Worked on these yesterday at work and was amazed the detail that appeared after wiping the piece down with a Lysol wipe! Keep some handy for sure if you are etching powder coat. Also, every powder is really different, most powder coat I have been using takes a 30% speed and 60% power while this took two passes at 20% speed and 100% power to get through the powder. Give yourself some test pieces to play with settings on!
Now only if I were doing this on my GF, hopefully soon!
Oh man this is awesome.
What is the material underneath?
It’s stainless steel
cool - you must have a fun job!
Neat! 
Wow those look fantastic. I love the detail you got.
wow, really incredible. What did you do the steel cutting with? Water jet?
This is awesome! Definitely bookmarking, We just got a lathe and mill, so I hope to put this inspiration to use.
Didn’t you just get a kid too? That’s a lot of high-maintenance things at the same time! Splitting the love between the GF, lathe and mill really isn’t going to leave a lot of time for the kid… (although knowing your skills, your kid probably already can operate a 5-axis mil… 
)
Yeah, so I’m working as a designer at a metal fab shop and we have a 10,000 watt laser that runs pretty much 24 hours a day but once a week or so a project comes up that I get to run on the small laser. The big laser is pretty awesome to watch cut through 1/2" plate.
so just like the GlowForge… I imagine laser goggles aren’t going to help you there (since I assume the hole would go out the back of your eye through your brain, skull and the wall behind you…)
What brands and models?
What brand of 10kw laser? I used to run a 4.4kw Bystronic, and a 2.5kw Mitsubishi. The Bystronic was my favorite for its speed and adaptability, and capacitive inductance height sensing, but the clunky Mitsubishi had its’ uses, mainly for cutting non-metallic items with its mechanical height sensing spoon, and the fact it had 12" of working height.
Bwahaha! The lathe and mill were my partner’s birthday present from me. He’s using them to build robot parts and the prototypes for the total ankle replacement implant he’s designing. I wish I had some time to goof around on it, but I usually get about four total hours out of 24 when I’m not babyhandling. I’m typing this with my right hand, in fact, while Baby Isaac gnaws on my left.
I know they’re Sherlines, but I can’t remember the model. My partner bought the same lathe for his previous business (a company that designed and manufactured prosthetic feet) and really liked it. It went with the assets when the business went pear-shaped, and these were replacements. I’ll ask him later about the model.
Happy Mom and Baby!!! Congrats to you and your partner.
No worries, I have a 3yro daughter and I remember the struggle. It’s worth every moment though. Seems like yesterday she loved playing peekaboo with a blanket, now it’s hide and seek. 
Wow, I’ll probably get a cake with some “old fart” candle stuck in the top…
They only have a couple of basic models, all with the same spindle motor. Sherlines are good products and what I started with 20 some years ago. One of the things that attracted me to them was that virtually all the parts are available, usually pretty inexpensively, so newbies like I was then could afford to learn without worrying too much about repairs in the event of a crash.
It is pretty easy to retrofit them to CNC if you didn’t buy them so equipped and later decide that you want the capability.
Cute baby, BTW.
Thanks! We’re pretty nuts about him.
