Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[Giles]

How long did it take to laser cut that Giles?

Excluding the back wall (which is about 16" long) I think the actual laser cutting took about two hours - but of course the whole process took much longer, as I was drawing it as I went, and, as you know (!) correcting all the bonding takes more time.....!

 

I quite enjoyed doing the chimney and fire-place, though - that made a nice little unit.

[nick_bastable]

Excluding the back wall (which is about 16" long) I think the actual laser cutting took about two hours - but of course the whole process took much longer, as I was drawing it as I went, and, as you know (!) correcting all the bonding takes more time.....!

 

I quite enjoyed doing the chimney and fire-place, though - that made a nice little unit.

very nice do you make the corners over long and then trim back ?

 

Nick

[SHMD]

Giles - Turn your LASER down!

 

 

Kev.

 

 

[Giles]

very nice do you make the corners over long and then trim back ?

 

Nick

Yes - about 0.5mm, and then dress the corners down with a ten inch file....

[JCL]

Hi everyone, it's been so quiet I thought I'd unfollowed this thread!

 

I thought I'd update you on what I've been up to, but first today's work. I noticed that, when cutting a coach side, the outer rectangle was more of a parallelagram - that is, the corners weren't at 90 degrees. Also, for some time, I'd been concerned that straight lines had a slight, well, texture, to them.

 

 

Because of both of these issues, I thought it was about time I did some maintenance on the Emblaser. I did this as follows:

• Opened up the assembly manual,
• Removed both belts, removed one of the side bars, and then took the laser carriage off it's bars.
• I cleaned the lens using a puffer I use for camera lenses, and wiped out the shield around the laser.
• I used cotton buds to get rid of dirt in the bearings - the carriage rolls much more smoothly now,
• Then I started the painful process of putting the belts back on and re-tensioning them. I think part of the problem was that the belts weren't tight enough at the beginning, and using the installation manual - and reading it properly this time, I found that it had to be a lot tighter than I'd previously thought.

Once I'd put everything back together, I created a file with a workspace the same size as the A3 cutting area (410mm x 285mm) in Cut2D that had two lines in it about 0.25mm apart in the top right hand corner. I then turned the lens slightly and pressed the send to file button to draw the two lines.I moved and recalculated the lines and then repeated the process. By putting the lines near the home position of the laser I saved a lot of time that would otherwise have been wasted waiting for the laser to travel to the 0,0 origin in the opposite corner. I knew the laser was calibrated as well as I was able to get it by studying the amount of space, or otherwise between those two parallel lines.

 

I also drew out some circles - the first couple were slightly disappointing, but after redoing the belts for the third or fourth time, I finally got there, and was able to cut a circle that could rotate within its hole.

 

 

Apart from swapping out the aluminum base for a 3/4" chipboard one, using some of my experience from the Silhouette Cutter, I've also cut a piece of 3/4" dead smooth cabinet grade plywood left over from a job and sprayed it with 3M re-positional spray. I use this to cut paper and thin card. The spray keeps the card flat, keeps a hold of small parts such as the insides of windows, so that the diode's fan doesn't blow them around, and I can remove it from the laser cutter's work area to more easily remove the parts. Maybe in the summer I'll look at doing one of those vacuum tables, but this seems like a good compromise at the moment.

 

 

I've already put these photos up onto my thread, but hopefully you won't mind if I put them here as well.

 

 

 

What's everyone else been up to?

 

Edited to show a photo of the disposable, removable plywood board.

Edited January 29, 2017 by JCL

[Giles]

Absolutely.

One Of of the things to look out for, when setting the belts up, is that the carriage of cross bars carrying the laser is actually at 90 degrees when you've set it up- as any error here replicates in anything you cut.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Giles

[Giles]

PS nice coaches!

