@marmak3261 It’s working great. I am definitely happy I got it. I’ve used one at our local MakerSpace (still do) but it’s like the 3D printer - way easier to learn & play with different designs when it’s right there in the garage and not a half hour drive away.
Since it’s not just learning how to use a machine, but also what different design software can do, how different materials react, the effects of higher/lower power and speed on etching, photo prep, etc etc etc, it’s definitely an invaluable learning tool. How much of that I’ll need when I get my GF is something I hope to find out this summer but I believe it will prove to be very useful education.
At $400 it wasn’t a huge investment and if I end up using the GF exclusively, I expect I’ll be able to sell it for pretty much the same price (or I’ll donate it to my MakerSpace for a membership credit) so I’m getting education for “free” and if I break anything it’s not the GF
I still use my MS laser for larger format (it’s a 60W 18x24" laser) but I do smaller stuff (about 9x14" max) at home. I also use it to test designs that I then scale up later.
Latest projects include some acrylic edge lit signs for a couple of school award plaques, a lot of edge & back lit acrylic panels & pieces for my daughter’s school production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and 1,000 coasters for kids entering the state’s Invention Convention. I’m also helping out a guy who makes custom game tables for people’s rec rooms to create inlay game boards & customized game pieces.
It’s really neat what you can do with these once you have one and can just walk 10 feet over to it and give something a try. I save cardboard from every UPS shipment we get to use for initial trials for new designs to make sure I’ve gotten it right so I don’t burn more expensive materials until I know it’s good.
Next experiment is with making some signs using roofing slate.
It’s a great way to kill the winter - chases cabin fever away.
“Joseph” is in regular rotation at the Shapiro household. Heaven help us if my kids ever get cast in a production of it. I’d never get those songs out of my head.
@dan Yep, the whole thing is way over the top - not sure which one of the scenes is worse for ear worms - the western ranch or the Elvis Pharaoh.
Doing edge lit acrylic (all mirror etches), el-wire and RGB LED. The good thing about a campy production is the ability to do all the ridiculous special effects you want and not detract from the production.
I’m using the laser to do all of the acrylic work. In fact I’m doing a panel now. What I would give for a software interface that was consistent. I’m 90 minutes in and think I’ve finally got a cut I can use an acrylic panel on. The tests so far have been erratic - just goes weird in the middle of a cut and starts whacking itself into the limit stops. Big Kudos to you guys for putting the software in the cloud and making sure the file is going to cut right before sending it to the laser. Can’t wait.
Believe me I feel your pain. We still use my big old Chinese laser in the back room to cut things down for Glowforge use from time to time, and it’s like pulling teeth.
My laser has serious issues with circles/arcs. Even just bevel edges trigger this. Instead of doing the arc, it jumps way out on both X and Y, does a slash through the whole pattern, then resumes post-circle. My best guess is that it is doing the full circumference at a 45 degree slant, rather than doing the circle at all.
If you got it working without any change in your loaded model, that eliminates any similar issues. But it could be that the parser used in your software doesn’t handle a specific geometry well.
Similar opinion as above so far. I used to pay $6 per piece laser cut and in one session the $400 machine has paid for itself. BUT the software is a pain, less so once you have a static design ready to go over and over but converting to the right format is difficult. The laser power level doesn’t seem to hold solid while cutting either, the analog dial pointer drops a bit with time.
So far, definitely worth the purchase to get started now. Hopefully the glowforge comes out in the near future and achieves their ease-of-use targets.
@jacobturner - it’s something in the laser software’s (Lasercut 6.1) translation of my AI files. No apparent pattern. What’s funny is I can make the same design work fine on the cheap K40 at home but when I scale it up for the big laser at the makerspace it sometimes does crazy things. If I start large & scale down I can have similar issues. I play with different formats - RGB bitmap, grayscale bitmap, BMP bitmap (16, 8, 1 bit) settings and one combo eventually works. Just never the same one twice in a row
Tool path preview doesn’t even show the whacky path. It shouldn’t be a machine memory issue or buffer overrun as the thing preloads the files into onboard storage and then runs the job from there. On the K40 I have to feed it from my PC via a USB cable so it’s limited to USB comm speeds during job execution.
Just goes to show there are $5000 lasers and $5,000 lasers. I’m looking forward to having someone in the U.S. who is really dedicated to my laser.
but I believe it will prove to be very useful education.
Yep, the whole thing is way over the top - not sure which one of the scenes is worse for ear worms - the western ranch or the Elvis Pharaoh.