Laser Board (aka Polyester Impregnated Kraft Paper )

[LaserM]

Thanks for the information Rich.
I have done a fair amount of laser cutting and etching on different versions of Mylar (polyester).  All laser-cut and etched well but all were flexible.  An easy to get version about the same thickness of laserboard is drafting Mylar.  This has a lightly frosted surface that will take ink (and probably paint).  Several thicknesses of polyester materials are available from several suppliers including McMaster-Carr.  There are also several versions of laminated polyester available from electrical insulation products suppliers.  All of these should cut and etch well as long as they do not include a high-temperature cloth such as glass or carbon.

Mike

[LaserM]

Are either of you familiar with the Epilog II laser engraver that is built here in the US? Actually in Golden, CO.  There are going to be on a town near me and I was thinking about seeing what they can do.

Any thoughts?

Rich

I know that Epilog has been around a long time and has a good reputation.  My experience with these systems have been with my own custom industrial system designs and a limited amount of experience with Universal Laser Systems:
http://www.ulsinc.com/english/laser_systems/laser_systems.html
I have a local signmaker that has a 50 Watt Universal that I work with.  It is a nice, reliable system. He has owned a couple of these in the past and seems happy with the manufacturer.  I know that Universal makes their own lasers and I can recommend them for quality and performance.  I don't know much about the lasers Epilog uses except that their new fiber laser is very nice but the wrong wavelength for some of this work. CO2 lasers are better suited for this, especially clear plastics and glass.

Mike

[RichD]

TO ALL...

I met the local midwest distributor of the Epilog system yesterday while he was in town.  I was impressed...  He answered all my questions and I showed him the photo I posted of the small model store in this thread.  While he and I were talking the Epilog Mini (24x12) was cutting out and engraving 2 butterflys from a 1/8 think piece of alder. 

The software interface was a breeze to use... and all in all.. a nice product with loads of possibilities.

This looks like something I might pick up as a nice retirement business in the next 1-2 years..  Especially for providing items not available in some scales.. and mostly for the scratch builders out there. 

There are enough laser 'kit' manufactures currently that I wonder if the market is not already getting saturated.  But for speciality items and detailed accessories there still might be niche for a retiree to fill.

Rich D

[finescalerr]

As the hobby continues to shrink, we can expect some of the bigger manufacturers to consolidate or disappear. I don't know when that might happen. But ultimately small groups of individuals with specialized skills and equipment will fill the void. My guess is the parts and kits they offer would be of better overall quality and accuracy than what is available today (and we're living in the Golden Age of models).

A guy with a laser, talent, a meticulous approach, and vision in combination with (for example) a guy with photo-etching equipment and one with computerized machine tools and somebody with injection molding or other gear would be able to produce absolutely remarkable models. Not a bad way to augment your retirement.

Russ

[RichD]

Russ.. thanks for the words of encouragement.  Are you going to be in Colorado Springs this Sept..  We might get a chance to chat if you are.

RichD

[marc_reusser]

Maybe relevant to this somewhat on both the small mfr. and the material aspect.

Daniel Caso (a modeler in the Netherlands) has been working on a line of 1/32 laser cut NG car kits for the last year or so (some may be familiar with them from the FS32ng Yahoo group.)  It has been a very long, tough process (with several missteps) for him to finally get these kits to production...but they are finally about to come out....and there is a lot to be learned from what he went through. He is using MDF for his kits (I received two of the test cuts/kits a day ago), and I have to say between the material and the quality of the fellow cutting them, they are the nicest and most crisp laser work I have seen in a wood kit.  The MDF has a slight surface texture...sort of like strathmore board...but easily smoothed out with a few passes of fine sandpaper.  The edges have none of that end/cut surface texture that one so often sees in laser cut basswood. the nice thing about the MDF is that like the kraft paper and strathmore, the grain direction is not an issue.

The images below are of 2 of the MDF sheets for a "combination coach" (the bow in the large sheet image is due to the camera perspective).  I will be doing a complete build and finishing SBS in a seperate thread here once I get started.

Marc

[jacq01]

Marc,

Sunday I'll see Daniel and hope to take some kits with me to asses.
I have volonteered to do product critism  and help with assembly instructions  .
Enough stuff for the new thread you have in mind.