[flubrush]

I thought I'd update you on what I've been up to, but first today's work. I noticed that, when cutting a coach side, the outer rectangle was more of a parallelagram - that is, the corners weren't at 90 degrees. Also, for some time, I'd been concerned that straight lines had a slight, well, texture, to them.

 

 

 

I also found mine was cutting slightly out of square.   The belts had been set up properly according to the instructions so I had a closer look at the assembly of the machine and found that there was a small amount of play in the positioning of the brackets holding the "Y" bars.  I re-positioned them by slackening the holding bolts off then pushing the brackets in the direction I wanted them to move whilst tightening them again.  I've now got the machine cutting pretty square.

 

I also tried using MDF as a cutting base but found that I had great difficulty cutting through thicker material - like 2.5mm MDF.   I did find an answer on the Darkly forum where a poster reckoned that a wooden base absorbs the heat of the laser and reduces the cutting effect as the laser approaches cutting through the material.  I am now using a piece of glass plate held about 6mm above the machine base and that seems to work well.

 

For holding material down,  I use electricians' tape at the edges to hold down thin card or paper or,  for thicker materials,  small pieces of double sided tape cut off a roll.

 

Jim.

[monkeysarefun]

Its been pretty hot here, temperatures nudging 40's quite often, so its been a bit too hot to sit outside with the laser cutter.. We've also had a few total fire bans due to the high temps and I'm not sure where I would stand on using a laser cutter outside on these days - they don't mention lasers on the Rural Fire Service website!

[scanman]

Its been pretty hot here, temperatures nudging 40's quite often, so its been a bit too hot to sit outside with the laser cutter.. We've also had a few total fire bans due to the high temps and I'm not sure where I would stand on using a laser cutter outside on these days - they don't mention lasers on the Rural Fire Service website!

'Never leave a naked flame unattended'..

 

Mind you, if you're getting naked flames you're doin' it wrong!

[BG John]

If it's that hot, surely all you need is a magnifying glass and a steady hand .

[JCL]

Hi Jim, I use masking tape on card, but on thin card and paper, it's the small chads blowing around that can be annoying, so that's why I went with the glue there.

 

If it's that hot, surely all you need is a magnifying glass and a steady hand .

Freehand laser cutting - not quite juggling with chainsaws, but it's a scary thought!

[JCL]

On the coaches, I used 1mm mdf or 1mm card for the shelll which was put together using tab and slot construction. I took inspiration from some of the tab and slot buildings I've seen on this thread and the rest or RMWeb, and from a caboose model I saw on a USwebsite. The sides are then just cosmetic and don't have anything to do with strengthening the model. It makes the model a lot faster to put together!

 

In the photo below of a GNR toilet 1st, you can see that the tab and slot works well for the compartment dividers and slots have also been used for roof beams. The shell takes about 15 minutes to glue up before clamping it lightly to make sure the card doesn't warp slightly while drying/curing.

 

 

One thing I've found is I don't have to adjust for the kerf, the thickness of the lasered line is perfect for taking into account the action of the glue on the fibres, and everything is a tight fit.

 

This is working towards a complete train - the 1938 "old Flying Scotsman". The 1sts are done, there's 2 all 3rds, 2 full brakes and a composite to go.

 

The other coach on bogies is a 45' Howlden coach, and is to test bogie making. Well, 1mm mdf and, again, tab and slot, and I have a way of making bogies square and accurately. A bit more involved than coach bodies, but really satisfying. This means all I need for bogie coaches other than my own card and paper parts are buffers, vents, and wheels

 

The underframe details were done in card. The tank is just paper wound around a bamboo kebab stick and the brake there is a lever pushed through slots in the middle of a number of disks to give the right height. As the lever goes into the disks it gets a lot wider, this helps when pushing it through.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by JCL

[BG John]

Freehand laser cutting - not quite juggling with chainsaws, but it's a scary thought!

Living in Wales, I'll never have the opportunity to find out about freehand laser cutting, and I don't think I'm ready to try chainsaw juggling yet!

