Elegent motors anyone? Not for mini-sumo, that's for sure!
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.
Elegent motors anyone? Not for mini-sumo, that's for sure!
Initially inspired by the Moravian Star on Instructables and the fact that we now carry all kinds of 3D printing filament, we decided to make one of our own glowy holiday star. We have used this thing as source files to create a similar treetop decoration of our own. After some trial and error (due […]
Join our workshop on August 9th or 29th to learn the basics of how to make Arduinos work and how to teach CTF, CTS, and cross-curricular Project Based Learning using this fantastic resource. Sessions schedule: 10:00AM-12:00PM - Arduino programming with the Grove Educational Kit 1:00PM-3:00PM - Arduino Electronics with the ARDX Electronics Kit Location: Active […]
#4-40x1/2in Yellow Zinc Standoff, M/M, 1/4in threaded ends $0.50 #4-40 x 1/2" yellow zinc coated (chromate) steel standoff. IR Reflector sensor with leads $1.00 Reflective optical sensor with transistor output. 44mm Piezo Speaker $2.25 For making a LOUD beep, this piezo suits your need. Comes mounted in a plastic case with mounting tabs. Maxell LR44 […]
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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.