Mandala Tree of Life

Holy smokes! This could be a poster for Passthrough. One of the most beautiful passthrough projects I’ve seen.

2 Likes

That’s pretty amazing! I’ve considered doing something big like that. Now maybe I will.

3 Likes

Thanks everyone for your positive feedback. :pray: It sure helps keeping motivation levels high!

4 Likes

This is absolutely gorgeous, I could stare at it for hours! What a beautiful design that is executed perfectly :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Two of my favorite things! This is truly beautiful and so pleasing to look at. Thank you for sharing.

1 Like

It’s beautiful!

2 Likes

Ditto! WOW

1 Like

I love it!! Amazing

1 Like

Holy Moly…That is Nice…

1 Like

Looks nice.

1 Like

That is incredibly gorgeous. Thanks for the feedback on the pass-through. Hope to be using that soon.

2 Likes

Amazing. You have intensified my “pass-through envy”!

1 Like

Beautiful work!!

2 Likes

:+1: :wink:

Once the camera has been calibrated and there is enough detail for it to pick up on it really works well.
Sometimes when the cut didn’t have enough detail for the camera to pick up on, I would reverse the design and engrave markings on the back for the camera to do the alignment.
It worked perfectly every time.
I actually ended up, for the last couple of layers to cut them reversed “upside down” because even although the kerf was minimal, the layers that had to be joined left to right, just fitted so much tighter by flipping the design.
All part of the learning experience I guess.

4 Likes

Just stunning! And congratulations on your success with the pass through slot; I’ve tried a couple of things and none of them have lined up correctly.

Thats a pity to hear its not working out for you.
Not sure if its just the type of design thats easy enough for the camera to pick up that gave me success, but I think the camera calibration was key for me.
My first time using the passthrough I actually started using the ruler jig with manual placement as described in many places here on the forum. Although it worked, my 2nd cut was alway off by 0.3mm. So I had to always shift my design sidways by 0.3mm for it to align up properly for the passthrough cut. And one had to be pretty precise with with aligning it up manually. I assumed thats was just a manufacturing tolerance that caused the y axis to drift slightly. It was a bit of a pain to use so I didnt attempt a big project for a while. But once Glowforge released the automatic alignment function and I redid the camera calibration everything worked like a charm. I did a couple of tests with odd shapes, circles etc. just to see how accurately they lined up using the auto camera match and the only times it didnt line up perfectly was either me not placing the material flush enough against the side of the cutting tray or me not giving enough detail for the camera to align with the previous cut.
The software has certainly improved from the first time I tried the passthrough and I can only hope things improve even more.

2 Likes

This is just gorgeous and something I would like to strive for. I am new and was wondering what program you use to design? Do you purchase your materials through Glowforge or other sources? Please forgive me if these questions are not allowed here. Your work is just stunning, and I agree that it should be a piece that GF uses as a showcase.

2 Likes

It’s entirely possible there just wasn’t enough detail for it to pick everything up; thank you for describing your method! I have a couple of projects in mind that would require a pass through, so I’ll do some tests :relaxed:

2 Likes

Thank you! :blush:
I used Adobe Illustrator for this one, but just because I know it well. It takes a while to do this type of design regardless of the software so something like Inkscape can handle designs like this just as well.
As for the materials, I’m from South Africa so getting things shipped from the Glowforge store all the way here is a little bit expensive. I have sourced some laser ready materials from another Laser company here in SA (Trotec Laser) and although their wood for example is not covered in the paper masking layer (I added that myself manually) the settings pretty much works exactly the same as the proofgrades I did get from Glowforge. So almost no adjustements needed.

Thanks again for the kind feedback! :pray:

5 Likes

Looking about, there are some amazing woods where you are. Getting them cut to 3 and 6 mm thickness is another issue, but even buying thick and getting them cut down could be worth the effort.

2 Likes