Newbie with a 3020

[blinky465]

http://www.diytools.co.uk/diy/Main/sp-5 ... sander.asp
Plenty of others around for drum sanding. Axminster power tools have similar things.
And as for making the table, you could always use a laser cutter to make the table . . . .

NIce find - thanks! If that could be bolted onto my workbench, I probably wouldn't need to make a table!
I've got an early Flying-V out of the bin (it was really badly cut on the BuildBrighton laser cutter and after two passes still had to be snapped out of the acrylic sheet) and taped it together. I think four sheets should give a nice thickness (and weight) to the body.



So if I can sand/polish the edges, I think it'd look ok.
There's a very noticeable kerf of the edges of these pieces - my guess is that the cutter at BuildBrighton needs setting up properly, mirrors aligned and all that (I don't really know much about laser cutting, but have heard all this mentioned on other posts on the forum!). It would probably take a lot of polishing to get them all smooth and inline. Would sanding first, then polishing, ruin the finish on the edges of the acrylic? (when I get my own laser cutter I'm hoping the kerf won't be quite as bad as this, but it may still be visible).



Total thickness = 12mm. Slot for the neck is 6mm deep, so I can use 6mm mdf/ply/wood and then the fingerboard (which is really a PCB with a vinyl sticker over it) goes on top, standing proud of the body where it meets at the neck joint - just like a real guitar!

[Daven]

I've a router attachment for my Dremel; I wonder if I could make a table to mount it under....

Axminster do them for <£40 if you don't fancy making one.

Again, another nice idea - especially if I can finish them nicely, perhaps with a light sanding and either leave as is, or treat them to a lick of paint? The V2 instruments in the video have exposed "scorched" edges on the mdf. They look nice (but don't smell to great!). Would it be cheaper/easier to use ply for the sandwich filling (sorry I keep using that term, but it makes sense to me) or to stick with acrylic?

Laser ply is good - sanded down a bit and use a two part plastic varnish can look good.

The instruments have already been evaluated by Mattel - they said they were too complicated for their 7-10 year old target group to understand

I hope it works out for you - I think the cottage industry has new life coming to it soon as a lot of people are getting fed up with the major shops selling the same old stuff!

Cheers

Dave

[Spooky]

If those are repeat cuts Blinky on the BB laser they are wayyyyyy off, it looks like backlash and some way out alignment.I often laminate large parts together and rarely if ever get more than 0.05 variation over a 1000mm length.@ 40watts if you have to snap out 3mm acrylic then the effective cutting ability is in the 15watt range.
I'd say they need to do some serious setting up on their machine.

best wishes

Dave

[blinky465]

I finally got my new LS3020 home and couldn't wait to get started.
Unusually, I spent an hour or so preparing everything properly - clearing a space, making sure it was flat and solid. I even did some tidying and hoovering up before getting down to what I really wanted to do and that's cut stuff out!

I'm a bit nervous about my new machine. I got it all set up and left it running for a while to let the water settle.
I got rid of the air bubbles at the ends of the CO2 tube by tipping the machine and pinching the water inlet pipe, as Chris at HPC showed me. The worrying thing is that the middle bit of the tube has tiny weeny little bubbles all along it that I can't get rid of.



I don't want to fire the machine up and break it on it's first outing.
Are these a problem? How do I get rid of them?
I'm desperate to get something cut out today, but am frightened of breaking the thing on it's first go!

[Spooky]

Two capsfuls of Milton baby bottle steriliser fluid will help get rid of them its quite normal with a tube on its first fill to get those.
If they are just the pinhead sized bubbles that stick to the wall of the tube they wont cause much trouble,add the milton to the water tank and let the whole lot get up to room temperature and you should be fine
Your quite right to be cautious though, bubble issues cause more dead tubes than anything else

Have fun just warn the Mrs everything in the house is about to get lasered

best wishes

Dave

[PhillyDee]

The excitement when you send your first job to it (then instantly go and press your nose against the window of the machine . . . well . . .

[Daven]

The excitement when you send your first job to it (then instantly go and press your nose against the window of the machine . . . well . . .

I still do that, partly to see how it's going but mainly because it's fun to watch (yeah I know sad innit )

Dave

[blinky465]

So close..... yet so far!
I put a few capfuls of Milton into the water, left it to pump around for about ten mins and yay, all the little tiny bubbles had gone (or looked as though they'd migrated into the big water tank and were all around the actual pump).

I loaded up my test circle, pressed go and.... nothing.
The head moves fine, but no laser comes out!

When I press the two green laser test buttons, I expected to see the needle flick over, but nothing happens.
I've got the air pump going, the water pump and the extraction fan all running.
Everything looks as it should, I'm just not getting anything out of the laser. I've tried twiddling the power control knob from each extreme, and at different settings inbetween. It's like I've forgotten to press a button or tick a box somewhere....

[Daven]

Sounds daft but you made sure all the doors are closed on the machine? Also toggle the red 'laser switch' and try the test again. The test is not linked to the PC so should work no matter what is going on with the PC.

Cheers

Dave

[Spooky]

Door switch?