Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[Simond]

JCL,

 

I bought my version of TurboCad at least 25 years ago, it is version 12, patched to v15. I think I paid about £20 for it, which seems a bit expensive, considering that V20 is for sale for £8 on Amazon at the moment...

 

I wouldn't try to do 3D on it, but for 2D, it's very handy.

 

Best

Simon

[BG John]

I used to use Corel Draw years ago, before it had any railway modelling uses, and I've never managed to get my head round any proper CAD programs. I'm concentrating on Inkscape, because it will produce vector drawings suitable for cutting (in my case, just a Silhouette so far), and can also be used to produce full colour layers for printing "painted", lined and lettered overlays to stick to the cut parts.

[Arthur]

 

Pardon my O/T question here but I'm looking to get to grips with a drawing package myself for use with a, yet to be obtained, silhouette cutter and also to produce some drawings to get some very simple etchings done. Would Inkscape suit?

[BG John]

Pardon my O/T question here but I'm looking to get to grips with a drawing package myself for use with a, yet to be obtained, silhouette cutter and also to produce some drawings to get some very simple etchings done. Would Inkscape suit?

I don't know anything about etching, but a number of people are using Inkscape with their Silhouettes, including me, although I haven't done much yet. It's well worth wading through the Silhouette topics, as there's a lot of useful stuff in there. Inkscape is free, so the only cost of trying it is your time.

[JCL]

Hi Arthur, Inkscape was terrible about three or four years ago. It used to crash and burn - sometimes even if it was just sitting in the background. Since then a lot of work has been done on it, and it's perfect for drawing - Mike Trice has put together a series of tutorials in a thread in this section of RMWeb. In the main Silhouette thread I did a tutorial about creating a shed that might help as well. The files that I drew should still be available on there somewhere. There are a couple of gotchas, but they've been covered extensively in the threads. I seem to think that they are:

• The drawing imported from Inkscape to Silhouette is the wrong size - you need to change the setting in the DXF import panel in Silhouette to as-is (I think)
• The rounded corners have disappeared - convert rounded corner rectangle shapes to paths Path -> convert object to path (again I think)

I hope that helps

[monkeysarefun]

I don't know anything about etching, but a number of people are using Inkscape with their Silhouettes, including me, although I haven't done much yet. It's well worth wading through the Silhouette topics, as there's a lot of useful stuff in there. Inkscape is free, so the only cost of trying it is your time.

 

I used Inkscape with my silver bullet  cutter and use it now with the emblaser. For doing things like buildings, which are basically lots of rectangles (walls, windows, doors etc) its pretty much  just like drawing with a pencil and ruler but with the added advantage that you can do magical things like copy and paste, align everything  properly,and  evenly distribute say  multiple windows or whatever with a few clicks of the mouse  without having to use maths and stuff.

 

It  seems to be primarily aimed at graphic designer kind of people rather than architects or engineers, but for what we do here it is perfectly good, with the added little bonus features of converting bitmaps (ie 'pictures')  to vectors suitable for cutting.

 

Like BG John, I can't help you with the etchings!

Edited March 28, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[Jol Wilkinson]

Etch tool designs are simply 2D drawings with appropriate line thickness and colours, plus object colour fills. I have used CorelDraw  to create etch tool drawings and more recently for laser cutting drawings. So if a software CAD programme can do one satisfactorily, it should do the other.

 

The differences between programmes comes down to ease of use, ability to create or export to formats that the etchers or laser cutting tools can use, reliability, cost, availability, etc. I have always found  (from my own and other's experience in the etch kit design field) that a "professional" package that does what you need but not necessarily a lot more, is the best way. So 2D programmes such as Illustrator or CorelDraw, Draftsight, LibreCad, etc. are perfectly okay for etch or laser design, whilst AutoCad, TurboCad, Blender, etc. is what you need for Rapid prototyping (3D printing).

 

Using free programmes can sometimes be a false economy, whilst they may be straightforward to use, it is not unknown for problems to arise when saving/exporting into different file formats.

[BG John]

Using free programmes can sometimes be a false economy, whilst they may be straightforward to use, it is not unknown for problems to arise when saving/exporting into different file formats.

That is one of the little problems that needs to be overcome with Inkscape, but it seems to be just about getting the settings right. With paid for software, you may have to keep spending money on upgrades to maintain compatibility, and learn all the changes and new features when you upgrade, so it can get expensive in terms of time and money.

[Jol Wilkinson]

John,

 

spot on about upgrades, although they rarely contain anything that we need for simple 2D designs. You can often get lower cost (usually trimmed down previous versions) of professional software  at much lower prices than the full packages.

 

As much as anything it is new MS Windows releases that mean you have to upgrade. I am still running CD12 on an old MS XP PC in the workshop, but if I upgrade my main PC to W10, I have to upgrade to CD14 or better.

