages! My apologies, and I'm happy for this thread to go whichever way we take it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 (edited) Just a quick message for anyone going to the darklylabs website for the first time. They very recently archived a whole lot of their forum, which included a lot of examples of what people have been doing with the Emblaser, including modelmaking, plus helpful hints and tips and answers to possible issues that can pop up during the build and operation. It is possible to access it though through the forum archive link on the support page (accessed via the 'support' tab) - just make sure you select 'all categories' in the viewing filter down on the left hand side because by default this seems to be off.. Edited March 15, 2016 by monkeysarefun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted March 16, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on setting up some kind of folder, say a public dropbox one where people willing to share dxf, pdf and cutting files can put them?I'm happy to provide copies of files I create if people want to play around with them. I'm not sure if you are aware, we are able to upload dxf and svg files that are less than 1MB in size onto RMWeb, which might be a help. I've uploaded a few in the past like the Barnum coach sides and the infamous shed tutorial on the Silhouette thread. I've a feeling pdf files are possible too. Oops, I didn't notice I had a message there - I've just beeln a bit of a lurker here until I got the Emblaser so I didn't realise that there are messages! My apologies, and I'm happy for this thread to go whichever way we take it! Haha, no problem at all. Good to hear it. One thing about bricks, in this month's (free) Model Railroad Hobbyist there is an article on using and painting bought sheets of brick embossed basswood. They have an interesting way of doing corners which is worth looking at, and a few ideas about fancy cornices. Also, looking at the brick sheet suppliers website, he doesn't half manage to get a lot of texture into his bricks - http://monstermodelworks.com/ Anyway, here's the link to the file http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/ You can read it online or download it as a PDF file to all sorts of tablets, computers and phones. Edited March 16, 2016 by JCL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 I'm not sure if you are aware, we are able to upload dxf and svg files that are less than 1MB in size onto RMWeb, which might be a help. I've uploaded a few in the past like the Barnum coach sides and the infamous shed tutorial on the Silhouette thread. I've a feeling pdf files are possible too. Would that be a central kind of area as opposed to embedding them into a post as part of a thread? If it was attaching them to a post, they could become hard to find if you have to trawl through numerous pages to find the post that had the file attached. I was thinking one simple go-to directory with maybe sub-directories for 'windows' 'doors' 'spiders' and so on would make things quick and easy to find. Is that kind of thing possible here? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold JCL Posted March 16, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) Maybe something can be done software-wise with some sort of file repository, or possibly a thread that is curated? As Dutch_Master said, PM Andy, he was very helpful to me when setting up the Silhouette thread. It would be nice to keep everything on RMWeb, one of the worst things about people storing photos etc on other sites like Photobucket, Facebook, etc, is the number of times you go to an old thread with exactly the information you need only to find out that the associated 3rd party based photos no longer exist. Edited March 16, 2016 by JCL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
backofanenvelope Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 There might be some else who can help 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Having skimmed through this thread, please tell me people aren't buying cheap laser cutters and using MDF and plastics in them with no extraction!!! The vapours and dust given off by these materials, MDF in particular, are extremely hazardous and no laser cutter should be used without proper extraction to filter out the nasties. If no extraction comes with these cutters, at the very least users should be wearing full respirators (not just dust masks), but that does nothing to protect everyone else in the house, pets, neighbours etc, so I sincerely hope the manufacturers of these cutters makes clear what materials are safe to cut in these circumstances. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) Having skimmed through this thread, please tell me people aren't buying cheap laser cutters and using MDF and plastics in them with no extraction!!! The vapours and dust given off by these materials, MDF in particular, are extremely hazardous and no laser cutter should be used without proper extraction to filter out the nasties. If no extraction comes with these cutters, at the very least users should be wearing full respirators (not just dust masks), but that does nothing to protect everyone else in the house, pets, neighbours etc, so I sincerely hope the manufacturers of these cutters makes clear what materials are safe to cut in these circumstances. David My neighbour is a chain smoker. When the wind blows from the south it blows his carcinogenic laden smoke right through my house. All *$@$&ing day. If you read the thread you'll see that I use the emblaser outside - but thats not for fear of fumes, its just that this time of year the wind is usually a northerly and I am getting my revenge. But,, I am only doing timber and card with a 4W laser diode so I reckon that he is the more potent one... I do truly appreciate your point David and it is an important one thats easily overlooked, I guess while there's nothing stopping anyone lasering super fatal stuff, hopefully we are grown up enough to be aware of the dangers, and to at least do some research prior to trying new materials. Edited March 16, 2016 by monkeysarefun 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now