Risers to Make Lasering Thick Materials EASY

Very nice idea - I’ll be making something similar!

Cheers

The only factor that would gravitate me to laser is time. Cutting vectors at 30seconds is such an instant gratification, vs 3d printing and getting it the 3hours later or next day. Much faster to iterate on the design, etc.

Multiple parts yes. But assemble once and done. Acrylic, just hit the joints with acetone and it’s welded. Draftboard, just put glue in the joints. Kerf, I use 0.008” for draftboard but yeah you’d have to experiment possibly.

Totally understand how not a big deal printing over night is. And how valid and useful a thing it is you made here. Much respect.

I have both laser and 3d printer myself. And lately when I think of 3d printer parts I have been thinking “what would it take to do an equivalent part using sheet material in the laser?). So have been thinking of fast to cut laser designs and the time benefit that brings. It really opens possibilities of mass production that I don’t have with 3d printing which is slower - thus more for personal prototypes or one offs, is what I’ve noticed.

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Awesome idea, thanks for the file! Time to crank up the 3D printer and see how these work.

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This is definitely one of those moments where I say “That is brilliant! why didn’t I think of that!” I have had a few projects that required me to remove the tray, and not once did I look toward the 3D printer! Thank you so much for thinking of this and sharing!

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I cannot envision how these work. Can someone post them in use in the GF?

Cheers!

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I’ll draw up a very clear diagram and post it for you tomorrow. It will explain everything.

  • Jason
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It would be just as easy, and quite a bit faster to cut these on the laser.

I’ve made single piece display stands very similar to this. 12 secs to cut.

This is another place where the large bamboo meat skewers could be very handy. to have about. Several buttons with the correct diameter hole and the skewers cut to length. very fast and easy

That’s my thinking as well.

spacer

I haven’t tried cutting it yet, but this is what I was thinking.

1_383_spacer.svg.zip (1.1 KB)

The design is very rough at this point, no kerf adjsuting or anying. More just the first step of an “I wonder what this would look like lasered” process. =) Sized for 1/4" material.

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Still waiting on bOb, but something I use for my wood paint and finish projects seems like it can be re-purposed here.

Roofing nails are +/- one inch. (other length are available) I have a handful with the square heads that I use to prop up items that have not dried yet but I want to finish the other side also. Works great to not smear the finish/paint/whatever on the backside while applying to the front. (yeah, I could just wait, but life is too short to wait for paint and stain to dry).

When done, the project might stick a tiny bit to the nail tips at times, but usually you can just pick it up and move on without any prop lines or smears on the bottom.

So using a handful of roofing nails under a flat item to be lasered would probably be a handy way to adjust height when the crumb tray is removed.
I got this one good to go already. Cannot wait to try it.

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Just got mine back from MakerTree 3D came out very nice. I went over the tips of the letters with Sharpe to make them stand out a bit. Had them printed with PLA/PHA

Thanks again @Secret_Sauce was awesome of you to share the source files.

Cheers!
Alex

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Try this - dimensions are not perfect, but if you make a couple of measured lines across one (or more) dimensions on the material before cutting, it gets close enough. Obviously you need more than one of these. I thought about scoring the height onto each side, if I get to that I’ll repost here…

If you have a sharpie, they’re 1.4, 0.9 and 0.4…

IMG_9833 2|687x500

makeabox-1.38W-0.88H-0.38D-0.12T-20180113015155.pdf (15.2 KB)

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Quick note on materials. If you 3D print it PLA is great because it’s non-toxic when lasered (I know this because I’m not DEAD). It’s made of corn starch.

While it’s not your plan to laser these little stands, it will very likely happen anyway. I would not make them from ABS or other materials for that reason.

Of course, if you laser cut them from wood (which makes more sense for most of us) it’s fine.

Dave

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Considering how much ABS I melt using an unvented 3D printer, I expect that’s not really necessary - the concentrations won’t be very much and in the GF they’re exhausted to the outside. :slight_smile:

I’d be more inclined to worry, in the GF, that lasering ABS might release something to damage the the laser.

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Thank you so much for sharing these! Half done printing my own set and then I’m making them for the rest of the Forge Family for their machines!

A little bit of an improvement over our current method…stacking things from the scrap bin. :laughing:

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ABS & PLA VOC & Particulate study for those interested in the science of it.

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Nothing like chlorine compounds that wreak havoc with the electronics :smiling_face:

But it’s kind of melty in the laser so it’s not as crisp as some other plastics.

Theses are amazing – thank you…