Weekly Highlights for the Week Ending May 6th, 2017

[cynd11]

Last Week’s Highlights

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Staff Smarts

Worried about electric bill

As it happens I was just looking over @aeva’s shoulder this afternoon while she was measuring power draw. It was about 40 watts standby, 300 watts when engraving, 400 watts when printing if memory serves.

Top-Down Footprint Requirement

We’ll just have GF Basic units there, no air filters or Pro units AFAIK. Re: dimensions, I forgot to grab a tape measure at the office today, will try to measure Monday. “6” from back-of-filter/Glowforge to wall" is a safe bet but I believe it’s less.

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Beta and PreRelease

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Sewing box for rubbersoul79

Dispatches from the front (Pre-Release Report) @rubbersoul79 request

@rubbersoul79 found a sewing box design on Thingiverse she mentioned wanting to try. The designer noted that it was a work in progress and updates are forthcoming to correct stability and construction issues. But, it’s been a couple of years since the posting so I’m not sure they’re actually coming. I volunteered to take a crack at it and fix any issues (I’ll post a remix on Thingiverse). Also one of the forthcoming additions was a top cover of some sort. So I added one of those too. My wife i…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/4Dziin2Cfw7XgxNNJffrf8aJZSi.jpg

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.Getting A Handle On Alignment

The GlowSpike

So working on the alignment issue, and this is part one of the project was just to have some spikes that you can shove into the grid (and yes, before all the CNC Milling folks jump on this post, yeah, I get that the grid is not locked down - that’s why this is part one - part two will be locking a structure to the case under compression with these spikes into the grid holding everything in place rigidly). The major reason was figuring out a nice tight set of spikes to go into the grid, which wi…

Trifold Journal

It's not a diary, it's a journal!

I have a friend who has been wanting to make a standard sized leather journal cover. Luckily for her, so was I She had had one before and I liked the simple design of a tri-fold type cover with some room for pencils/pens. I also wanted room for an eraser or mechanical pencil lead holder type objects. I roughed out a design on paper first to think through the dimensions. [image] The dimensions felt about right. One issue I was running into was that I couldn’t get a long enou…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/braF91UmE04jkEFitaIFywMpQ52.jpg

Spartan Helmet Construction

Lasering up a Dark Helmet

I’d been watching some interesting videos recently from Tested about how to make costume props with EVA foam (interestingly, this is one of the few cases where you’ll see vinyl in what I believe to be a safe form for lasering, you are encouraged to research and draw your own conclusions here ;)). It looked pretty cool so I went to Evil Ted’s site and bought the pattern for the basic helmet to try it out. There are a few free ones out there as well if you look around. It was a PDF file so I op…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/mFgXJ1rTrNPyMF3f4jG2zgzMRm2.jpg

Teeny Tiny Tags

Adventures in Anodized Aluminium

Picked up some anodized aluminium dogtag blanks online so I could dial in engraving settings on something a few orders of magnitude cheaper than my fruit-branded electronics. Although I didn’t get suckered into the “how many angels can be glowforged on the head of a pin” game, I had the idea that anodized aluminium would be able to support some tiny, tiny text. Not quite in @henryhbk or @Jules league quite yet, but not bad… [image] Here are a few tags from the end of my test runs. Both of …

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/grSvMCQSFZVaidOmFof7zp3fiWZ.JPG

Mother’s Day Part 1

Pre-Release | Mother's Day Part 1: Make a Card

Hey! It’s getting close to that time of year. Mom knows I have a Glowforge so I’m sure she is expecting great things this year. Both of us are rabid cardmakers (she’s 83 mind you, but she still has to have the latest card tool) so of course the card is my first focus. I saw a card done recently (it’s this one if you’re interested) that I wanted to reproduce, in style anyway. But not having that particular stamp set, I decided to start from scratch. First, the final result, then I’ll docume…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/dsWTOd7xGViKBy5CCtZAeZb1YcG.jpg

Mother’s Day Part 2

Pre-Release | Mother's Day Part 2: Edge Lit LED Sign

I made another item for Mom for Mother’s Day, because who doesn’t like a flashing edge lit LED sign with a crown on top? Cut from Proofgrade 1/8" acrylic. [image] Here it is flashing: And a closeup of the “jewels,” which I did by filling in the engraved areas with UV resin to which I added some PearlEx mica powders (Interference Gold for the diamonds and I think it was True Blue for the oval) before exposing to UV light: [image] The LED light was one I bought off of Ebay a long time ago…

