[sdiy] Laser cut enclosure advice needed

[Mike Beauchamp]

Hi Terry, I checked with Ponoko and they ship north american orders from
a US based location. 



On Sat, 2012-09-22 at 15:40 -0400, KA4HJH wrote:
> On Sep 22, 2012, at 3:17 PM, Tim Parkhurst wrote:
> 
> > What material are you planning to use? I'm not quite sure what you mean by leaving polished surfaces.
> 
> Transparent acrylic. I'm not sure of the color scheme yet.
> 
> 
> > Also, I'm pretty sure Ponoko won't cut metal, but they can probably to plastic and (thin) wood.
> 
> Thanks for the tip. I'll have to take a close look at this.
> 
> 
> > If you're thinking of plastic, you might check and see who Olivier Gillet uses for the Shruthi and his other projects.
> 
> Definitely looks cut and engraved with a laser.
> 
> 
> On Sep 22, 2012, at 3:03 PM, Mike Beauchamp wrote:
> 
> > Hi Terry,
> > If you do your design in any vector program (inkscape, illustrator,
> > etc.) or any CAD program you should be able to send the files to a laser
> > cutting service.
> 
> Drawing it will be the easy part. I'm on top of that.
> 
> 
> > Off the top of my head there is ponoko.com, and they
> > are located in Wellington New Zealand. I'm not sure if they ship from
> > Wellington, but it could get a bit pricey.
> 
> Well, New Zealand is a bit further away than I was hoping for. Somewhere in the US would reduce the cost of shipping a bit.
> 
> 
> > Seems like there are a lot of
> > places online now actually that do laser cutting. Depending on where you
> > are, there might be a local laser cutting place that you could talk to.
> > Those guys might deal in very specific file formats and expect customers
> > to have proper CAD files and all of that, but it might be worth a try.
> > Another option might be a nearby "Tech Shop" or maker space that would
> > have a laser cutter and some people with experience doing what you're
> > doing.
> 
> This is precisely what I'm looking and the reason why I'm asking. Getting the right drawings will not be a problem but good communication reduces the possibility of mistakes.
> 
> 
> > You could definitely do finger joints, box joints, slots and other
> > joining methods with laser cut pieces. Some joints allow you to use nuts
> > and bolts as well.
> 
> I hadn't thought of finger joints. That would work if rabbeting isn't possible. Not that I really need that type of joint.
> 
> 
> > Laser cutting acrylic does leave nice edges, but if
> > all you have available is CNC routing then polishing up the edges is
> > very easy with a torch (lots of youtube vidoes showing this and how to
> > properly bond acrylic).
> 
> Yeah, I've done it a couple of times.
> 
> 
> > Laser cutting has the advantage of a really
> > really small kerf, allowing more intricate shapes.
> 
> This probably won't be too fancy.
> 
> 
> On Sep 22, 2012, at 3:11 PM, julian fincham wrote:
> 
> >> Has anyone done this? Can it be done? I know I could just have the whole thing CNC milled but laser cutting leaves polished surfaces.
> > 
> > Terry,
> > 
> > What edges are you wanting 'polished'?
> 
> I'm just saying that it would be nice for the outside, visible edges. It would save me the trouble.
> 
> 
> > Also, remember that, well, virtually all metals will  change
> > appearance as they oxidise, so dont pass up options for a short-lived
> > effect?
> 
> I've thought about doing that as a detail but it isn't necessary for the main body of the enclosure.
> 
> 
> > Im not selling, as im not cutting for the next week or so anyhow, but
> > here are some examples of the sort of works you may be after, all done
> > with tungsten carbide cutters -
> 
> Very nice work but I really want this to be transparent. I'm not cloning the Gleenman Petanphonic but still...
> 
> 
> > Can laser cutting be used to create recesses?  I mean when the
> > material is only cut half of the way through?  Im asking - i really
> > dont know! : )
> 
> It should be but I haven't found any good examples of it yet.
> 
> 
> When I finish drawing it I'll post it somewhere for comment. Thanks everyone for the ideas.
> 
> 
> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
> "The Mac Doctor"
> 
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