Laser
Anything that has to do with my most cool tool, the laser.
Over the last week I’ve been working on the next version of the Jansen Walker, this will be the 3rd release.
The goal is to make it much easier to assemble, faster, and 1/3rd larger using 3mm (1/8in) material.
The biggest change is that instead of using modified servos, which seem to scare a lot of people off, use geared motors which are about the same price. That will make the electronics side easier, perhaps slightly more expensive depending on your controls.
The new version will use the Tamiya Twin-Motor Gearbox, that has a good 203:1 ratio that is ideal...
For Christmas this year I made some custom toy blocks with friends and family initials. The blocks were cut from square wood stock into 1.25in cubes. The stock I used was indented for banisters, and had peg ends, but they were easily cut off. I made a batch of both Oak and Fir. Oak turned out fine, and is what is pictured here. The Fir blocks came out with a more slightly more desirable finish since the end grain was more smooth after sanding. Setup First I taped down a...
The holidays are a undoubtedly a a big cost every year for me, but this year I decided to try something different, I wanted to make all my gifts, or give things that are new but unused. My quest was a success, I effectively bought no new packaged items. I did buy some raw materials, but no packaged things. Thingiverse.com was a big help, and I also produced a few things I designed, including: Earphone Holder by 4volt Gothic Bookends by 4volt Little Business Card Stand by oomlout DIY iPhone stand... by...
For Christmas this year I’ll be giving out inexpensive things I’ve cut with my laser, here’s one of the original designs I’ve come up with, a small holder for earbud style earphones.
Other earphone winder designs make you wrap your chord around and around until you’ve wrapped the whole chord. That way is pretty aquard, and I never end up using them. It really is quite a bit faster to “fold” then to “loop”.
This winder/holder is designed for that with a hook on one side, and a strap in the middle. Although, you can still wrap them the other way...
If you follow this blog you’ll know I do a lot of stuff with my cheap $1,000 dollar Chinese laser engraver/cutter. I’ve had it for almost a year, and I think I can clearly define all it’s shortcomings.
Cutting area is small (8x8in)
Controller software is poor
Laser power control is manual
Poor ventilation for fumes
Poor/no laser cooling system
Not very fast with engraving tasks
Keeping all those things in mind, I’ve decided to start planning a re-build of my laser using...
With the glorious re-launching of my laser, I broke it in with a new design. This is a design meant mostly for small books and is inspired by Gothic Architecture.
This is a design meant mostly for small books and is inspired by Gothic Architecture, inspiration drawn from Cologne Cathedral, and Church of St Barbara Kutna Hora. There are several flying buttress and the "windows" are done in the style of a Flamboyant arch. The small gargoyles are designed after the hunched Notre Dame gargoyles.
Lately I've been doing mostly mechanical projects, there satisfying to build, but usually very time consuming....
After a few weeks of having a broken laser, I received my replacement laser power supply and installed it last night. I emailed a few sellers on eBay that sold similar looking laser engravers with pictures of the fried parts, and I was able to fine someone that happened to have a spare and ships from the US. I was a bit worried about screwing something up, the red power lead you see coming out of the transformer is soldered directly to the laser tube’s terminal. Connecting the new lead was a bit cumbersome with limited space,...
Last weekend I started a little project cutting some arts and crafts (1920’s) style address numbers for my house, the test numbers came out fine but when I started cutting a slightly larger set my laser just stopped cutting. I found some obvious electrical burn marks on what looks like the high-voltage transformer on the laser tube power supply. So, until I can replace the part or get a new power supply, I'm out of business with the laser. If you have any comments or ideas...
So today a friend of mind sent me this image, I’m not sure where it came from exactly, but I knew I need one for my laser room. After doing a quick search for examples to make mine, I came across this Warning Label Generator site, it’s not new, but is useful. You can choose the sign type and an icon, and enter your own text. A custom graphic might be better, but this is quick and easy. That is all.
There's been a lot of scarification type "tattoos" done with lasers over the last couple years. But, this is a temporary alternative that is not new, but still involves lasers. Temporary airbrush tattoos have been around for a while, and there's even an entry in Wikipedia, but all the airbrush stencils I've ever seen have been pretty lame. Enter the laser, where it can cut custom stencils on demand. Seen above: an electrocuted man stencil. For a short film project I'm currently working on, there was need for the main actress to have...