[BG John]

On the coaches, I used 1mm mdf or 1mm card for the shelll which was put together using tab and slot construction. I took inspiration from some of the tab and slot buildings I've seen on this thread and the rest or RMWeb, and from a caboose model I saw on a USwebsite. The sides are then just cosmetic and don't have anything to do with strengthening the model. It makes the model a lot faster to put together!

For those of us still trying to get to grips with Silhouette cutters, and with bank accounts that would scream in horror at the idea of buying a laser, would there be a benefit in cutting tabs and slots with the Silhouette? I'd have thought it would cut them well enough.

[nick_bastable]

I must confess I have done zilch with the laser, spent my time readying Line No20 for a exhibition and building a 2mm loco chassis ( shock horror it works and ran all weekend on a rolling road at the show    )

 

At the moment I'm suffering a complete lack of mojo and ideas as to what I want to build so may be sometime before I fire it up again , cant even be bothered at the moment to put the body on the chassis 

 

winter black dog at it finest with the worse month yet to come 

 

Nick

[JCL]

Sorry to hear that Nick, spring is around the corner, I hope it helps.

 

Don't try this at home kids

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OoJW-_OeFtw

 

I'm not sure John, it's just the thickness of the material. That said, if you put the slots in, you could certainly use them to line up the layers of whatever you're building and use the Silhouette to score tabs into thicker materials that you could then finish off with a knife or similar.

Edited January 29, 2017 by JCL

[BG John]

Don't try this at home kids

 

I wouldn't try it anywhere, even wearing all the safety gear!

[scanman]

Hi Folks - advice sought!

 

Has anyone tried cutting laminated acrylic with the 'Emblazer' - ie using it to remove the outer layer to reveal a contrast layer beneath??

 

My son's partner wonders if I can create some internal artwork/signage for her shop.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[Simond]

I haven't, but there are laminated panels made specifically for that, so I guess it's possible.

 

It'll probably take a bit of experimentation, however!

 

Best

Simon

[Chriss76]

hello

I would like to ask about precission of this cutter. For example if I will design square 20mmx20m what will be dimmension after cutting. I will be use it for paper cutting with different thick.

thank you very much for answer
best regards
Chris

[JCL]

Hi Chris

 

It depends on how accurate you want to be with regards to number of decimal places. If you create a square 20mmx20mm, each side will be 20mm long minus the width of the kerf (the diameter of the lasered cut.) It's been a while since I checked but I think it's about 0.2mm. It also, I think, depends on the amount of power you throw at it. 10mm/s 100% will create a thicker kerf than 10mm/s 60% power, so on the assumption they both cut the paper, go with the least amount of power for a thinner line.

 

Cheers

 

Jason

[nick_bastable]

Hi Chris

 

It depends on how accurate you want to be with regards to number of decimal places. If you create a square 20mmx20mm, each side will be 20mm long minus the width of the kerf (the diameter of the lasered cut.) It's been a while since I checked but I think it's about 0.2mm. It also, I think, depends on the amount of power you throw at it. 10mm/s 100% will create a thicker kerf than 10mm/s 60% power, so on the assumption they both cut the paper, go with the least amount of power for a thinner line.

 

Cheers

 

Jason

focus will be the issue to keep it as low as possible,  certainly the loss of 0.2mm over a 2mm wagon side is not noticeable and very hard to measure ( scale 1 and a bit inches)

 

Nick

[JCL]

Yeah, focus is the key. I had to refocus the machine again yesterday when I knocked it - seems to be a hair trigger on the lens. You can double the width of the kerf quite easily if it's out of focus.

[Chriss76]

HEllo

 

Thanks for explain. Maybe its will  be better when I use offset  for example ( 0,15 or 0,2 depend of laser focus) before cutting process ( during the machine setting). Maybe laser ray will cut not in line but outside designed lines.

Thanks

Best regards

Chris