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  1. sky shark is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Things to do with a Laser Engraver #1
    Just to get this out of the way - PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT ME ASKING ME TO PROVIDE PAID ENGRAVING SERVICE - seriously I am not in any way shape or form soliciting nor do I want to take any money. I have no idea what I'm doing

    Anyhow. Recently I purchased a laser engraver for my business.
    http://i.imgur.com/YD8og.jpg - table breaking!
    The first thing I did was to see just how similar it was to a laser printer, so I grayscaled a picture of my wife and son and burned it onto plywood:

    Not too bad for a test burn.

    That said, thus far I've been using it mostly to engage my inner twelve year old (believe it or not, that was for a paying customer) and for testing.

    For example, a customer's iPhone:


    Same customer works in a mac store and brought in a wrecked macbook cover for giggles, so I put Captain 'murica on it:
    http://i.imgur.com/AN5co.jpg - table breaking

    (I should have inverted the picture colors prior to printing the job)

    Testing it on anodized aluminum, made some neato business cards:


    Testing out the rotary attachment on a flashlight:


    And once or twice for actual business such as the ASCII dick above, and for this knife here:
    http://i.imgur.com/aQ1Nj.jpg - another table breaker

    So, I'm going to experiment with it a bit more and test out it's capabilities. I haven't done any vector cutting with it yet, but it supposedly can go through 1/4" of plywood and cut acrylic without any major issues. It can also etch glass, marble, corian, and of course wood and various metals (bare metals need a ceramic marking fluid).

    I AM NOT SOLICITING WORK. PLEASE DON'T CONTACT ME LOOKING TO PAY FOR MY SERVICES. That said, I could use some different little projects to mess around and test this thing's capabilities. The control panel says that it can do up to 1200 dpi, and considering that most of my print advertising is only at 300 dpi that seems like some incredibly detailed resolution.

    If some of you have ideas on what I should try, or want to help me experiment with this, I'd love some feedback.
    Last edited by sky shark; Aug 4, 2012 at 9:57 PM. Reason: linked to table breaking images
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  3. cama900 is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #2
    You should totally engrave asavage's middle earth map on a piece of plywood Ive always wanted to see that done. Or Ive always thought that putting a custom pic on a zippo would be pretty cool... Well there's two!
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  4. Rylo is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #3
    Um, errr...

    Now call me crazy, but are you sure you're not fishing just a little bit here, man? I mean 3rd post and all...really?

    Brand new members soliciting business right out of the gate is usually frowned upon by the membership and even more-so if you're attempting to skirt Junkyard guidelines and the fact you can't post there yet.

    Again. Call me crazy, but that whole part about buying this for your business, but not using it for business?! Yeah, okay....must just be me, but good luck with that just the same.

    -Rylo
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  5. moffeaton is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #4
    I have an Epilog Laser Cutter too. Funny, I've done more vector experiments than raster!

    Rylo, the key to bragging is to subtly feature it when you're taking photos of other things. Like, for example, some Maschinen Krieger models:



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  6. Nwerke is online now
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #5
    Soddit, is that Sand Stalker in 1/20? I've just started a scratch. Meh, what I get for being out of touch on MaK stuff.
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  7. moffeaton is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #6
    It's INSANE, yeah. I helped Do Ho with ref and kit donors, and he took the ball and ran into 3D όber-detail land. Seriously gang, when do you see resin casts like this?!



    Compared to 1/35th donor:



    MOAR:

    Jason Eaton » Blog Archive » Hexamodel’s 1/20th scale Sdh. 232 Sand Stalker
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  8. moffeaton is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #7
    Oh - it'll go to mail order soon, too. Licensed, whole enchilada.
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  9. Rylo is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #8
    Jason, that is AWESOME!!!!! Had this one run myself not long ago.

    (Better pic soon)

    -Rylo
    Last edited by Rylo; Aug 5, 2012 at 12:33 AM.
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  10. sky shark is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #9
    Nice job dude, that's what I'm talking about. That mesh is pretty wild looking. How did you do it around comers like that?

    Right now I'm just not even sure what can be done beyond traditional engraving type things. Believe me, I have zero interest in selling services, as I'm not remotely confident about my ability and would probably mess things up. I guess what I'm looking for is ideas and experiments that I can do to get my skills up on non traditional things like carving and whatnot.
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  11. Rylo is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #10
    Dude, if you're being sincere I apologize for busting your balls...I just like to see new members have a little more time under their belts before even hinting at business.

