Russ Thank you so much for your videos. I rewatch them daily. I had a customer ask me if I could engrave a fingerprint onto metal. Specifically a firearm. Do you think its possible to get that accurately detailed print on any substrate without stretching its size? Thanks Brendan
Hi Brendan An interesting problem. I suspect the gun metal is basically an alloy steel and it is the steel part of the body you wish to mark. Certainly with a good 1.5" meniscus lens you will be able to get the dot resolution for the detail you are trying for. Although I have done few experiments with metal marking I this guy seems to have done a much wider evaluation and you might like to take a look at his work. ua-cam.com/video/emlVbVSWPT0/v-deo.html Hope this helps Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia thanks I will watch his video. One thing I wanted to mention. You enlarged the cards you designed to correct errors when importing. Wouldnt it be a good idea to do that to all images we import?
@@SarbarMultimedia One last thing have you heard of this company/seen these machines. I wonder if we could convert ours to this type setup. I have the same china blue with the same upgraded tube as you. ua-cam.com/video/u86TI3atayE/v-deo.html
Hi Brendan Remember that I am not an expert, just someone that may be a little higher up the learning ladder. Since I made that video I have learnt a bit more. My work-around of enlarging the picture to stop minute artifacts happening as I imported DXFs with very small detail, it was in fact covering up my lack of knowledge. If you go to Config, File Parameter. There are two boxes there called Auto close curves and Combine curves. By default they are set to 0.1mm. I have now set them both to 0.001mm and that fixes the problem Best wishes Russ
This is this is basically a CNC motion and laser tube on 4 adjustable legs. For certain types of job it has merit for others where you want to accurately and repeatably relate the head to the work table, it looks like a nightmare. There is a guy in New Zealand that has independently had the same idea and has built his own lightweight version of this flat tableless machine. He plans to take it to site to engrave on tables , walls, doors or anything that is to big or cumbersome to fit into a machine. Take the machine to the job. Best wishes Russ
Logically it can be inferred that % loss is constant regardless of power. This is a monochromatic light beam with synchronize waves, the thickness of the coating will likely be set at quarter or half wavelength thickness to reduce surface reflectivity. More power is only increased light density within the beam, thus as there is no inherent change to the light characteristic as power increases I cannot see a logical reason for the transmission efficiency to change. An interesting question though. Best wishes Russ
Facts conquer the "candyfloss" experts. As I said, listen, smile and do your own research. Don't go back and gloat he will be slinking away into the shadows. Best wishes Russs
So I do not want a lens that transmits a lot of power for engraving but I do for cutting, right? If so that leaves out most of those lenses including the CVD.
If I was focused on photo engraving, as I believe you are, I would choose the CDV lens based on what I know so far. A small compromise on cutting power would be a small penalty for having a great engraving lens. There may be times when you need to engrave and cut in one program so you will have a low power tube (40 or 50 watts). 5% of 50 watts is a negligible power loss of 2.5watts. You cut with watts not percentages. However, there may be more surprises in store when I get to cutting. Well focused power may be more important than absolute power at the cutting surface. I have an interesting problem I hope to solve. How you can cut 10mm thick plywood with a 38.1 lens? The rapidly divergent beam after the focal point should make this impossible.....but it's not because I have done it many times. Hmmmm. Best wishes Russ
Yes, if a dot is more defined it would have more power at the point (pin point versus being pricked by your eraser) and since we can't measure the power of the dots per lens we are not getting the complete picture. This should show up in part 3 when you begin cutting but, as you very well know, a small, and well defined, dot with little power is what an engraver is after.
If you imagine a simple square shape and want tapered sides how would you achieve this? Offsetting the lens in X and Y will produce a positive taper in say left and lower edges. However, it will be a negative taper on the right and top edges. It gets more complex when you try t cut a disc. If you plan a lens with a tipping axis or lateral movement then you have a massive problem synchronizing that movement to the X and Y motions of the program. Don't stop imagineering....there are still so many problems to be solved. Best wishes Russ
I was thinking about active steering, I guess that's how waterjet cutters do it, you need to put the center of rotation at the focal point. I am still in the thinking phase, one of the issue is the weight of the head, that means light actuators, lightweight probably means closed loop. I was thinking about a flexural XY platform for the geometry part of things because the amplitude is small. Keep the great work.
I have a question about RD works. Is there a way for it to automatically remove all the space from multiple shapes (referred to as nesting in other software). Say if I imported 3 different shapes, and got an outline of each, and sized them all the way I want, but for RD works to then auto arrange them so I don't waste any of my wood or plexiglass. The "nesting" function seems to just duplicate and arrange one shape.