A Place for Your Stamps

Proofgrade Plywood: Maple, Cherry, and Walnut Roll Stamp Box

Continuing the discussion from Living Hinges: An exploration in acrylic and plywood: While I haven’t given up on the acrylic, I thought I would at least post the finished product of my living hinge investigations. I’m very pleased that the design I envisioned and the way I would use the Glowforge worked out great. Just one tool! [image] The initial design of the living hinge section was creating weak spots and I couldn’t wrap the plywood without it snapping. Looking at @PrintToLaser’s Door B…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/fzEZe19x4TJ3oheNWNd67SendvW.JPG

Moments In Time

Moments in Time

Years ago hiking a trail I emerged from between two boulders and this stopped me in my tracks. I was so glad I had my camera (before the days when everyone had one in their pocket). [image] Something about a dead tree with the sweeping grace of it’s naked branches still reaching for the sky. The essence is gone, but the form remains. look at this tree with it’s past embrace of life on display. Some of the purest art I have ever seen. So yeah - I have a laser now ! [image] (Ok,…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/cQYUQVl4GbkhK6KF1djbfVJEY0q.jpg

Tea-Party Time

Dispatches from the front (Pre-Release Report) Tea-party time

Here’s a quick one off I made for my wife to declutter the kitchen counter a bit. [image] She and my daughter drink coffee and tea. I drink Diet Coke. For some reason I don’t understand, they have boxes and boxes of tea and coffee. Apparently one flavor isn’t enough. So boxes of the stuff are everywhere. They’re spilling out of the cabinets and stacking up on the counter. Some order is in order Enter the teabag house. Snap together and drop a box in and a little order ensues. They want a tea…

https://community.glowforge.com/uploads/short-url/2qWdYNzMF390cfY1QKucqi9dzaK.jpg

And…Followup

Dispatches from the front (Pre-Release Report) Tea Party Part Deux

Last week I tried to bring some order to the boxes of tea that were beginning to take over the kitchen counter (despite me being a one flavor & drink consumer, my wife and daughter can’t pass up a new flavor of tea…it’s somewhat disturbing. Here’s a link to that posting: There were some great comments from the Glowfolk. I really liked the suggestions recommending different designs to match the contents. As I mentioned I needed to tighten up the design - my 1/8" Baltic Birch plywood was reall…

May The Fourth

May the Fourth be with you!

The recent Tie Fighter ornaments reminded me to print this up for tomorrow… [image] 1/8" Proofgrade acrylic. Base is non-PG bronze acrylic. Modified from Thingiverse:

Leather Earrings

Leather Earrings

[image] I promised to upload the design for my leather earrings, which I posted about a month ago: Construction is not difficult but it helps if you are a detail person. And some of the supplies are not available at your local big box hobby store, you will have to go to a beading supply place. List of materials: Lightest weight Proofgrade leather (“Thin natural leather, 1.5 oz) Beading needle, size 12 6lb Fireline beading thread in Crystal color 15/0 Galvanized gold color beads (or the…

A Really Cool Sign

A BASORO (or a really cool sign)

So one of the nurses at work, who runs our simulation center who I am building most of my simulators with, has a vacation house and wanted to make a sign. He came into a 3/4" BASORO (Big Assed Slab O’ Red Oak) from a friend as a waste from a project. [image] He showed me a bunch of samples from google: [image] And so I set to work, he really wanted some trees and maybe a moose or elk. I looked around google and got some tree silhouettes and found a nice thing with some deer/elk (kind a low…

Succulent Concept

Beta Project: Wall Hanging Succulent Planters Concept

Hi everyone. I’ve been working on this project (projects) for a little while now, and finally have some completed images to finalize it to the point I can now share. Get ready. Lots of images below… My wife cultivates an assortment of succulents in our house, which I love, but I thought I’d try and make some different, more decorative and space saving… wall hanging planters. I had the idea of using a joint in cut wood to use as an insert into slots of a piec…

Hold de Mayo

De Mayo Clinic

So @smcgathyfay was I guess getting too smart looking at my earlier post this evening. so let’s bring that puppy back down and get the p-a-r-t-a-y started!!!.. [image] Power 15%/350. No, I actually learned a whole bunch. If the top is too close to the lens (closer than 0.4") it stops and a purple light comes on. I also learned that guacamole is highly variable, and the tub before this one (when I was getting settings down) was way more consistent and the sombrero was perfect, while the text …

This Little Piggy

This Little Piggy went to the Glowforge Bed...(Fair Warning: A bit on the graphic side)

