Access to a Laser Cutter

Question

The local Makerspace shut down three months ago and with it my access to a laser cutter. Does anyone in the USA have access to a laser cutter capable of cutting 1/8 inch black opaque plexiglass. I would like to ship the materials and my Corel files to have 3 control panels of max dimensions 13 X 5 inches each cut out.

If you have access to such a cutter and wouldn't mind helping me out let me know and I will contact you directly. I will cover all costs involved.

Here is a picture of similar control panels that I cut before the makerspace shut down.

Thanks

John

luislabmo · Answer

Hello John, In case you don't find someone that can help you out, Ponoko is a community laser cut/engraving service that may suit you (I know a friend that has used it few times). Just make sure to sign-up once you are ready to order (I think they still give good new customer discount). Pololu also offers custom laser cutting service . Luis

mcb1 · Answer

They do take up a lot of space though ... You're correct they can take up space, but one of the makers mounted his at 40 deg to help with chip/dust control. Mine is on a table and gets rotated to allow longer lengths to be machined without cutting the wood. (as per the picture) You certainly wouldn't want one inside as the noise and debris would soon get you evicted. A shop vaccum following it around can collect most of the chips, but the router has a high airflow running through it, which means they do travel. Cheers Mark

mcb1 · Answer

Filing the corners is a small price to pay ...

ntewinkel picked up a small one for a very low price.

You may even find a Shapeoko available as they have upgraded (rather significantly by the looks).

Mine uses a standard Makita trim router, which means it has better accuracy, but is much cheaper than a spindle and it's associated controller and cooling.

mark

mcb1 · Answer

You could also use a CNC Router ... It might give you more options. Mark

jw0752 · Answer

Hi Mark,

I am sure it could be done if I wanted to dress the corners of my rectangular cutouts with a file. I have been just drilling and shaping with file recently as I did on the two small current loads that I built but the power supply that is currently in the works has a front panel with 5 volt meter cut outs and 19 circular cutouts so I wanted a better way to cut them out. I found a commercial company 50 miles from here that would do it for $70 so I bit the bullet and had it ordered. Hopefully I will get to pick it up in the next couple days. The power supply is all built and wired except for the front control panel so I should have a small blog about it in the next week or so. I wish I could justify some in shop CNC tools but it would probably be a waste of money.

John

ntewinkel · Answer

mcb1 wrote:

ntewinkel picked up a small one for a very low price.

It fit into the budget of a Project14 shopping cart prize - about $200 USD fully assembled. I especially appreciated that it's already fully assembled - all I did was tighten up a few screws.

I made a blog post at the time, with pictures: Figuring out the CNC

Looks like it's still available (I thought they had discontinued it, but thankfully not)

https://canada.newark.com/pcduino/108302018/cnc-engraver-assembled/dp/33AC0136

It's not huge, about 7"x4", but that means it takes up very little space on my desk while I play with it (using markers, so it's not messy). And that size will allow me to do many of the smaller projects I have in mind, including small enclosures and the odd PCB.

Once I get comfortable with the process I might decide to go bigger, but for the foreseeable future this one is perfect for me.

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to play with it since that blog post. I'm still trying to figure out how to turn my own drawings into proper tool paths. Right now it's doubling up all the lines.

I will likely take a step back and follow Mark's instructions for some good starter projects first

Cheers,

-Nico

mcb1 · Answer

Looks like there might be a few cheap ones here. https://shapeoko.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=12

Fred27 · Answer

A laser cutter and a CNC router are great tools for the workshop if you have the space for them and think you will need then often enough. More useful than a 3D printer in my opinion. They do take up a lot of space though and a laser in particular needs good ventilation and cooling.

Access to a Laser Cutter

Top Replies