[Noisebridge-discuss] Laser Cutter!

Michael Prados mprados at gmail.com
Tue Sep 29 08:28:37 UTC 2009


I think part of the story on fumes we're missing here is the filter,
which I don't remember encountering on the machines I've used.  Here
are a couple of options:

http://www.electrocorp.net/market/laser_engraving.html

http://www.laserfilter.com/

Not sure how effective these are, but the second one does mention both
wood and acrylic.  I would suppose there is some kind of tradeoff
between investing in awesome ductwork and fans and great filtering.
Of course the filter is another maintenance issue.

-mike

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 8:33 PM, Mark Cohen <markc at binaryfaith.com> wrote:
>
> Not to flog a deceased equine, but a real world example. There is this
> great company that laser etched moleskine notebooks called modofly. (http://lifehacker.com/392041/modofly-laser+etched-moleskine-notebooks
> ) On their site : http://66.116.156.9/blogger.php?paged=2 near the
> bottom, it reads.
>
> "Modofly is Back!
>
> After a hiatus due to bad chemicals occurring in the burning of
> Moleskines, we are back with our own designed book! Our new book is a
> front to back color delight! We are happy to say that we can now
> showcase art from the artists much better. We also have the ability to
> do one off customs in a way we used to not be able to feasibly do.
> Check out the custom button on the navigation bar.
>
> We have an amazing collection of artists working with us now, and it
> grows almost daily. We have (or will be uploading soon) artwork from
> Camilla d’Errico, Jason Limon, Travis Louie, Matt Cipov, Dan Hillier,
> Marc Gabanna, Keith Thompson, Stephen Rothwell, Doktor A, and many
> many more. Come check it out!
>
> We print our books on demand which takes a touch longer on shipping,
> but allows us to give you such a wide selection of great artwork from
> artists around the globe. Do you have art you would love to see on our
> books? Do you know of someone we should be working with? Go to our
> contact tab on the navigation bar, and shoot us an email. Even if we
> can’t currently use your work, getting your own work is pretty easy,
> and if you are an artist, company, or marketing firm that wants to get
> over 20 books, contact us as we offer price breaks.
>
> Are you a store looking for unique merchandise? Do you know of a store
> we should be in? Please contact us if you are interested in selling
> our books, or know of a store that we should talk to.
>
> Do you run an art gallery, or do you frequently curate shows? Talk to
> us. We can help you get set up with books to sell with the artists
> that you are showing or will be showing.
>
> We currently have ruled books ready to go and should have our sketch
> books here in about 3 weeks, but they are ready for pre-order, so line
> up!"
>
>
> I happen to have one of their original laser etched books and I wish I
> had gotten more, they were AWESOME.. But I'd rather have living
> artists making book, not dead artists.
>
> Just my .02.. If/when we get a laser etch/cutter ventilation is a
> HUGELY important thing..
>
> /Mark/
>
>
>
> On Sep 28, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Rachel McConnell wrote:
>
>> Ventilation important b/c some of the materials it can cut vaporize to
>> Nastiness that we don't want people to breathe.  We should make sure
>> to
>> have a force ventilator that vents out a window or through the HVAC
>> system (once that's installed).  Ideally it should live in a room of
>> its
>> own, although that may be difficult.  It should absolutely not go in
>> the
>> dirty shop b/c of the dirt, as epsas points out.
>>
>> Rachel
>>
>> epsas at evil-wire.org wrote:
>>> The laser cutter will need to have ventilation -- it will also need
>>> to be in a room free of dust and airborne contaminants (as those
>>> can munge up the mirrors)...  access to water is also important for
>>> cooling.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 10:21:39AM -0700, Shannon Lee wrote:
>>>> So, I think this is a great goal; perhaps we decide what we want
>>>> and then
>>>> set up a fundable for it.
>>>> As for your specific questions:
>>>>
>>>> 1) It's totally cool, and has been something specifically
>>>> mentioned in the
>>>> same breath as '3d printer' as something we want for our fab
>>>> setup. We
>>>> didn't get one at 83c because we didn't have room.
>>>>
>>>> 2) I am a big fan of the 'get a cheap one now' model; cheap means
>>>> we get a
>>>> lot more experience figuring out why it broke, and now means we
>>>> have more
>>>> time to do it -- we may have bought a cheap one, learned how to do
>>>> cool
>>>> stuff with it, broken it, and been able to build enthusiasm for a
>>>> much
>>>> better new one by the time we've raised the money for a nice one.
>>>>
>>>> 3) Does it need its own room?  Can it live in either the dirty
>>>> shop or the
>>>> electronics area?  Does the room currently being used as the
>>>> electrical shed
>>>> work for this purpose?
>>>>
>>>> 4) Fundables is a great way to raise money for stuff like this,
>>>> someone has
>>>> to volunteer to be the Point Person.
>>>>
>>>> 5)  Everyone.
>>>>
>>>> --S
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 3:57 PM, Jonathan Foote <jtfoote at ieee.org>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> LASER CUTTER.
>>>>>
>>>>> WANT.
>>>>>
>>>>> After seeing the awesome you can do at Tech Shop and NYCResistor,
>>>>> I'm
>>>>> willing to spearhead (lenshead?) an effort to get a laser cutter
>>>>> for
>>>>> Noisebridge. Though I've used one a couple times,
>>>>> I'm a relative noob. Talking points:
>>>>>
>>>>> 1. Is this cool?
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. What do we want in terms of power, deck size, cost (i.e. name
>>>>> brand
>>>>> or Chinese)? Used (cheaper, but potential for fraud and
>>>>> jankiness)  or
>>>>> new ($$$$) ?
>>>>>
>>>>> 3. Assuming people are OK with it at Noisebridge, where does it go?
>>>>> The DJ booth seems good in terms of corner location (low vibration,
>>>>> out of the way, some sound isolation) and access to window/wall
>>>>> (for
>>>>> ventilation). The DJs might disagree. Thoughts?
>>>>>
>>>>> 4. How do we pay? Consensus donations seems to be a workable
>>>>> solution,
>>>>> but we would have to figure out a quid pro quo (i.e. donors get
>>>>> priority or something). Is $20K an unreasonable goal?
>>>>>
>>>>> 5. Maintenance. Who babysits and fixes it when it breaks? (I will
>>>>> volunteer some but can't be there 24/7.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Grey started a wiki page in June. If you are interested in
>>>>> donating,
>>>>> using, or just interested, please sign up:
>>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Lasercutter
>>>>>
>>>>> I will summarize any list discussion there.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Just in: I asked Bre Pettis of NYCResistor (who makes a living on
>>>>> his)
>>>>> for advice. Here's his response:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Minimum: 35 Watt Epilog Mini. 12x24  Machine + Filter + Tax = 20K
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Very Desirable: 60 Watt Epilog. 24x36 Machine + Filter + Tax =
>>>>>> more than
>>>>> 20k.
>>>>>> We wish we had gotten a more powerful machine, but because we
>>>>>> didn't know
>>>>> better and it's a lot of money, we went with the mini.
>>>>>> Don't get a chinese off brand machine. They are cheap and well,
>>>>>> cheap.
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Shannon Lee
>>>> (503) 539-3700
>>>>
>>>> "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
>>>
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