So tried and epically failed to laser, but learned a lot

Wow–great reminder that anything that can tip down can also tip up into the works. Thanks for sharing the Unfortunate Events.

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Rhino has very good alignment tools as well. If it could only open SVGs you could probably eliminate Illustrator from your workflow entirely. A potentially better option would be to eliminate SVGs from your workflow, especially assuming DXF compatibility will be implemented by the time the Glowforges ship.

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I can only imagine the smell… Was clifford injured?(the head or optics?)

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Nope. Just needs a cleaning…[quote=“Hirudin, post:14, topic:5951”]
Rhino has very good alignment tools as well. If it could only open SVGs you could probably eliminate Illustrator from your workflow entirely. A potentially better option would be to eliminate SVGs from your workflow, especially assuming DXF compatibility will be implemented by the time the Glowforges ship.
[/quote]

MakerCase doesn’t export DXFs, so I had that to start, and I never use Rhino (this is another lab I do some work with)

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I’m glad it all ended up okay with no damage except to your material. What type of fire extinguisher did you use?

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Whatever this was… (The shop manager had pointed it out before we started “just in case”)

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If acrylic has been around for a while in a humid place it will take on moisture, this can result in bubbles when you thermo form it. Putting the sheets in an oven at 180F for 12 hours will drive the water out.

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Looks like this.

… great. The preview is “Robot Check”…

First Alert “Tundra” fire extinguisher.

A review (that I didn’t even begin to read)…
(for all I know it’s an ad - read with a grain of salt)
http://dailyhomerenotips.com/2010/10/20/product-review-tundra-fire-extinguisher-spray-can-from-first-alert/

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Yep, looks like it… And I am sure I looked just like the lady in the pictures on amazon putting out that fire…

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Someone with some drawing skills needs to make a Clifford-Godzilla mashup. Or dragon. But in my head it was Clifford belching out a laser beam with his eyes glowing :joy:

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I’m really glad it worked for you. I got chewed out by a fire inspector for having these onsite at an operation, even though we had full-sized commercial units as well.
Here is what consumer reports has to say about aerosol fire extinguishers: (TL;DR No.)
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2013/04/an-aerosol-fire-spray-is-no-substitute-for-a-fire-extinguisher/index.htm

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My first thought on this (after admiring its beauty) was, “That would suck to dust!”

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Yes, and they have full fire extinguishers along with sprinklers. The point is to put out small fires inside the laser cutter (which happen frequently). Your kitchen and a grease fire are a completely different thing than a fire inside a laser cutter. Also the fire went for about 10-15 seconds, and I will note went out quite well (yes it took multiple targeted sprays as I was being dainty in fact to not spray the laser head). The advantage of this is that in fact you can put out a tiny fire. The regular ones are designed to put out a “real” fire, so aren’t actually as good at putting out tiny ones (although a little longer and this might have qualified as a real fire!)

When cutting cardboard or thin ply, most of the time a simple water spray bottle is what they use, since again in a few seconds it’s not going to flare up huge. The only reason this got as big as it did, was while I was “there” I wasn’t staring at the laser head, so didn’t notice it was stuck, meaning it heated up a lot of plastic before it caught. I am guessing that with the coffee cup video we’ve seen, on the GF this would simply have been a beep or something, and no fire…

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That makes sense, and the small form-factor means you can get it inside of something enclosed like Clifford more easily. They still worry me a bit due to the lack of a charge indicator. In my situation at the time, the fire inspector explained that he didn’t want someone to grab a tiny little can and think it would be sufficient in the warehouse, instead of one of the big canisters that were rated (and able to be examined for charge).

HA! I have that very same can, and I used it once to put out a fire in a toaster oven here at work that I won in a Secret Santa one year.

Someone had put a muffin in it and forgot to take off the paper wrapper (LOL!)…when they pulled it out, the paper touched the heating element, and poof! Instant ignition…

Everyone had laughed at me when I bought the extinguisher; they thought I was being too overly cautious and paranoid. They weren’t laughing anymore once that happened.

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It says easy clean-up. Does it use baking soda like some others? What is the extinguishing medium? - Rich

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Can says:

“MSDS: 06-1753A [FA101X] Potassium Lactate”

I remember it being a milky foam (I guess that’s where the “Lactate” part of the name comes in? Lol)

Found this, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_lactate

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Expired 2012-12-03 :grin:

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Lol, yep! I live dangerously now, though, so I’m gonna just bet it still works…

:laughing:

I bought some Diet Pepsi 3 days ago and it has an expiration 3/12/2017.

DIET PEPSI of all things having an expiration date shorter than milk.

:upside_down:

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