Sooooo, has anyone been wondering what the GF laser would do to your skin, if you were to happen to be unfortunate enough to put your little tootsies where they should not be? Well, wonder no more…the answer is at hand… And it is a bit graphic, so I’ve blurred out the images; please don’t click if you don’t want to see. In the interests of Science and All Weird Things, let us give thanks to the selfless porcine who donated his yummy parts to my GF, so that we may all expand our knowledge, and…

Pencil Positioning

Jig for Engraving Multiple Pencils: Repeatable positioning

I’ve been thinking about the whole alignment thing but haven’t gotten to the point where I had something to test. I won an attendance prize the other day at a luncheon and came home with a beautiful stationery desk set, pastel colors, with 12 pencils that had sayings on them. They are round. Here is what they ended up looking like: [image] Here’s how I got there: [image] I cut a flat piece of cardboard that had two factory edges which I used as the main reference, then used by acrylic frami…

Bones and More Bones

Dem Bones!

A few weeks ago, @Drea gifted me some bone beads and I finally had a chance to do some test prints. Each bead is about 1/2" (~12.7mm) across and although each engraving was at different settings, they probably averaged about 3/335/340. All were SVG icons except the – it was a .png [image][image] Folks have asked about the smell… While in the GF, I actually didn’t notice it at all. Engraving low and fast didn’t really make much smoke (but boy howdy were there a lot of sparks!), …

Cool Acrylic Testing

More trial, errors, and fun

I’ve been following along the curve that is learning…and having a ball. I graduated myself from using wood only, to acrylic…which I love. For some reason, I’m still hung up on trying embossing powder on everything…so of course it went without saying that acrylic would be the next victim. I also sent this to support with a couple other little things, just in case they care. •••••• I made a little test square with various types of images on it. The little artifact ‘outcroppings’ are so…

Another Ridiculously Fancy Grill Hook

https://community.glowforge.com/t/ridiculously-fancy-grill-rack-hook/2607/41?u=cynd11

Pushing Back The Frontiers of Science Again

https://community.glowforge.com/t/a-grunwald-suture-ring-test/7499?u=cynd11

Forum Frolics & Freebies

GFUI Palettes

Custom Inkscape, Illustrator, CorelDraw and Affinity Designer Color Palettes for ordering operations in GFUI

Continuing the discussion from Space Invaders or Mitral Valve Leaflets, you decide: I have always been curious about how the Glowforge defaults the order of operations. I have tested it in terms of position in the workspace and order of creation in the design. Nothings seemed to click right, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it was dermined by color. The Glowforge catalog designs always load in the same order, though you can drag and change them in the workspace, so I figured there must be so…

<img src=“//cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/glowforge/original/3X/e/b/eb641b23c688d8d93ad57e29e15d821f44e3f878.svg” width=300" height=“300”>

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Plasti-Dip as Powdercoat Mask

Electroengraving masking

I decided to try Plasti Dip as a powder coat mask. I started with this… [image] And ended up with this… [image] I had a scrap-ish piece of aluminum that I had already milled flat. I used it to make some custom silicone gaskets a few years ago and it’s been sitting around taking up space ever since. (Very quick aside: the gaskets looked sorta OK, but I never ended up testing a single one, I got bored of the project I guess.) The plate isn’t ideal, but it was good enough to test with. I star…

Cut Shapes Template

Cut Shapes Template

Sometimes I prefer to use my GF to trim/cut materials in place rather than take them over to the saw. In order to make this a tad easier, I use the SVG below as a cutting template. As you’ll see, it contains: lines (vertical & horizontal) square (1:1) circle (1:1) Golden Ratio rectangles (portrait & landscape) 4:3 rectangles (portrait & landscape) All shapes can be moved independently in the GFUI and resized as needed. One very important reminder: When imported, all shapes will default to c…

Warm Fuzzies

So, whose idea at GF was it to create the forum?

'Cause holy crap, you deserve a raise. Whatever you are getting paid, you deserve more. I can’t begin to imagine how differently things would be for the company, and all of us customers, if not for this forum, and its awesome contributors.

Future Forger

Work in progress - future maker

I make lots of things, but the best thing I have been involved in crafting is my daughter. Well she has done most of the work. 14 years in the making and not finished yet. She and I recently contributed to a piece about the Maker Movement, trying to get young people more interested in making things. As usual, she says it better than me. Two nice videos from it. The first about her work. The second with other kids making stuff, including 3D printing prosthetic hands [Ma…

Parametric Tie Fighter - Fusion 360

Parametric Tie Fighter - Fusion 360

Work in Progress! And this one is a challenge. This is based on the C4 Labs laser cut model however I completely redrew it because it was just easier to start fresh than trying to fix the linework for use in Fusion 360. So, instead of just using the 2D drawing and making it so it scales yet maintains slots and tab sizes, I went full Gonzo and built individual components as a 3D model. I figured this was the easiest way to ensure that the tabs and slots actually work like anticipated. And hones…

Some Really Cool Shades

Would this possible using a Glowforge Pro?

