"LeeLoo Dallas Multi-Pass" 5th Element build

fabrik · Sep 6, 2013

Hey guys,

I've been very not posty on here for a while but I'm working on a project which might be quite nice. My boss is a big fan of "The 5th Element" and I've been needing to aquaint myself with our laser cutter. Resulting in this mini project:

A 5th Element Multi-Pass ID/business card holder.

So I started out with some reference and Adobe Illustrator to create my vector files.

I'm sure these aren't massively accurate but I think they're pretty close.

fabrik · Sep 6, 2013

I've been having a truck load of trouble getting these images to drive our laser. I spent most of yesterday and this morning getting the files to register on the driver PC. It's a pretty old laser driven by a pretty old piece of software so I ended up having to export from Illustrator as a DXF file which I then had to edit in AutoCad and save out as an older version of the DXF (R12).

So here's the test run:

This run was in 2mil styrene and I somehow "lost" a piece!

Good size...

... and my ID fits.

I've got some 5mil Acrylic sheet in the studio which will be WAY too thick for a final piece but it'll be worth a test run. Might get that up later today. I've ordered some 1mm, 1.5mm and 2mm acrylic sheeting which should be with me on Monday and which should give me a decent range of depth for the final piece.

On a side note. LASER CUTTERS ARE EFFING COOL! It's officially my new favorite toy.

FLM Concepts · Sep 6, 2013

My husband did one of these recently, but a couple of the detail pieces will need to be remade to be more accurate.

Just to let you know, a mil is .001 inches. A mm is a millimeter.

He did his in several layers of 1mm layered styrene. I think the thickest layered pieces were 3mm thick with details added on top of that.

We'll redo this piece on our router in 3mm expanded PVC and cast one for a friend of ours who requested it.

fabrik · Sep 6, 2013

FLMProps said:
Just to let you know, a mil is .001 inches. A mm is a millimeter.

.

Whoops my bad! I rarely measure in Inches so have just (verbally) abrieviated a milimeter to a mil. All my measurements are in mm. Cheers for the heads up.

FLM Concepts · Sep 6, 2013

N/P.

I see it all the time and I thought I'd just point it out.

My husband's new workplace has a laser, and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

How well does it cut styrene?

RobertMuldoon · Sep 6, 2013

That's interesting to know, I hadn't heard that. I've only ever heard someone say 'mil' they mean a millimetre (me included).

Thanks

FLMProps said:
My husband did one of these recently, but a couple of the detail pieces will need to be remade to be more accurate.

Just to let you know, a mil is .001 inches. A mm is a millimeter.

He did his in several layers of 1mm layered styrene. I think the thickest layered pieces were 3mm thick with details added on top of that.

We'll redo this piece on our router in 3mm expanded PVC and cast one for a friend of ours who requested it.

fabrik · Sep 6, 2013

This was super lightwieght stuff. Kinda like packaging styrene as opposed to the stuff you'd throw into a vac-former. Apparently that stuff doesn't cope well with the heat and the laser prefers acrylic. On this run the smaller pieces melted totally but the machine was quick, like 30 seconds to a minute quick. I've just had a test run with some 5mm clear acrylic and it took about 5 minutes. Great finish though.

fabrik · Sep 6, 2013

Cutting the 5mm Actrylic sheet took about 5 minutes.

As a test this worked really well, all the pieces lined up and I can start to work out my layout for the proper acrylic. This is 30mm thick at it's thickest

FLM Concepts · Sep 6, 2013

Re: "LeeLoo Dallas Multi-Pass" 5th Element build

I've heard that you need specialized lasers for styrene (it melts instead of vaporizes). We were going to get a laser until I heard this, so we bought a router, instead.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, nice job, BTW!

fabrik · Sep 6, 2013

Re: "LeeLoo Dallas Multi-Pass" 5th Element build

FLMProps said:
Oh, nice job, BTW!

Thanks, I'm pretty chuffed with the result, I just can't wait to get the acrylic delivered now... Realisitcally it'll be Monday before I can get it lasered which makes me very sad. :cry

Crimson13 · Sep 7, 2013

This is awesome! Looks really good.

On a side note, don't cut styrene in a laser. It contains vinyl which when cut with a laser releases chlorine gas which is bad to breath and will etch the optics of the laser. And like you said earlier, it melts more than it cuts.

fabrik · Sep 7, 2013

Okay so the acrylic test piece has been glued and I've hit it with a few layers of grey and silver paint but spent no time on clean up.

As I'm looking at it now it'll make a great paperweight business card holder so I might go back to it later on and clean it up and paint it properly.

Now I have the agony of waiting for materials to arrive before I can carry on!!!

Daemoniac · Sep 7, 2013

Can't wait to see more

Crimson13 · Sep 8, 2013

That's awesome! I wish I had access more often to a laser cutter. Keep up the great work!

cavx · Sep 8, 2013

FLMProps said:
Just to let you know, a mil is .001 inches. A mm is a millimeter.

1 inch = 25.4mm

Great build BTW

fabrik · Sep 9, 2013

So the Acrylic arrived today and after blasting though some actual work this morning, I got to taking care of bidnis!

I decided to make the most of my sheets of acrylic, I got 2 "full" versions out and 2 "One sided" versions and a hell of a mess on my desk!

Without the big button it's 9 mm thick.

A quick layup of the pieces.

And a blast of primer to get a proper look.

I love how clean the cut is with the laser. You can see i've taken a few liberties with some of the shapes and just plain ol' misjugded some of the others.

Gonna get to filling and sanding next. Though I might do a quick reference comparison test first to see how off I really am.

fabrik · Sep 9, 2013

Daemoniac said:
Can't wait to see more

Cheers, here you go!

Crimson13 said:
That's awesome! I wish I had access more often to a laser cutter. Keep up the great work!

Thanks, this is my first real play with one and I really don't think I'll ever cut things by hand again.

"It's 2013, we were promised jet packs and hover boards and robotic butlers but I've been cutting stuff with lasers today so I'll take that as a win"

FLM Concepts · Sep 9, 2013

Nice work!

I can't wait to play with the laser at my husband's job, too.

Daemoniac · Sep 9, 2013

fabrik said:
Cheers, here you go!

woohoo, nice. And what a lovely mess it was! looking good

fabrik · Sep 9, 2013

cavx said:
Great build BTW

Cheers muchly.

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