Hi all! We've distilled this year's solar cell summer-solstice tests into a nice, pretty set of PDF files. Want to know the power curves of our solarcells? Check it out here!
We laser lots of wood and acrylic... like seriously, it's hundreds if not thousands of sheets per year. This volume of throughput tends to cause the lasers to build up a lot of gunk and debris that needs to be cleaned on a regular basis. Besides being safer, it reduces the "flash" marks which are little black marks on the bottom of the material where the laser has burned through the material and reflected off the support table back to the underside of what was being cut.
Selecting the best surface used to support your lasered material comes down to a few options to which you need to ask:
We've used all four methods at Solarbotics (five, if you include the rotary attachment for engraving ...pop bottles), with the honeycomb being the often used solution, but after our last laser cleanup, we've revisited the slat system.
Our latest designs are larger and better tabbed so they stay together. The slat system is ideal for these jobs, with its better managing of debris build-up, and vastly reduced flashing. Less support material below the cut means there's less to get in the way. For comparison, this is what a traditional honeycomb table looks like after a few months of cutting MDF (ug!). Look at that old and crufty thing... and the honeycomb too.
Now take a look at our new cleaned and re-slatted table! It's almost too clean...
As nice as it is, this bed of slats has no indexable edge for us to register our material against. Finding a common origin point on the bed crucial in production, so we used the laser to create our own registration edge!
Using the laser to laser parts for the laser... for better lasering...
Here are the results:
With this in place, we're ready for even higher quality laser cutting.
Hi all! We've distilled this year's solar cell summer-solstice tests into a nice, pretty set of PDF files. Want to know the power curves of our solarcells? Check it out here!
Ok folks, here it is. Your weekly dose of links. Enjoy it. Love it. Let it soak into your skin. Bask in its magnificence. Bravit, The Multi-flame Candle This link comes to you straight out of 2008, but it's still pretty awesome. This is a candle that has a wick that branches out to create […]
Effective immediately, all the proceeds from the sale of Zendulum kits will be going to the Red Cross efforts in Japan. We'll change up the Zendulum laser artwork to note it as such shortly, and post the new pic. (Done!) Fractured Hinomaru inspired by James White's "Help Japan" poster.
It's the summer! Or something somewhat similar... And this is the summer issue of the new links. Not the last one, of course. Mechanical Ball Clock Wood? And marbles? And it's a clock?! This needs to be shown! (Via Dangerous Prototypes) Magnetic Sand Hourglass Don't we all love things to fidget with? This one will […]
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.