Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[gazman424]

Morning Giles,

 Superb stuff - very inspirational! But may i ask what type of plastic you are using, and is it available online?

 I'm struggling to find suitable materials...

Gaz.

 

 

I can't afford a mid-life crisis.....

However, I shall be selling these drain covers for 7mm to help ease burdens...

 

[nick_bastable]

wagons completed except for transfers and couplings

 

 

Nick

[Giles]

I use Tromark ADA as a material.

 

 

I've Had some success with the round drain covers, such as you find in the middle of the road.......

 

Whilst perhaps not perfect, they are significantly finer than the white metal ones I've seen.

 

[BrushType4]

superb!

[nick_bastable]

Morning/Evening all

 

has anyone a dxf file of either plain bricks or better still cobbles ?

 

got impatient and created my own file   3 cutting hours later 

 

 

 

cobbles are overscale at 2mm x 1mm 

 

thanks

 

Nick

Edited May 13, 2016 by nick_bastable

[MikeOxon]

I use Tromark ADA as a material.................................

 

I was puzzled by your reference but assume it is the material for Trotec cutters.  In the course of a Google search, i came across a useful page providing information on 'laserable' materials : http://www.rowmark.com/MARK/laser_guide/pages/prod.asp

[Giles]

Old age... I've mixed up Romark and Trotec....! I actually use Trotec ..... Sorry about that!

Edited May 15, 2016 by Giles

[nick_bastable]

the start of a 2mm SDJR 6 wheel brake van 

 

 

not sure yet about the duckets and the end steps 

 

Nick

[JCL]

I had the same thought when designing a test GNR six wheel full brake in styrene a couple of years ago.

 

What if you:

 

remove the section of black card that shows where the duckets will be,

Using your laser cutter, cut the sides out of your wood and butt them up against the edges of the black card,

cut some spacers in wood or thicker card to go between the ducket sides so that, on the flat part of the ducket the spacer is flush with the edge of the ducket. This would make it pretty solid

Use black card to form the curve of the ducket wall and a score line at the fold so that it also forms the top?

 

Cheers

 

Jason

[Giles]

 

 

With a whole lot of persistence, I've managed to cut extremely small holes in Trotec reliably. The upshot is that I'll be able to supply fire escapes in Trotec - not only in 7mm, but in 4mm as well! The 4mm tread is in 0.5mm Trotec

 

[nick_bastable]

With a whole lot of persistence, I've managed to cut extremely small holes in Trotec reliably. The upshot is that I'll be able to supply fire escapes in Trotec - not only in 7mm, but in 4mm as well! The 4mm tread is in 0.5mm Trotec

 

Giles

 

please remind me where you got the material from ?

 

thanks

 

Nick

[Giles]

Hi Nick - from Trotec in Washington

[Giles]

Now 4mm fire escapes

 

 

[nick_bastable]

Hi Nick - from Trotec in Washington

Giles 

 

sorry been thick what the material called how thick is it and how does it cut ?

 

thanks

 

Nick

[JCL]

Hi Giles, that's some amazing work you're putting in there.

[PaulT]

Morning/Evening all

 

has anyone a dxf file of either plain bricks or better still cobbles ?

 

got impatient and created my own file   3 cutting hours later 

 

DSC_4177a.jpg

 

DSC_4178a.jpg

 

cobbles are overscale at 2mm x 1mm 

 

thanks

 

Nick

If you need very regular cobbles these look good.

I would prefer them to be slightly irregular so random in size,  spacing and alignment although within quite tight limits. Is there a way of doing that with software and laser cutter?

[Giles]

Nick, the material is Trotec ADA, and you can get it in a variety of thicknesses, and generally it cuts very well.

[nick_bastable]

Nick, the material is Trotec ADA, and you can get it in a variety of thicknesses, and generally it cuts very well.

thanks its expensive though how does it glue?

 

meanwhile

 

 

some of the lines need thickening up as when you breath they break shame as once glued it would not matter

 

guess which dummy used the mk1 cad instead of the revised version with thicker cross beams on the sides 

 

Nick

Edited May 18, 2016 by nick_bastable

[Jol Wilkinson]

With Rowmark I found that small area joints needed Cyano, but larger areas and also joining Plasticard or Evergreen strip, then Butanone seems okay. Butanone or other solvents doesn't seem to work well enough to weld small areas strongly enough.

[Giles]

EMA plastic weld is a very effective solvent - and I dare say there are others. I just googled 'solvents for acrylic' and that came up so I bought it, and it works very well. At least as well as MEK on plasticard.

[Simond]

The classic solvent for acrylic was chloroform, I doubt it's easily available nowadays, and it's not really nice stuff, either health wise, or environmentally, so probably just as well.

 

Wrong... eBay to the rescue - bit pricey at £150 / litre tho'

 

Best

Simon

[nick_bastable]

think ive cracked the duckets

 

 

what's everyone else upto ?

[queensquare]

think ive cracked the duckets

 

DSC_4210a.jpg

 

what's everyone else upto ?

 

That looks great Nick, they really are a characterful wagon,

 

Jerry

[Simond]

So, Nick, what's the technique?

 

Looks like the outer layer is stretched over formers?

 

Best

Simon

[nick_bastable]

So, Nick, what's the technique?

 

Looks like the outer layer is stretched over formers?

 

Best

Simon

Simon

 

its a cheat the body of the ducket is a ply rectangle with the top and bottom carefully filed after etching on the planking and cutting out.   In larger scales I think it could be done properly, the 2mm test I done of separate  ends worked complete with the window but filling the gap  was impossible ( at least for me )

 

Nick