Saw the following posted on Reddit this evening. Now that Summer is on its way, I’m looking for blackout shades for the boys’ bedrooms. Would it be relatively easy to create this using a GlowForge? If so, would it require a Pro in order to accommodate the window height? [image] Here’s what it looks like when the shades are fully closed during the day. [image] Here is the Reddit post (warning some NSFW comments): https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/68pxct/black_out_panels_with_a_twist/ …

Wood Inlay Tips

Wood inlay laser instructions

This is a tutorial using Image Paint, but I think the basics are the same. Some good tips. [Modern Laser Marquetry and Wood Inlay Technique]

Copic Marker vs Leather Dye

Mandala Experiments

So I’ve been thinking a bit more on the copic/leather thing, and I still have some reservations as to their longevity with this medium. Don’t get me wrong - they’re definitely high quality markers - but I’m not convinced that they’re the right tool for this job. Hopefully the following photos will help to illustrate why that is. So here’s a little scrap that I hit with three different types of color - alcohol dye (made for leather), alcohol ink, and copic marker: [image] From the top view, y…

Newbie Gives Great Advice

Etching Metals with a complete laser newbie

So a complete disclaimer here. I am a total laser newbie. Although I have used a laser on the rare project in the past my first time using a laser unsupervised and in any large scale project was only about two weeks ago. I may be doing things completely wrong so feel free to correct my technique (we are all trying to learn here). My second disclaimer is that I can’t take pictures of a lot of the things I do because of NDA agreements but I have asked permission to use some and the rest I have p…

And More Powdercoat Masking Advice

Electroengraving masking

I ordered a roll of blue polyester tape from Prismatic Powders (along with a variety of colors of powder) and it came in today. Unlike the Eastwood stuff, this stuff is only rated up to 400ºF. Meh, whatever… So, I put some on an aluminum thing I made. [image] And raster-engraved the shapes I wanted to powder coat. [image] That was at the same power/feed as I’ve been doing the Plasti Dip… … I decided it wasn’t quite enough power, so I cranked it up a bit and started over. [image] That did th…

Saving A Fail

Tip: Successfully saving a "failed" print

Ok — you’ve created your SVG and imported it into the app, set the depth of the material, and doubled-checked all the settings. You’re ready to go and you press the button. All is well, until you notice that some the elements aren’t being engraved. The head’s moving, but the laser isn’t firing . Is there something wrong with your GF? Not necessarily, it could be a PEBKAC event (as in my case). The important thing is to stop and think before taking any other …

Clipping Paths Explained

Adobe Illustrator to Inkscape: clipping paths and masks

Adding my question here, to this very old post. I searched on the forum and saw Marion’s post about clipping paths, read it all, and decided to ask here. I also searched online for a definition of clipping paths. I also recently experienced the error for clipping paths when I got ready to print something. At the time, my way around it was to set it to ‘ignore’ that step, which worked for me. Even though we’re all using different software for designing (I use AD), I’m thinking that the term clip…

Paper Picking Tricks

Removing paper from acrylic?

Help! I just cut a number of animal shilouettes from some decidedly non-proofgrade acrylic and cannot get the $&@! paper off of it. It reminds me of kraft paper – not your everyday frisking/masking. Gorilla Tape? Couldn’t even pull it up from the edge… Even with a fresh razor blade, I can’t remove but a tiny bit at a time. Suggestions?

Another Glowbaby

Glowparents: Glowbabies!

My little glowforge partner finally arrived last night! Meet Brayden! 8 lbs 2oz [image]

[hansepe]

Great job @cynd11 and everyone that helped put this together! Thank you

[PrintToLaser]

Nice work @cynd11! Thank you so much for the highlights

[rodrigobrionesm]

Thanks for this job, every weekly highlights is getting longer and longer (that’s great!)

[johnbrooker]

Thank you @cynd11 for the continuity. Much appreciated.

[Jules]

About a billion thanks to @joe and @cynd11 for not even letting the ball touch the ground. You’re the bestest!

[joe]

@cynd11 did the heavy lifting, I helped where I could.

[cynd11]

You are most welcome!

Not gonna lie, I’ll be glad when you are back with us!

[Xabbess]

Thanks so much to Joe and Cynd…great job care taking !