    A little over-protective of our membership on my part, perhaps.

    -Rylo

    sky shark said: View Post
    Nice job dude, that's what I'm talking about. That mesh is pretty wild looking. How did you do it around comers like that?

    Right now I'm just not even sure what can be done beyond traditional engraving type things. Believe me, I have zero interest in selling services, as I'm not remotely confident about my ability and would probably mess things up. I guess what I'm looking for is ideas and experiments that I can do to get my skills up on non traditional things like carving and whatnot.
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #11
    Ry, that's a major award!

    Sky Shark - the grill was printed in 3D and then cast by expert resin guys in Asia. I did very little on that one!

    Experiment-wise, I'd think about sub-structures for model making (armatures, etc), and settings for "etched panel lines"...
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  13. sky shark is offline
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    Aug 4, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #12
    Rylo - I own a pretty big discussion forum and constantly have to deal with that so I know what you are talkin about.

    I'm probably just going to buy a bunCh of aluminum tags and acrylic sheets and screw around with it until I know what I'm doing. Like I said, I'm mostly indulging my inner twelve year old at the moment so I'll probably do up some "********* of the year" awards for my friends or make a tastefully engraved aluminum portrait of me riding a t-Rex or something. That said I'd live to do something like that desktop trebuchet kickstarter project that was making the rounds... Who knows.

    The big thing is that I get my skill level up and the best way to do that is by exploring things I wouldn't typically do. Engraving text is boring. Carving dashboards for models or instrument panels is something I'd never normally run into.
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  14. Rylo is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #13
    Fair enough. Welcome aboard.
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  15. Pobbrett is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #14
    you could try some of the constantine stuff out, depending how deep it goes maybe try out making up a few coins, Goonies dubloon, two face coin etc, theres also a hellboy prop that would look so cool on a lump of old wood Here
    Last edited by Pobbrett; Aug 5, 2012 at 2:48 AM.
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  16. Stefan Jones is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #15
    I still would like to see an adama lighter from BSG done the right way.....and I have a lighter from watchmen, that I would like to see engraved the correct way.
    I like what you have done so far
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  17. Robiwon is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #16
    Hellraiser panels in brass?
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  18. MasterAnubis is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #17
    Over on CNCzone we have a thread of puzzle dxf files...
    3d puzzle dxf files - CNCzone.com-The Largest Machinist Community on the net!

    I don't know much about laser machines but thin plywood is in it's capabilities, right? At least it's something different to play with.
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  19. gyoung2993 is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #18
    You could do Aliens stuff ,like a decent size Weyland Yutani " We Build Better Worlds " logos ,that would be sweeeeettttttt........
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  20. nick daring is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #19
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  21. sky shark is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #20
    gyoung2993 said: View Post
    You could do Aliens stuff ,like a decent size Weyland Yutani " We Build Better Worlds " logos ,that would be sweeeeettttttt........
    Aliens is one of my favorite movies so i would definitely be all over this. Anyone have a decent scalable graphic I can use?

    The hellraiser panels or phantasm cube would require the ability to cut metal and I don't have a metal saw in the shop. That said I could probably do it in Mdf and paint the raised portion. There's metallic backed acrylic out there too though.
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  22. ecl is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #21
    Very cool! A lot of potential for a variety of projects.
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  23. nick daring is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - #22
    The uscm dog tags in Aliens are etched clear plastic too.

    Nick
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  24. gyoung2993 is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #23
    Does anyone have a Weyland Yutani ,logo picture , to help my man out here ???
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  25. TheSt.LouisKid is offline
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    Aug 5, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #24
    In 2006 I made the blades, gear mechanism, and handle parts with a Universal Laser Systems laser cutter. The pommel was made conventionally.

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  26. sky shark is offline
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    Aug 6, 2012 - Re: Things to do with a Laser Engraver #25
    I found pictures of aliens dogtags right here,
    Aliens - Dogtags Hudson other replicas movie props from Aliens (1986)
    looks like a pretty simple design but it appears that the text is screen printed and not engraved on, or possibly filled after engraving.

    Does anyone have more information on it?
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