Last year I posted to see if anyone had used their maker-toys to create Christmas gifts for friends and family. So this year I'm asking the same. Have you used your printers, cutters or CNC machines to make any gifts? This year I was strapped for time so I did not actually design this but I thought it was a great project to showcase what you can do with lasers. This is six layers stacked to create the relief: Now, some people see just a cat. But when I look at this I see the potential for n scale store fronts and other buildings. So have you made anything this year to give away? -Mike
Nice cat! My niece hasn't asked me for more dungeon and dragons miniatures, so nothing made for others this year. I would love to have a laser cutter, but I can't justify the cost for one. I'm just not sure how much I'd really use it.
Laser cutters... quite handy devices, as is the layering technique. As for gifts: no... cash is the usual gift.
Last thing I made on my resin printer ( for other than me) was Dwayne "The Croc" Johnson (Crocs shoe charm) for my son. Came out great! https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5458269
@SLSF Freak, @samusi01, would you know how affordably I could get into laser cutting for n-scale? Like I mentioned before, I'd love a laser cutter to play with, but so far I've always seen the cost as a massive hurdle. There's also such a huge variety of machines and sizes and types that it's super confusing, though I suppose it's a lot like 3D printing, filament printer vs resin, size of machine, speed, etc. Have you seen any resources for laser cutting that is specifically geared to n-scalers? edit: changed cheaply to affordably - i suppose just like resin printing, you can get the cheapest 3d printer and realize it's trash and unsuitable for much of anything in this hobby
I'll be interested also. I have looked a little about converting the extra Ender 3 I have but haven't seen good enough results to go that route but your question has me looking at other alternatives. I came across the following video... It is about a Creality product but the other major players probably have something of equal or better quality in the same price range. I'm not going to bite at this point as I have so many other things to accomplish first but it might be an option down the road and by then probably more features for maybe less money. I was impressed with the apparent cutting/engraving quality that a $500 machine can accomplish and the number of different materials that it can cut and/or engrave. The machine in the video is 10 watts but see there are other options ( HERE ) that are even more wattage for less money (further research needed) also what program am I going to need to learn to use one for custom applications? Sumner
@Stephane Savard @Sumner I'm sorry to say I don't have any good advice. I am so fortunate as to have, here in town, the Tulsa Fab Lab - also known in other locations as a maker space - that has, amongst other fascinating devices, five CO2 laser cutters, four 12" x 24" and one that is something like 3' x 4' (I have not used it yet but am thinking if I want to make any T-Trak modules it will figure into my plan). It is a nominal fee per month to access and use. Regarding workflow for the pictured lasers, I usually use either Adobe Illustrator (pricey; Inkscape does more or less the same thing, without the price tag) or else start in Fusion, export via DXF and finish everything in Illustrator. What is sent to the laser is usually a PDF. You may want to look around locally to see if a similar organization exists where you are.
That last statement sums it up nicely. I'm far from an expert but when I make a purchase like this I tend to spend way too much time researching and finding out the truth about what I'm reading. There are budget laser cutters you could equate to Ender 3 (affordable, works well, upgradable), and expensive laser cutters that look similar but are the equivalent of the Prussa printers (1000 dollar range, already includes bells and whistles.) Ortur, ATOMSTACK and NEJE are popular brands on the budget side, xTool runs on the more expensive end of the range. This is for diode lasers. CO2 is a completely different animal, generally more expensive, definitely more cutting power and also more complex to maintain. So if we're talking about tinkering and feeling out laser projects I think the diode lasers are where to start. What you can do with a diode laser: cut paper, cut tape, cut/engrave cardboard, cut/engrave balsa/basswood/thin ply, cut EVA foam (you need good ventilation for that), cut/engrave thin colored acrylic (need good ventilation as well), etch some metals. What you can't do: cut clear acrylic, cut thick pieces of hard woods, cut metal. There are exceptions to the "can't" list but it's a good generalization. Upgrades you can add - honeycomb cutting surfaces to allow your cuts to "breath" better (cleaner cut), rotary attachment so you can engrave/etch cylindrical shaped things, air assist to give you better cutting power without upgrading the laser module, enclosure to contain fumes and protect eyeballs, filtration system to either move fumes out or filter them and finally, not so much a "free mod", but you can upgrade your laser module as well by buying a more powerful one. Diode laser power ratings come in different flavors. You really have to dig in to see what you're getting. Always see if you can get the optical wattage rating, not the power consumption of the laser. That is/was a marketing trick to get people to think they were getting a more powerful laser than they were really getting, selling something as a 20W laser making you think you're just short of what a 30W CO2 when in reality you're getting maybe 5W optical compared to the 30W optical of the budget CO2. Anyway, hopefully that'll get you started with some information. I watched a lot of this guy's videos because he's reviewed several kinds which was helpful for me to see: https://www.youtube.com/@makeorbreakshop/videos My setup includes a "40W" (12W Optical) 2-diode NEJE Master 2S, equivalent I believe to the NEJE Master 3 now, honeycomb bed and air assist with parts I 3D printed. The laser was on sale for 325 when I bought it, honeycomb bed was 75 bucks, air assist was I think 40 bucks for the pump. I added the extras over time so it wasn't paid for all up front. Today companies are selling 4-diode laser modules that are getting close to the 30W optical power CO2 lasers have. Those are still pretty pricey. Oh - software. Use any vector art software to create the image. I use CorelDraw. The the laser burning software I use Lightburn - it is under 100 bucks but worth it. There is free software available but it is more limited in features and not as user friendly. -Mike
That was awesome Mike! Definitely will get me started in research, I didn't know diode lasers were a thing, I thought it was all CO2! I also live in Montreal, a fairly large city, hehe. There must be a makerspace around here? Gonna google for that as well.
Well, with all the nice help here, turns out I ordered a laser engraver just this afternoon! Ended up ordering a Neje 3 Max with the E40 laser module (10W output). It's much bigger than I initially wanted, but its the best module and feature set I could buy and get shipped to Canada for the price. Once the backyard clears of snow this spring I'll have to build an proper enclosure for it, but in the meantime I'll have to do with small projects and just holding a duct with fan over the work area and vent it outside (basically the duct and fan I use for my airbrush setup). Looking forward to playing with the new toy
There is a ghost taking over your post I thought it was suppose to be a picture of what machine you ordered?
