Starship Modeler Discussion Forums

I agree completely. You can certainly get acceptable results with a fair amount of speed/power tweaking. I can vary both between 1-100% with my 50 watt machine. It also helps to knock the ppi back to something less than 500. Larger,. thicker panels cut from styrene really aren't a problem, unless yo...

I almost forgot to mention....and I think this is something a lot of people miss, while you can safely cut styrene via laser, the results you get aren't exemplary. The edges tend to shrink, melt and char making it difficult to get good clean cuts. Intricate cutting and engraving can be nearly imposs...

You get what you pay for....this especially applies to laser cutters/engravers. I've spoken to a number of people that have gone the "hobby machine" route and experienced nothing but frustration and grief. If you really want a laser, my suggestion would be to save up enough money to purcha...

I know a lot of people do it without issue, but lining the inside of a model with aluminum tape makes me a little nervous. Since it's conductive, you have to be very careful not to leave any exposed connections, otherwise you'll short out your lighting.

I've seen Micromark's laser. It's basically one of the "cheap" Chinese machines re-dressed with their name on it. Looking around on Ebay, there are practically identical units being sold for less than $800. With lasers you generally get what you pay for, and even though $2k is indeed a lot...

Just a little update. I finally got the materials ordered and they should be here any day now.

Once I finish burning through my Wonderfest workload, I'll get some of the material in here and start doing some tests. I've got a refit here that I'm just about to start work on the nacelles. That should make a good test bed.

Well...I'm familiar with the acrylic they're using for these LEDs. There are two flavors, one optimized for edge lighting, and another optimized for diffusion with back-lighting. I'm thinking warp grills and such cut specifically to size and shape for specific models might be quite useful to a lot o...

Well, this thread is certainly giving me ideas for a whole line of laser cut goodies

I've always leaned towards 12 volts. Good power supplies are easier to come by, and most of the LED strips are designed to run at 12 volts.

If you opt to use foil, just make sure you do a good job insulating all your electrical connections on your LED's and such. Wouldn't want that conductive foil shorting anything out!

Doesn't look like a bad little machine. I'd call it an American version of some of the inexpensive Chinese machines on the market. My only concern would be the glass tube. They don't have the same beam quality and longevity as a metal tube. But, for a hobbyist, it might not be bad.

I used an arduino with great success to control my PL refit. However, the current requirements of multiple LEDs are far beyond its capabilities. I ended up building a separate power board with MOS FET transistor switches that could be turned on and off by the arduino.

Yup. Here's what happened when I used Duplicolor sandable white primer. The pearls are an automotive lacquer, and they still couldn't bite into it enough to hold. The problem went away when I switched to Plasticote.

Duplicolor

Whoops, sorry!...the word TenaControls just above the embedded YouTube video is a link to the TenaControls website. The price in on their page.

Here's an option made by Tena Controls if you don't want to design, or build a circuit yourself. I've recently put one together myself for a demo unit, and it works verra nice!

http://www.laserfirecreations.com/Shields%20Up.html

Here you go. I use Novus all the time on acrylic.

http://www.novuspolish.com/

Yeah, plus the bigger machines have a higher maintenance cost. Eventually that tube is going to die, and the higher the wattage, the more it's going to cost to replace. That all gets integrated into their pricing formulas as well. What kind of machine are you running? I'm running an Epilog Mini here...

Another couple of other factors to consider regarding speed are material thickness/type and laser power. Higher laser power equates to quicker cutting speeds. And of course, The thicker the material, the longer it takes to get through it.

I found it at Dick Blick's, I think a lot of other artist supply stores carry it as well. It's intended to be used as graffiti paint.

I've recently started using Montana Gold rattle cans on my acrylic back-lit displays. I had been using Krylon Fusion, but it was taking several coats to make it completely opaque. Two coats of the Montana Gold black and I can hold it inches from a super-bright desktop light and nothing gets through!...

Don't worry about using a supply that's rated at 2 amps or higher. That's simply a maximum rating. It won't "push" more current into your circuit. It'll just run a little cooler if the model doesn't require that much current.

Maybe you have some less difficult to paint acrylic? Good question. The plexi tends to be the worst ive found though. That or your good (lucky) or both :P Well, I wouldn't say I've been lucky, but it does tend to work. I just build it up the film very slowly over multiple coats. Also, I don't use c...

I've been using Fusion when making back lit acrylic displays for quite some time now. Never had a problem.

A customer of mine designed a pretty slick circuit for this using an arduino microcontroller. He let me have the design in exchange for one of the displays. I've been intending to base a lighting kit off of it, but just haven't had the time to get it together. I'll shoot him an email and ask if he m...

That was a type of engraving plastic. It's considered to be a "modified acrylic".

If you can use 0.60 acrylic rather than styrene, you might get better results. All the styrene cuts I had kind of over melted, and sometimes curled. :? Agreed...while I've gotten "ok" results with styrene before. It likes to melt and turn to goo...especially on smaller parts. Acrylic is d...

Right here.

Ridout Plastics

Last week I noticed my local hobby shop had a mostly full case of Tenax on the shelf and another unopened one underneath. I bought two bottles just in case and asked the clerk if they were having any problems getting it. He said they were having no difficulties getting it from their distributor and ...

I've had a lot of polishing success using Micro Mesh products. It takes some time going through all the different grits, but it's well worth the effort. Novus polishes work extremely well also. I've buffed some pretty nasty scratches out of acrylic with it. Once again, all you need is some time and ...