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Guess who bought a laser cutter? (picture heavy)

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Misellus
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Guess who bought a laser cutter? (picture heavy)

#1 Post by Misellus »

I'm a tech nerd. I love CNC routers, 3D Printers, laser cutters etc. The ability to take an idea from my head into the real world excites me. I bought my first 3d printer around 10 years ago, built a cnc router a year or so later. A few months ago I was playing around with a low power laser head that attached to my 3d printer and decided it kinda sucked. So I bought a nice laser engraver (blue laser). Then a cheap CO2 laser cutter. Yeah, I get obsessed and then spend money, always been a problem. I didn't need a tax refund this year anyway.

This will be a show and tell about my new toys.

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These are the first few engravings I made. Yes, what else would you do with $1000 of equipment other than print anime girls. These were done on the CO2 laser and were the first 2 engravings I made with it (meaning this is day 1 stuff)


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I wanted to see how it did small things. Looks better from a distance. Gray and muddy original results in a gray and muddy etching. Noted.


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I used different software this time. It really did a nice job with the differentiating the darker shades of gray. Bad news, it was bad at moving the laser head and kept slamming the head into the frame. I stopped using the program. Eventually it'd cause real damage.


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6 layer shadowbox I made. I found the clipart online and separated the color layers. I'm happy it turned out as well as it did, but there are a lot of problems. Fixing it would be starting over from scratch, so I haven't tried yet.


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This was supposed to be a cutting but I didn't have the power high enough, so it's an etching. Image came from an old scroll saw pattern book.


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This is a 6" bathroom tile painted black, then the laser removes the paint. I really like how it turned out. This is from the blue laser. It's not strong enough to etch the ceramic.


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This is what the CO2 laser can do to a tile. It has no problem cutting into the ceramic. It doesn't even need the black paint. The smudge in the skull is from the air hose. It'll come off with some light sanding. The 3 small skulls are because I did such a bad job of centering the big one, I needed something to balance the look.


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These are 4" slate coasters. They turned out really nice. The focal point of the beam is for 3mm material, these are 6, so they're slightly off focus. I'll try to fix that eventually.

That's how I've spent the last month or so. It's been fun figuring out new things. Bunch of stuff I made that I never took pictures of. I'd pretty much forgotten how to use Photoshop. Now, I wouldn't say I'm better than ever, but I'm remembering more and more.

If anyone has a project they need cut/engraved, let me know. I'm willing to do commissions. Not looking to become rich, but will need to charge for materials and evetually replacing the laser tube. I'll make a post int he swap and sell if the mods want me to.

And yes, I've done the "Sharks with frickin lasers on their heads" The plate is mounted to the blue laser. No picture though.

m-
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Tim Fortuna
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Re: Guess who bought a laser cutter? (picture heavy)

#2 Post by Tim Fortuna »

Now that is pretty dang cool! Nice work Misellus.
"There are several sacred things in this world that you don't ever mess with. One of them happens to be another man's fries..." Louis Fedders

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Re: Guess who bought a laser cutter? (picture heavy)

#3 Post by Heavy Metal Spike »

You are one EXTREMELY TALENTED dude my friend :bow: :bow: :bow: =D> =D> =D> :hot: :hot: :hot:

Thanks for sharing! - and keep up the great work (love them all).


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ShaneM
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Re: Guess who bought a laser cutter? (picture heavy)

#4 Post by ShaneM »

That makes some interesting display pieces
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