ChrisH-UK Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 I've been working on a model of On-track plant that has a prominent side grille made up of horizontal slats. Originally I tried to produce a reasonable facsimile using etch but the minimum thickness of full & half etch meant losing 1/3 of the slats in the design. Next I considered a 3D print but the sizes seem too slight for that as well. I'm now wondering how fine the scoring cuts of a vinyl cutter (such as a silhouette) or a laser cutter could be and how close together it is practical for them to be using styrene for the vinyl cutter, I do not know enough about laser-cut materials to even suggest things there. Thanks Chris H Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 I'm now wondering how fine the scoring cuts of a vinyl cutter (such as a silhouette) I can reliably get about 0.5mm thickness for any straight components (such as window bars) and comparable intervals with a Silhouette cutter on light cardstock. I did some windows recently with 0.3mm bars. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nick_bastable Posted July 19, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2017 check out the darkly thread lots of examples how fine a laser can cut although my preference would be to cut in card do you have a dwf file ? Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrushType4 Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Hi, a laser cut is 0.2mmish depending on the material. I have cut filigree details down to 0.2mm 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH-UK Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 check out the darkly thread lots of examples how fine a laser can cut although my preference would be to cut in card do you have a dwf file ? Nick Nick, How wide are the lines between planks on your platform shelter in posts 90 and 95, they look thinner than the window frames and you said they were 0.2mm. Currently I have an SVG and a designspark file, both marking the slats rather than the gaps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nick_bastable Posted July 19, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 19, 2017 (edited) Nick, How wide are the lines between planks on your platform shelter in posts 90 and 95, they look thinner than the window frames and you said they were 0.2mm. Currently I have an SVG and a designspark file, both marking the slats rather than the gaps. lines are a smig over 0.1mm however I have cut vents for vans but nominally 0.2mm gaps if you just want relief then 0.1mm is possible if you want open gaps they will need to be slightly bigger Nick Edited July 19, 2017 by nick_bastable Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH-UK Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 I can reliably get about 0.5mm thickness for any straight components (such as window bars) and comparable intervals with a Silhouette cutter on light cardstock. I did some windows recently with 0.3mm bars. Andy, do you think 0.3 is the realistic limit for any cut or score or do you think if it was a half-cut it would be possible to go finer as the uncut stock beneath would support the area between the half cuts? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Andy, do you think 0.3 is the realistic limit for any cut or score or do you think if it was a half-cut it would be possible to go finer as the uncut stock beneath would support the area between the half cuts? Any half-cut would just be the width of the blade which I think would not give you the level of definition you would require for louvres or grilles in card or vinyl. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH-UK Posted July 22, 2017 Author Share Posted July 22, 2017 Have now spent 3 days reading the Emblaser thread and being suitably impressed. I feel like laser cutting is the way to go. I've attached an SVG file of a pair of grilles (dwf is not an allowable type) and I would be grateful if anyone has the time to tell me how feasible it is to make. Whether the cut in this case can be any wider than the 0.1mm size I've used for the line (I can live with it just being relief if that's all this design allows). grille cutting.svg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nick_bastable Posted July 22, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 22, 2017 Have now spent 3 days reading the Emblaser thread and being suitably impressed. I feel like laser cutting is the way to go. I've attached an SVG file of a pair of grilles (dwf is not an allowable type) and I would be grateful if anyone has the time to tell me how feasible it is to make. Whether the cut in this case can be any wider than the 0.1mm size I've used for the line (I can live with it just being relief if that's all this design allows). draw a rectangle and that will be the cut, have you a photo / plan of the original your planning ? Nick Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisH-UK Posted July 23, 2017 Author Share Posted July 23, 2017 draw a rectangle and that will be the cut, have you a photo / plan of the original your planning ? Nick The plan of the vehicle is one I drew from photos and measurements. The best example I can find of an image is a different type of vehicle but the same grille - https://youtu.be/mdFwdPn1tkk?t=16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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