RMweb Gold PhilH Posted March 16, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 16, 2016 Does laser cutting create dust? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 Does laser cutting create dust? No dust (or soot) at all Phil, but doing ply does leave a kind of greasy layer on the base, I'm guessing its due to the adhesive used in the ply construction being melted but I'm not an expert. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) There might be some else who can help Oooooh sounds mysterious.... Being a noob here I'm not sure who you mean! Is there some kind of RMWeb legendary boss character that I do not yet have a high enough post count up to be ordained into the knowledge of? Oh hang on... Mr backofanenvelope, are you talking about you?! Edited March 16, 2016 by monkeysarefun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmthtrains - David Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Does laser cutting create dust? Yes it does - very fine dust that is too small to be stopped by the hairs in your nose, so go straight into your lungs. I'm glad monkeysarefun is taking precautions with the cutter, but I do wonder how many people will just order this and fire it up indoors. How many people are aware of the health risks from lasering acrylic or MDF I wonder? Hands up who knew MDF contained formaldehyde... David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) Yes it does - very fine dust that is too small to be stopped by the hairs in your nose, so go straight into your lungs. I'm glad monkeysarefun is taking precautions with the cutter, but I do wonder how many people will just order this and fire it up indoors. How many people are aware of the health risks from lasering acrylic or MDF I wonder? Hands up who knew MDF contained formaldehyde... David Just playing late night devils advocate (here at least, excuse the timezones!) and not trying to trivialise your valid points David but.. when we have Vladamir Putin running Russia, Kim Jong Un threatening to launch Hydrogen bombs, Donald Trump the possible next American president... ISIS everywhere.... do we even have enough time left to succumb to a lung disease caused by cutting out wagon sides? Seriously, the late night news just came on and all those stories were on it and suddenly the option of dying from laser cutting seemed fairly remote under the circumstances. But again David, I appreciate what you are saying, its just the News came on...... And can I just repeat this bit that I posted earler.. 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. Edited March 16, 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 Yes it does - very fine dust that is too small to be stopped by the hairs in your nose, so go straight into your lungs. I'm glad monkeysarefun is taking precautions with the cutter, but I do wonder how many people will just order this and fire it up indoors. How many people are aware of the health risks from lasering acrylic or MDF I wonder? Hands up who knew MDF contained formaldehyde... David Hi David, yep, I know about the formaldehyde, for that reason I won't have MDF in the house. The wind was put up me by a scientist I was in line with in Kings Cross some years ago. Hi Monkeys, Mr. Back of is a mod for this entire section. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
billbedford Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Hands up who knew MDF contained formaldehyde... As do soaps, shampoos, carpets, pears, potatoes and mushrooms, especially mushrooms. More details here 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 (edited) I'm certainly very well aware that MDF contains formaldehyde and also have been aware for many years that steps have been taken to radically reduce its level. You can now easily get E1 grade (in Europe) which has a content of less than 0.1ppm - levels described by HSE as 'insignificant' (there is also E2, with a content between 0.1 and 0.3ppm - all still a significant improvement on the old stuff). (An average house is generally calculated to contain 0.04ppm) Suppliers should state (somewhere) what grade they are selling, and should be able to supply COSHH sheets Edited March 16, 2016 by Giles Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrushType4 Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Giles, Do you need eye protection with this laser? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 Giles, Do you need eye protection with this laser? Darklylabs sell (and ship one pair free per laser ) a pair of safety glasses. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 16, 2016 Author Share Posted March 16, 2016 Hi Monkeys, Mr. Back of is a mod for this entire section. Oooh, I did not know that! I hope I was polite! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 ... And I bought a second set for Di... The biggest problem is making sure the cat is nowhere near! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 (edited) I've managed to find time to produce this tool shed - it took ages, because it takes 30minutes to cut, but about 20 minutes in, it loses it's indexing, and shifts about half a mil, which ruins it..... I had three goes, and it did it each time - trashing it. Finally, I split the job into two parts, first the two ends, then the two walls - as separate drawings and operations (no other differences at all...) that worked absolutely fine. I don't know if it can't cope with running continuously for more than 15-20 minutes without losing its indexing, or whether there is a little software glitch that sends it astray (the drawing appears to be completely clean). I don't mind splitting jobs up if I have to, my only concern would be if I have problems working large intensive pieces...... We'll see! Edited March 19, 2016 by Giles 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrushType4 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Superb Giles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nick_bastable Posted March 19, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 19, 2016 I find taping down what I'm cutting helps and have ran without alignment issues having closed the "print" dialogue and reinitialized the laser first instance as a "etch" cut second instance as a cut I was impressed how well it realigned or perhaps just lucky Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Wow, those corners are perfect - I'm thinking thats 7mm/ft? And MDF? Glad you're still with us. I've been playing around with bricks in 4mm/ft and now I've worked out a painting strategy - they look surprisingly realistic, and unlike most things, the more you zoom in the greater they look. ( I'll post a photo when I find the SD card from my camera. It was on my shelf here until the parrot wandered off with it, I should have realised it at the time because he goes "BWAHAHAHAHAH! whenever he steals stuff but I was busy doing something else and ignored him..) But its still the corners that let me down. Even mitring them still leaves a dark join line , but I am of the age now where my vision is the weakest link and I have a bit of trouble lining the corners up. I know there's a tool for that called 'glasses' ..... and that might be my next purchase.... There is nothing that compares to actual brick built corners like