The simple answer is no. The nesting function you refer to is an array and yes it duplicates a single shape into a regular horizontal and vertical pattern. I have always nested manually but there are programs available.You might like to check out www.mynesting.com/ Best wishes Russ
Hi Russ, it's me again :) So, Chinese refunded me $900 and I kept the machine lol. Much better deal now. I was wondering if you could share your new acrylic laser head drawings, so we (your fans) could make them too! We (me and my company) have already launched 3Dpassion.com and I specifically dedicated a section there for laser files. Feel free to use our platform to share any of your DXGs. The reason why I am asking for that acrylic head is because I get a weird oscillating line when cutting instead of straight line and I think it is related to the head first of all being way too long. Belts are still in my shipping list too. May do that later. I also want to feature your youtube channel somewhere on our laser file repository page as your channel is very awesome and educational. Please get in touch with me! :)
Hi Vlad I am currently putting the acrylic head thorough it's paces with my lens testing exercise. I certainly don't want to offer you guys a half cock design. At present I have been very happy with everything I have thrown at it The lens tests are really stretching the capability with many different lens holder and nozzle combinations. After this last lens session I will be back on the case and with a slightly easier design for the the less skilled/ those without special tools Tapping holes is not second nature to many people and I am trying to take that into account. I already have a small batch of brackets manufactured and I plan to put together a complete kit of screws nuts and springs, which if bought in small quantities would be expensive. I will be defining where to get suitable lenses and lens tubes from so as to make it easy for folks to follow my footsteps. Is there a way of contacting you through your website? Best wishes Russ
SarbarMultimedia fill out the Form on CNC page, and you can attach the message there. This way I can see your contact info, email etc. can’t share my email in public here for spam precautions. Lets talk :)
Sadly, You Tube have done away with their private message system recently so everything has to be transmitted via a public forum. . If you like to add your email address to another comment then I will immediately delete it from public view and send you a data pack Best wishes Russ
You just keep saving us all so much time and $$ you are the best! a real asset to the community. great job Russ!
Russ Thank you so much for your videos. I rewatch them daily. I had a customer ask me if I could engrave a fingerprint onto metal. Specifically a firearm. Do you think its possible to get that accurately detailed print on any substrate without stretching its size?
Thanks Brendan
Hi Brendan
An interesting problem. I suspect the gun metal is basically an alloy steel and it is the steel part of the body you wish to mark. Certainly with a good 1.5" meniscus lens you will be able to get the dot resolution for the detail you are trying for. Although I have done few experiments with metal marking I this guy seems to have done a much wider evaluation and you might like to take a look at his work. ua-cam.com/video/emlVbVSWPT0/v-deo.html
Hope this helps
Russ
@@SarbarMultimedia thanks I will watch his video. One thing I wanted to mention. You enlarged the cards you designed to correct errors when importing. Wouldnt it be a good idea to do that to all images we import?
@@SarbarMultimedia
One last thing have you heard of this company/seen these machines. I wonder if we could convert ours to this type setup. I have the same china blue with the same upgraded tube as you.
ua-cam.com/video/u86TI3atayE/v-deo.html
Hi Brendan
Remember that I am not an expert, just someone that may be a little higher up the learning ladder. Since I made that video I have learnt a bit more. My work-around of enlarging the picture to stop minute artifacts happening as I imported DXFs with very small detail, it was in fact covering up my lack of knowledge. If you go to Config, File Parameter. There are two boxes there called Auto close curves and Combine curves. By default they are set to 0.1mm. I have now set them both to 0.001mm and that fixes the problem
Best wishes
Russ
This is this is basically a CNC motion and laser tube on 4 adjustable legs. For certain types of job it has merit for others where you want to accurately and repeatably relate the head to the work table, it looks like a nightmare. There is a guy in New Zealand that has independently had the same idea and has built his own lightweight version of this flat tableless machine. He plans to take it to site to engrave on tables , walls, doors or anything that is to big or cumbersome to fit into a machine. Take the machine to the job.
Best wishes
Russ
Hi Russ,
Brilliant as usual,
Question: Is the transmission % loss a linear function of Power input ?
Logically it can be inferred that % loss is constant regardless of power. This is a monochromatic light beam with synchronize waves, the thickness of the coating will likely be set at quarter or half wavelength thickness to reduce surface reflectivity. More power is only increased light density within the beam, thus as there is no inherent change to the light characteristic as power increases I cannot see a logical reason for the transmission efficiency to change. An interesting question though.
Best wishes
Russ
Very interesting AND the Gallium result blew away that "internet expert" I mentioned to you. Now time to catch Pt. 3.
Facts conquer the "candyfloss" experts. As I said, listen, smile and do your own research. Don't go back and gloat he will be slinking away into the shadows.