 

Then there is the belief that software, because it isn't tangible (rather like music), should be available for free.

 

Jol

[BG John]

Then there is the belief that software, because it isn't tangible (rather like music), should be available for free.

 

Jol

A belief held by developers of Open Source software!

[nick_bastable]

Not managed to do much more Mrs B been playing with the beast, however have part finished and installed some items 

 

 

now to work out if i can cut 1mm fence posts ?

[Arthur]

 

Thanks very much for the informative replies re Inkscape and drawing packages.

 

Paying for software isn't an issue if necessary. Bearing in mind it's purely for 2D and that the etchings are going to be very simple i.e. no relief maybe just fold lines, my main concerns are; 1). That it should be easy to learn the basics and, 2) should suit both silhouette cutters and etching needs. I don't want to have to get to grips with two different software packages.

 

Inkscape clearly well suits silhouette cutter needs, I just wanted reassurance that it would produce artwork suitable for an etcher to work with.

[JCL]

Maybe the feller that runs 247 developments can help as he runs a business etching. I can't remember his handle, but I know he's on RMWeb, I've seen his shop banner in his signature.

[Giles]

 

 

I've just done another test piece (brick sh*t house) with the bricks done as individual rectangles (a fraction smaller) which I think is an improvement. (The one with the door....)

 

I also managed to poke a 0.6mm diameter hole right through the 2mm MDF to take the door knob.

 

You never know one of these may possibly end up on a layout....

 

 

[Simond]

Giles

 

I think they are great - and agree that the right hand one is better, not that you'd turn your nose up at either of them (unless being used for their intended purpose! ).

 

You seem to have got the comb-joints at the corners sussed. What thickness is the board? I ordered some 2.5 MDF but unfortunately, when I got home, I discovered they'd given me 2mm. I'll go to see the supplier when I get a chance, but they're 20 miles away...

 

Best

Simon

[PhilH]

Can you draw / burn (?) less than perfect brickwork, eg bricks with bits broken off?

[Simond]

Phil

 

yes, but you have to draw each bit of damage individually.

 

best

Simon

 

(edit to make better sense, I hope)

Edited March 28, 2016 by Simond

[monkeysarefun]

Can you draw / burn (?) less than perfect brickwork, eg bricks with bits broken off?

 

 

If you drew them as individual rectangles like Giles did, then Inkscape at least has an option to make the corners rounded, so you could select either all or just random rectangles and try that to give the impression of weathered corners - other packages probably have similar abilities.

[Siberian Snooper]

I have just found this thread and had a good read through it, you guys are producing some fantastic stuff and that seems to be only mucking about, finding out how the thing works. Great stuff, I will continue too follow this thread whilst I find away to rustle up some dough too make a purchase.

 

Thanks to all for an informative thread.

 

SS.

[Enterprisingwestern]

Not managed to do much more Mrs B been playing with the beast

Too much information.

 

Mike.

[Giles]

Hi Simon, I'm using 2mm MDF, which I worked out is pretty close - and certainly in practice it's proving ideal.....

[monkeysarefun]

If you drew them as individual rectangles like Giles did, then Inkscape at least has an option to make the corners rounded, so you could select either all or just random rectangles and try that to give the impression of weathered corners - other packages probably have similar abilities.

 

 

Further on this, I've had a bit of a play. I subscribe to a vector graphics site,    https://www.vectorstock.com/   which gives me permission to use their images. I found a seamless vector file of a suitably rundown wall segment, imported it into Inkscape and rescaled it to 4mm foot size. (turns out to be 15mm square at that scale).

 

Being seamless it tiles together, here are 3 by 2 tiles:

 

 

Which produces this. I forgot to change the settings before I hit the go button, so its rather over cooked and scorched, but it was just a quick test to see how it looks

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

Maybe the feller that runs 247 developments can help as he runs a business etching. I can't remember his handle, but I know he's on RMWeb, I've seen his shop banner in his signature.

Very few, if any, etch suppliers do their own etching (Slaters are the only one that comes to mind). It is invariably contracted out to the specialist companies such as Photo Etch Consultants or Grainge and Hodder.

 

PPD in Scotland specialise in one off items, etc. so I would suggest trying them.

[Arthur]

 

It's PPD I'd been looking at and they do have an informative website. They mention some suitable CAD packages and suitable file types and say others may be suitable, Inkscape is not mentioned. It would seem a drawing file in PDF form might be acceptable. I could just ask PPD, I asked here on the off chance that somebody may have already used Inkscape for that purpose.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Be aware that PPD use a different design "protocol" to most other "model railway" etchers, as far as I know.

 

Usually white doesn't etch, black does. PPD is the reverse of this, in that black doesn't etch, white does. That is similar to the way printed circuit boards were produced as far as I know.

 

This website is full of information;

 

http://www.hollywoodfoundry.com/HowToPapers.shtm