that. Even the new photo-realistic brickpaper meets its limitations there. I'd love to try actual corners like that in 4mm/ft scale but I can't find 1mm thick anything (at least anything laserable..) Its all either 0.4mm, 0.5mm or 1.5mm. But I'll keep trying. Not sure what is causing your misalignment issue, I've run 40 minute jobs without an issue but I'm using pdf fies exported from Inkscape, which has its own little set of problems! It'll be some software compatibility glitch, but there's always a workaround I guess. Having to build an actual size rabbit hutch this weekend kept me busy, I tried to find at least one thing to laser but there was nothing. If only rabbits were beetle sized I could laser something up in 3mmm ply...... No spider news to report this weekend, sorry. Edited March 20, 2016 by monkeysarefun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Wow, those corners are perfect - I'm thinking thats 7mm/ft? And MDF? Glad you're still with us. I've been playing around with bricks in 4mm/ft and now I've worked out a painting strategy they look surprisingly real, I'd love to try actual corners like that in 4mm/ft scale but I can't find 1mm thick anything (at least anything laserable..) Its all either 0.4mm, 0.5mm or 1.5mm. But I'll keep trying. A couple of suggestions, though I suspect they both have limitations. 1mm acrylic is available, but might not give a suitable surface for the brickwork, (possibly light sand with fine wet and dry?) I think 40 thou Rowmark is available, but again the surface is perhaps not as good as mdf. Have you checked out local veneer suppliers, in this case I wonder about the strength of such thin bits, it may need a couple of internal layers cut just short of the corners and openings to make a 3mm ply. Found this local to us this side of the world, they can do 1mm, so there might be someone down your way. http://www.merenda.com/products/rolled-thickwood-veneer/ Finally you could always move up to 7mm - it's better on the eyesight Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Superb Giles. Hey brushtype4, It was your input on this site and the excellent stuff you've done that made me need to get a laser cutter, so if laser cutter buying was a virus, you'd be patient zero of this thread - the one they trace it all back to! Edited March 20, 2016 by monkeysarefun 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) A couple of suggestions, though I suspect they both have limitations. 1mm acrylic is available, but might not give a suitable surface for the brickwork, (possibly light sand with fine wet and dry?) I think 40 thou Rowmark is available, but again the surface is perhaps not as good as mdf. Have you checked out local veneer suppliers, in this case I wonder about the strength of such thin bits, it may need a couple of internal layers cut just short of the corners and openings to make a 3mm ply. Found this local to us this side of the world, they can do 1mm, so there might be someone down your way. http://www.merenda.com/products/rolled-thickwood-veneer/ Finally you could always move up to 7mm - it's better on the eyesight Peter Hi Peter, Thank you for the suggestions. 7mm is an idea, and I build ship models to that scale and it IS much easier on my eyes, ( apart from the rigging..) the only problem is they take up sooo much room! Its a sad fact of life that the older I get, the more stuff I build, so the less space I have left, so the smaller scale I need to build things at to fit them in. By the time I'm 80 I'll be using nano technology to squeeze new builds into the vacancies. Thank you for the Rowmark suggestion, I do intend to visit a supplier this side of Sydney this week who apparently sells the oz equivalent so I'll see what they have, and report back. Edited March 20, 2016 by monkeysarefun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrushType4 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 @monkeysarefun 1mm MDF is available and while I haven't done any myself yet, I intend to use it for 4mm buildings. The 1mm MDF is excellent for detail items in 7mm and I use it for many of my parts and especially window frames. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) @monkeysarefun 1mm MDF is available and while I haven't done any myself yet, I intend to use it for 4mm buildings. The 1mm MDF is excellent for detail items in 7mm and I use it for many of my parts and especially window frames. Ohhh, you DO live in a magical land! 3mm is as far as we have progressed down here from what I have been able to find. Edited March 20, 2016 by monkeysarefun Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
teetrix Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 (edited) Hi Monkeysarefun, It's worth to have a look at arts& craft stores and Architect's suppliers. And look for fiberboard/fibreboard or laserboard also. Thin MDF is grinded down from 3mm standard thickness, therefore it's rare and (relatively) expensive. In Australia I've found this, maybe it's suitable, at least worth a question: http://www.artscene.com.au/shopping/boards/chip-board/crescent-chipboard http://www.artscene.com.au/shopping/boards/boxboards--strawboard-/boxboards--strawboard- My german suppliers are: https://www.architekturbedarf.de/katalog/showarticles/162000/1/mdf http://www.modulor.de/en/mdf-thin.html Btw: It would be nice to know your given name... sounds surely better than "Hi Monkeysarefun" :-) Michael Edited March 20, 2016 by teetrix Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Hi Michael, Thank you so much for tracking that down, its late here on a school night so I'll check it out more thoroughly tomorrow when I'm meant to be working. My handle was just meant to get the knowledge out there that monkeys generally ARE fun, (except maybe for those ones that some Americans own that go crazy and attack people). People know me as Chris. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
meil Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Have a think about Finnboard: http://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Raw-Materials/Card/Item/Finnboard/ITM6531 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Just been out to our local Hobbycraft store for something else and noticed 1/16th Basswood in useable sizes ( about 3" x 24") which could be useful, as a US outfit the suppliers might have a presence in Australia. http://www.hobbylinc.com/midwest-hobby-and-craft-basswood-sheets-basswood-strips It was while I was looking at the sheets of timber that I realised I must have had my stupid head on this morning when I responded to your post about thickness required. Certainly for UK brickwork the thickness should be 1.5mm, not 1mm, so your supplies of material at 1.5mm should be fine? - a 'standard brick is in the region of 9" x 3" high (including mortar courses), and about 4" thick. This would make the 'end on' courses at the corners somewhere around 1.33mm to 1.5mm, so I would give either 1.5mm or 1/16" a try to see how it looks, you could always sand a tiny bit off the back of the material at the corner joints, but I don't think you would think anything about it if the half bricks on the corner were a scale 1/2" too wide. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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