If you are not familiar the Hex Toy is a laser cut building toy, the edge notches fit together to make abstract shapes. Here’s a new version made specifically made for 3mm and 1/8th in plastic. The notches are larger, and the peices themselves are larger too. The feel is much more substantial. Check out the Hex Connectors project page for more detail and to download the new design.
In the past there’s been a lot of talk about laser etched/cut moleskine blank books, but it’s come to attention that the PVC outer layer is very toxic when vaporized. On the other hand, real leather bound journals are great for engraving on and make a great Father’s day gift. This isn’t really a new idea, but it’s great in context of Father’s Day. I chose an image from “Ernst Haeckel: Kunstformen der Natur” It has fantastic and artfully hand drawn illustrations of various plant and sea life, and better yet, is in public domain....
Here are my plans for a 3 stage filter, it has a rough filter, a fine filter, and a tray of activated carbon. It uses standard 14x20in home filters and bathroom ventilation fans for suction. The cost is about $50, not including filters.
It’s good for dust, smoke, and fumes at about 100 CFM. It’s great for my shop.
To start you’ll need:
2 – 24x48x0.5in plywood sheets
1 – 4ft 2x4 board
2 – 8ft 2x2 boards
Screws or nails
2 Bathroom style ventilation fans
...
My last post was about rapid prototyping with sugar and lasers, it turned out well, but the result is really only 2d. Although with some supporting hardware I think it has great potential for making full 3d objects.
Soon I will be testing a 3d object with finer sugar, but the first step is to get all the 2d layers of a 3d object and semi-manually building up the object layer by layer.
After some research I found Skeinforge, a collection of python tools for slicing and creating g-code for 3d printers like the RepRap and Makerbot. I downloaded the version...
I always wanted to start a project for making 3d prototypes with my laser in layers similar to how the legacy Candyfab project did, but never got around to it. With the recent Candyfab news , and the relative success of my Laser Cooked Bacon project, my curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see what would happen.
I did some research and I wasn't able to find anyone that had melted sugar with a laser, there was some posts on the Candyfab forums, some seemed to think it was possible, and some did not.
So I fired up...
I was looking for inexpensive things to engrave at the local department store and came across these cool “Key Tags”. They are a thick paper chip with an aluminum protecting ring around them with a keychain ring already inserted. The Avery 11027 pack has 25 in it for about $3.50. It turns out these are perfect for engraving on and handing out as trinkets, the paper chips mark easily, but are thick enough that a low laser power setting doesn't instantly cut though them. I...
When building the Jansen Walker I coated the feet for better traction, I didn't go into much detail then but I wanted to show the whole process here. Laser cut acrylic parts are pretty slippery, especially on hard surfaces and fabrics. For parts that need good traction, like legs and wheels, it’s nice to have a little extra something. I used plasti-dip, it’s a rubberizing dip that’s designed for dipping tool handles and it works great with laser cut acrylic. I used 3 coats and dried them hanging up, the tricky part is hanging them...
Adam so far has been the first to complete a Jansen Walker and it looks very sharp. This is a build of Beta 2, which includes 3 pairs of legs on each side which looks awesome. He also implements it with a Seguino which is also a first.
It sounds like Adam is still working on one of the servos, but there is a video available at: http://vimeo.com/4739602
Edit: Adam has uploaded a new video with better walking action: http://vimeo.com/4739602
If you have finished a walker, or know someone who has, I would love to hear about it, send me an email.
In other...
Here are plans for a simple caliper, handy to have around the shop for measuring thickness and diameters. Anytime I can build something that helps me build something else I am always pleased.
The plans should be as accurate as your cutter or printer is, I actually used this project as a calibration for my laser.
If you don't have a laser you can print the PDF and glue the paper down to any flat material and cut it by hand.
In the case of a laser, I engraved the markings and painted them, then sanded off the extra...
So recently I was thinking about what other non-standard uses I could put my laser up to, that got me thinking about what food related things I could do, and bacon came to mind. Other then being awesome in general, bacon is a thin meat that might be ideal for cooking with a laser.
Laser Bacon
So what was it like? The bacon cooked well on the top layer, so well that it was slightly charred. After cooking the bacon was thinner after two passes, but didn’t shrink in width like it does...
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