An experiment in using the laser cutter for photo etching. First, convert the photo to gray-scale / desaturate and crop.
Original Photo & Grayscale Conversion
Then – print to the laser cutter, using the settings for mat board.
Laser Cut Photo Etch – Final Effect (Printed on Black Mat Board)
I wanted to see how different materials respond to the laser cutter, so I attempted to cut a press fit mammoth out in 1/8″ acrylic.
I must need to tweak the laser cutter settings. I was not successful. The laser did not cut all the way through most of the acrylic and most of the pieces would not pop out or broke on me. I will revisit this project after adjusting the laser cutter settings.
When reading through instructables.com, I found a great pattern for a polygon construction kit. I thought I would use it for my first laser cutter / computer controlled cutting project at Fab Academy. The instructable I reviewed is for a plastic lamp shade, but I decided to use playing cards instead and make a construction kit minus the lamp. (Also, the cards are too opaque for a lamp and I didn’t want to take a chance with heat in such a small space.) In the end, I created a sculpture construction kit.
This construction kit shape can be put together to form a variety of shapes.
My 3D Modeling and Casting project is to make a model of the outside of the TARDIS. I used the scale and dimensions from G. Hartley’s plans to make an 8 inch model TARDIS.
However, as the milling machine cannot carve out negative space, the faces on the sides or the model could not be created. In order to create a machinable mold, I had to take the 3D model apart into three sections: the roof, the front door and a side (3 of the sides are the same).
In addition, I also removed some details that were in the original 3D model, like the light on top of the box and the all of the “Police Box” lettering. The light was not transferring properly into the CAD file and the lettering would be too fine for the bit on the milling machine. (I plan to create a sticker or letter by hand). I also scaled the model down from 8 inches high to 4.8″ so it could fit within the block of machinable wax.
Shawn Wallace suggested that I cast an LED into the model and use it for the light on top of the box. Brilliant.
Sketchup exports .stl ASCII files and I needed them to be in binary. I opened the files in Meshlab and then exported them as .stl binary files. Next I ran the .stl files through stl2png.py to convert the depths to grayscale.
The next steps are:
1. Mill out the 3 of the mold pieces
2. Cast with rubber, making 3 casts of the side view
3. Create a laser-cut box that will hold the mold together when it is being cast with hydrastone.
4. Cast with hydrastone.