Laser Cut Buildings Advice

[The Fatadder]

Has anyone experience in commissioning laser cut wooden buildings?

 

I have been looking at the goods shed for Brent and have come to the conclusion that the best way forward is going to be wooden construction in order to have the necessary strength. 

 

I am looking to hear peoples experiences of commissioning laser cut buildings, either as a straight order of cutting to your drawings, or including some design work.  Along with recommended suppliers to get in contact with.

An extract of the drawing at an early stage of work (only showing two aspects)

 

I have two potential ways forward:

 

Option 1:

I can easily convert my drawings into a basic drawing for cutting (it would comprise the core of the walls, roof, roof trusses) which would then be clad in South East Finecast embossed brick (cut on my silhouette).  This could be done with or without the bricks cut into the core.  My main thought for this is that I am a lot happier designing in plastic (its what I understand and have experience in), whereas I have never built a wooden building kit and am a lot less sure about component thickness, material etc needed to deconstruct my complete drawing into a full set of components.  I would particularly be interested as to what thickness of wood (and what type) would be recommended for this sort of core)

 

 

Option 2:

The alternative is to find a supplier who can do some of the design work, I would supplier a DXF of the “complete” building as a single layer, which they would need to convert into the full set of components.  (I would not be looking for any instructions as construction can easily be worked out from other existing articles).  This design cost would then be split over the two units needed (more if anyone else was looking for a GW shed of this design.)

 

I am expecting option 2 to be more than option 1, but a lot less work required.  More design work is needed on my part for both options, but the extent of that additional work will depend which route I end up taking.

 

I welcome your thoughts?

[ianLMS]

The current Railway Modeller magazine has an article on the very subject. Someone had their buildings laser cut and they go into detail about the process. Not sure if they provide a possible vendor though. L-Cut Creative might be a starting point though for advice. They previosuly cut windows to my specifications a couple of years ago and I know they do their own range of buildings.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

I tend to now design buildings in 3D (Fusion 360) then separate the parts and pop them into a 2D programme to add the bricks, I try to ensure I get all the correct brick detail round windows, doors and corner then export to the laser cutter.

 

David 

[Satan's Goldfish]

What scale are you looking at?

 

It may be worth having a chat with @Tim Horn for some advice especially if you're able to work on the files yourself. Brick coarses can be burnt into the wood on the laser cutter, depending on the scale and the wood thickness used I've seen that used to interlink the brick work at the corners of a building for a seamless finish, very effective. (If you're drawing it yourself on cad, use a different colour for 'burn' lines to 'cut' lines...)

 

HTH

[brossard]

I've made a few L-Cut models in 0 gauge.  I'd say they are generally good value although the material used is not ply -- nearer to card.  Because the material is kind of a laminate, the brick detail tends to come off easily and the mortar lines are not very deep.  My approach is to use Scalescenes brick paper to face the building.  L-Cut windows and doors etc, would be very useful for making a scratchbuilt building.

 

Can't speak to the high tech stuff mentioned here, I'm still a luddite.

 

John

[jonhall]

 

 

My experience of building the Albany, was that the drawings, whilst in CAD, had been drawn by an architect, with no thought about production, so I almost ended up re-drawing everything, I think you have the advantage of having done etch design, have a better idea of how it needs to go together.

 

I would suggest drawing up all the parts on layers, and then lay them out as you would on an etch sheet, but without the tabs. I would use 2mm MDF for the shell, and I personally haven't had much luck designing interlocking bricks at the corners, so I would suggest in the first instance making them as mitre joins. I use cereal packet cardboard for the detail trim.

 

Your ability to do the CAD will save you a lot of money, but when it comes to cutting, use a company that does laser cut buildings - there is quite a lot of experimentation with laser power to get the right outcome, and those companies will have done that, and will also understand the sort of finish that you are looking for, which will save some pain.

 

If you want to send me the files to look at I can, and depending on what they look like I might even cut them for you - depends how much work it looks like - and needs to be before Christmas, because I may not have access to the cutter after.

 

Jon

[Chris Chewter]

I used a company called Cut Laser Cut for my Tetbury project: http://www.cutlasercut.com

 

I did as much of the design work as possible in line with their online guidance and followed their layering principals for workign with AutoCAD files.

 

 

 

They did advise a few changes which they made, so they have the ability to undertake design, and can advise on costs. 

 

Once approved, they sent it to their machines.  I ended up with basically a kit being delivered by their courier.