Learning my new laser

[deemery]

First project almost complete.  I need to add glazing and touch up the paint on the door:

I still have a lot to learn about Lightburn and settings for various materials.

dave

[Vietnam Seabee]

Dave...several posts back you referred to 'tabs' being easier to place using Lightburn.

My question is, I understand the need for tabs in the carrier sheet for someone who is producing an item for shipping thru the mail, but are tabs even necessary when cutting parts for your own use? Merely cut the part and let it drop to the base plate..

terry

[deemery]

Dave...several posts back you referred to 'tabs' being easier to place using Lightburn.

My question is, I understand the need for tabs in the carrier sheet for someone who is producing an item for shipping thru the mail, but are tabs even necessary when cutting parts for your own use? Merely cut the part and let it drop to the base plate..

terry

Yeah, but then you have all those parts running around the base plate (and possibly getting mixed up)

dave

[deemery]

Bernd posted a photo showing ridgeline shingles on an octagonal roof.  I added those to my hexagonal roof:


dave

[Bernd]

Looking good Dave. It's tuff to get it like the real shingles are laid down. Now at least the rain won't leak between those ridges.

Bernd

[Vietnam Seabee]

Dave...thanks for the journey through your learning process. You've provided some great insight which will be very helpful to me as I unbox my laser and begin using it

Thanks again
Terry

[Philip]

I have often wondered about trying the weave method?  Fast forward to 19:38

[deemery]

Ayuh, that's a lot of work.  And I'm not sure about trying to plane the angle on the HO scale shingles.     And I wonder how many times he had to stop and regrind/resharpen that block plane. 

If I were doing this for real, I'd install flashing along those joints/corners, then do the shingles.

dave

[Philip]

Planing would be monumental in HO or O. Indeed I would also flash the seams as insurance. I wonder is it leaked depending on wind direction?

Philip 

[deemery]

I got several Amesville Shops flat-cast old-time gondola kits.  These include brass rod to bend for truss rods.  I figured it was worth doing a bending tool, I've always had problems getting consistent truss rod bends.

So with the new laser cutter, I cut a block the length of the distance between the queen posts.  I engraved a "line" (actually a very narrow rectangle) that is .016" wide.  Then I engraved more deeply a notch for the turnbuckle in the center.   Underneath I glued a piece of scrapwood centered on the block, to make sure the bends on the truss rod are symmetrical. 

This works quite well.  I position the brass (or phosphor bronze) rod with the turnbuckle, make sure it's centered, then hold the rod in place and bend down on both ends.  I need to be careful to bend straight down, I don't want to introduce a twist in the rods.

dave

[deemery]

Here you can see the little nubs that hold the truss rods into position:


My turnbuckles aren't centered, but that won't be really obvious unless you're looking straight on at the bottom of the car.

dave

[Vietnam Seabee]

Nice work, buddy

terry

[deemery]

Well, Lightburn released their version 2.2 a couple days ago.  This is an important version for me, because it's their first Apple M-series processor version (came out in 2020.)  Previous versions require the Rosetta translator from Intel native software to M-series software. 

Anyway, I've been reporting problems with my XTool S1 throughout the 'release candidate' tests (starting with RC-1 through RC-8.)  There's a problem that started in RC-1 that got fixed by RC-4 or RC-5.  But that version introduced a different problem. 

The Lightburn device-specific pages for XTool devices note they are problematic. And it appears the S1 is problematic even when compared to other XTool devices.  BUT AS A MINIMUM, LIGHTBURN MUST COME CLEAN ABOUT THESE PROBLEMS.  The installation instructions don't match what I see on my machine.  The current problem is that the device only works every -second time- I press "Start".

If I sound angry at this point, it's because I am angry.  IT SHOULDN'T BE THIS HARD to get this software to work on this hardware.  I blame both sides.

dave

[Philip]

  Looks good now!