  Jacq

[marc_reusser]

On the subject of laser cutting...and for those here in the know...

Since the laser cuts vertical...and the head can't be adjusted/angled, would it be possible to make a jig (say at 30-degrees) to hold the material to be cut, so that the cut through the material would then be at an angle....for instance if I wanted to make/cut real slotted louvered shutters....or simply cut thoe opening where the louvers would go with angled notches/grooves in them that could then have seperate slats inserted into them.

I guess this (and the angle) would depend on how high the laser head is above the cutting bed surface. and whether the head needs to be a constant distance from the material.


Marc

[marc_reusser]

Marc,

Sunday I'll see Daniel and hope to take some kits with me to asses.
I have volonteered to do product critism  and help with assembly instructions  .
Enough stuff for the new thread you have in mind.

  Jacq

Great! Give him my best. (BTW. Make sure you take your magnifying glasses and calipers with you...and make sure he doesn't hide the NBWS from you  )

I look forward to building the cars when I get back from my mountain-biking trip at the end of August.

Marc

[LaserM]

On the subject of laser cutting...and for those here in the know...

Since the laser cuts vertical...and the head can't be adjusted/angled, would it be possible to make a jig (say at 30-degrees) to hold the material to be cut, so that the cut through the material would then be at an angle....for instance if I wanted to make/cut real slotted louvered shutters....or simply cut thoe opening where the louvers would go with angled notches/grooves in them that could then have seperate slats inserted into them.

I guess this (and the angle) would depend on how high the laser head is above the cutting bed surface. and whether the head needs to be a constant distance from the material.


Marc

Sorry Marc,

There are two problems with this.
1.  Cut Quality - When cutting thin materials, pressure builds up rapidly in the cut as the material is vaporized.  As you can imagine, the hot, pressurized gasses leave the cut at the angle of least resistance.  On thin plastics, this doesn't look much different than a vertical cut except it may be a bit wider.  On thicker cuts in plastic, the cut edges will look a bit wavy if the air assist is set low.  The wavyness can be reduced by increasing the air flow but then the surface will look frosted.  Also, cutting deep cuts at close intervals usually severely distorts the material.  Cutting these deep, closely spaced cuts into wood may be a little better but you will still have a rolled off leading edge at the surface of the cut.
2.  Focus -  For good cuts, the laser must be focussed at the surface of the material.  In most laser cutting machines of this type, the focus adjustment is manual.  To cut an angled part, the laser would need to be focussed for each pass of the laser.

Mike

[finescalerr]

That was a really educational answer. Thanks!

Would the same issue likely be true of using a water jet to cut metal or plastic? Obviously you wouldn't have heat and gasses but the focus might be a problem and maybe there are other issues ....  -- Russ

[MrBrownstone]

Hmmmm, Smart Laser Guy... 

That was really good knowledge to know....

thanks for sharing that Mike..

The other Mike

[LaserM]

That was a really educational answer. Thanks!

Would the same issue likely be true of using a water jet to cut metal or plastic? Obviously you wouldn't have heat and gasses but the focus might be a problem and maybe there are other issues ....  -- Russ

I don't have any experience with water jets but I would think tat the extreme pressures would destroy thinly sliced parts.

the previous Mike

[DaKra]

Marc

Yes, using a fixture to tilt the material, you can laser cut bevels.  Due to fixed 90 degree position and narrow focal plane of the laser beam, only single axis, straight lines, one at a time.  Parallel lines would need to be refocused between cuts.  I've cut bevels in plywood and Plexi, results are clean and crisp.  Not sure why Mike "LaserM" would not get same results.  If the laser's driver has a 3d feature you can also engrave angled planes in the material, within certain limits.   The louvers on window shutters, for example.    3+ yrs experience using an Epilog here, the photos posted by RichD show my work.

Dave

On the subject of laser cutting...and for those here in the know...

Since the laser cuts vertical...and the head can't be adjusted/angled, would it be possible to make a jig (say at 30-degrees) to hold the material to be cut, so that the cut through the material would then be at an angle....for instance if I wanted to make/cut real slotted louvered shutters....or simply cut thoe opening where the louvers would go with angled notches/grooves in them that could then have seperate slats inserted into them.

I guess this (and the angle) would depend on how high the laser head is above the cutting bed surface. and whether the head needs to be a constant distance from the material.


Marc