Best wishes
Russs
Oh, no he is not the type to gloat with so I am smiling inside and will let him wallow in his ignorance.
So I do not want a lens that transmits a lot of power for engraving but I do for cutting, right? If so that leaves out most of those lenses including the CVD.
If I was focused on photo engraving, as I believe you are, I would choose the CDV lens based on what I know so far. A small compromise on cutting power would be a small penalty for having a great engraving lens. There may be times when you need to engrave and cut in one program so you will have a low power tube (40 or 50 watts). 5% of 50 watts is a negligible power loss of 2.5watts. You cut with watts not percentages. However, there may be more surprises in store when I get to cutting. Well focused power may be more important than absolute power at the cutting surface. I have an interesting problem I hope to solve. How you can cut 10mm thick plywood with a 38.1 lens? The rapidly divergent beam after the focal point should make this impossible.....but it's not because I have done it many times. Hmmmm.
Best wishes
Russ
Yes, if a dot is more defined it would have more power at the point (pin point versus being pricked by your eraser) and since we can't measure the power of the dots per lens we are not getting the complete picture. This should show up in part 3 when you begin cutting but, as you very well know, a small, and well defined, dot with little power is what an engraver is after.
watching your videos, I had the idea of actuating the lens off-axis to cut tapers.
If you imagine a simple square shape and want tapered sides how would you achieve this? Offsetting the lens in X and Y will produce a positive taper in say left and lower edges. However, it will be a negative taper on the right and top edges. It gets more complex when you try t cut a disc. If you plan a lens with a tipping axis or lateral movement then you have a massive problem synchronizing that movement to the X and Y motions of the program. Don't stop imagineering....there are still so many problems to be solved.
Best wishes
Russ
I was thinking about active steering, I guess that's how waterjet cutters do it, you need to put the center of rotation at the focal point. I am still in the thinking phase, one of the issue is the weight of the head, that means light actuators, lightweight probably means closed loop. I was thinking about a flexural XY platform for the geometry part of things because the amplitude is small. Keep the great work.
Going to save this to watch at lunch time!
Very interesting video as always, thanks.
I have a question about RD works. Is there a way for it to automatically remove all the space from multiple shapes (referred to as nesting in other software). Say if I imported 3 different shapes, and got an outline of each, and sized them all the way I want, but for RD works to then auto arrange them so I don't waste any of my wood or plexiglass. The "nesting" function seems to just duplicate and arrange one shape.
The simple answer is no. The nesting function you refer to is an array and yes it duplicates a single shape into a regular horizontal and vertical pattern. I have always nested manually but there are programs available.You might like to check out
www.mynesting.com/
Best wishes
Russ
Hi Russ, it's me again :) So, Chinese refunded me $900 and I kept the machine lol. Much better deal now. I was wondering if you could share your new acrylic laser head drawings, so we (your fans) could make them too! We (me and my company) have already launched 3Dpassion.com and I specifically dedicated a section there for laser files. Feel free to use our platform to share any of your DXGs. The reason why I am asking for that acrylic head is because I get a weird oscillating line when cutting instead of straight line and I think it is related to the head first of all being way too long. Belts are still in my shipping list too. May do that later. I also want to feature your youtube channel somewhere on our laser file repository page as your channel is very awesome and educational. Please get in touch with me! :)
Hi Vlad
I am currently putting the acrylic head thorough it's paces with my lens testing exercise. I certainly don't want to offer you guys a half cock design. At present I have been very happy with everything I have thrown at it The lens tests are really stretching the capability with many different lens holder and nozzle combinations. After this last lens session I will be back on the case and with a slightly easier design for the the less skilled/ those without special tools Tapping holes is not second nature to many people and I am trying to take that into account. I already have a small batch of brackets manufactured and I plan to put together a complete kit of screws nuts and springs, which if bought in small quantities would be expensive. I will be defining where to get suitable lenses and lens tubes from so as to make it easy for folks to follow my footsteps. Is there a way of contacting you through your website?
Best wishes
Russ
SarbarMultimedia fill out the Form on CNC page, and you can attach the message there. This way I can see your contact info, email etc. can’t share my email in public here for spam precautions. Lets talk :)
SarbarMultimedia hi Russ, haven’t received your contacts there, gonna try to send you a private message here on youtube.
You now have , at your website.
SarbarMultimedia nope, nothing there. Here is my fb: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100023436488711
Great video as always, thank you. I'd like to purchase a dohicky, can I give you my email for information? Thanks
Sadly, You Tube have done away with their private message system recently so everything has to be transmitted via a public forum. . If you like to add your email address to another comment then I will immediately delete it from public view and send you a data pack
Best wishes
Russ