mtaylor

Per, That is the water pump. The 5-gallon bucket has 3-gallons of distilled water in it and is used for cooling the laser tube. There are some companies that sell a refrigeration unit that pumps chilled water through the laser tubes water jacket. Jack, Their tech support is in house and only operated 4 hours a day, Monday through Friday.

Dr. Per, You are correct. The hobby market cutters are just not to a good level yet. Hang onto your cash and buy what you need from a known good supplier, like Chuck.

Nigel, The problem with leaving too much meat is the sanding... your arm will thank you for not having to sand that extra 1/32". Have a good vacation.

Thanks Nigel. I'm still working on the speed and the power along with the number of passes settings. And you are right about the potential.

Nigel, When you start fairing, you might find that 1/16" is too much to leave.... There's next to no bevel on this cross-section but it is possible (I know this from experience) to get misalignment. Oh... I picked up two pieces of 12" X 12" X 1/4" glass from the local glass place. They're flat and heavy and make sure it's the tempered stuff in case you drop one and it shatters.

Thanks for the likes and comments, folks. Here's the latest... Well... my patience has run out with MM. There will be no more tools for me bought from them. If I can't fix any of the ones I've bought from them, it will be replaced by another manufacturer. As I said previously, I sent an email (posted at the end of this post) on Sunday night. 5 days and no response. I don't believe I was offensive, angry or mean. But no response, not even a "got your mail and we're looking into this" would have been acceptable. As for the tool in question... after discussion with the Admiral, she calmed me down and got me rational. Rather than starting the whole process over, I'm hanging on to it. I can upgrade when the laser tube dies to a larger power tube. With what I'm using it for, it'll work. I had to do mods to the mini-mill to get to work better and sometimes the devil you do know is better than the one you don't. I'm not sure there really is a good solution to a hobby type cutter out there for what we do and under $3000 (US). Or at least one that won't require a lot time and energy to set it up, climb up and over the learning curve, and get it properly tweaked. This already has many of the mods that I'd have to source and go through anyway.... 220 VAC power unit, for example. I also know the weaknesses. So I'll put my time and energy into resolving the issues I have left rather than starting over. Anyway... I won't recommend this tool to anyone because the tech support isn't there. But if you do buy one, be forewarned. Anyway, here's the email.... Hi, I have a question and some observations on my LaserKnife. Questions: 1) Lenses... are there better lenses available or perhaps ones with different focal lengths? I'll be cutting a variety of wood thicknesses from 1/64" up to possibly 1/4". I've double and triple checked and cleaned the mirrors and I think the focus could be a bit better. 2) Is there a manual somewhere that has more detail on CorelLaser? There's settings in there I have no idea what they are for. 3) The cooling water, is there a max temperature rise or a max temperature to watch out for? Observations, 1) The manual is a bit vague in areas like parts identification and mirror alignment. 2) The lense in the cutting head seems to have been installed upside down. It had the concave side up and the convex side down. After Googling and reading, I find out that these should be the other way with the concave side down and the convex side up. I got a finer cut when I did that. Thank you.

Looks darn good, Nigel. My only suggestion is to put the frame between some glass with a weight to ensure full contact of the futtocks and also to prevent any possible warping as the glue dries. But if what your doing is working for you, ignore me.

Ted, I really don't know much about where that plan came from. You might try PM'ing "Russ" as he's the author.

Nice looking deck, John.

Congratulations on a beautiful Essex, Bob. Splice the mainbrace!!! And well-deserved splicing it will be.

Beautiful metalwork, Alex.

Those little Pi's don't look like much but they have a lot of processing power for their size. I'm seeing more and more hobby projects using them and it's not computer projects, per se. One project I'm familiar with is using one to control a plane to be launched into the lower reaches of space via balloon and then a rocket motor. The Pi will provide full avionics control including data comms back to earth. For a ship, the possibilities are endless.

Beautiful work, Mobbsie. You're right about the redheart. I also splinters if you look at the wrong way but you seemed to have tamed that beast.

That is a sweet little cutter, Ray. It looks great.

KP, As that in the Model Kit Questions area: http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/forum/26-plastic-model-kits-plastic-scratchquestions-and-reviews/ You might get more answers. I've only built 2 Hellers, one eons ago and then tried a Vic about 14 years ago. I wasn't missing parts but some of the parts were badly malformed.

Bob, You haven't lost your touch at all from what I can see.

Rules? There are no rules except to have fun, Thanasis.

Ah.. measures and counter-measures... It's things like this that really bring the history home. Thanks for posting it.

That's good to hear, Ted. I hope it goes well and you have fun.

Since interest has been shown in this tool by many including myself, here goes a hopefully, full review. I will preface this by saying that this tool is NOT for everyone. To make it clear: if you are expecting out-of-box performance from this, stop reading and go do something else. I fear this is going to be rather long winded.... Background My scroll saw skills leave a lot to be desired and for repetitive items like knees, beams and even cutting small pieces for carving is an issue. So rather than stand in front of a scroll saw for hours and end up tossing 30-50% of the pieces into the scrap box, I thought about a laser cutter. The so-called “hobby lasers” seem appealing. Reasonably low power requirements, low costs, and relatively smaller size appeals to me. Research The caveats that I read about Laser Cutters and followed in the research are: Use a company in the country you are in or will provide support to you. Use a company that has been in business for more than a couple of years. I’ve looked at the imported China Lasers (~$500 US) but have found much wrong with them in the reviews. Extra costs of dealing with an import agent to get the unit out of customs and shipped to you, generally mediocre quality in the assembly, and then there’s the normal software that comes with the these products. Also dealing with a seller in China leaves you high and dry without support. I discovered two being “used” here locally. One is not working and hasn’t from the time he got it a few months ago. He’s in the process of replacing the PC board to be compatible with better software and fixing some damaged items like a broken laser tube. The other, I saw it work, and tried my hand but the software (MoshiDraw) is incredibly bad. The owner was running it on an XP PC as it wouldn’t run consistently in Win7 even in compatibility mode. I looked at another higher priced unit (~$4000 US base price with accessories adding up rapidly). The unit was high quality, made in the US with some Chinese parts including the main board. It used LaserDraw software and from what I saw, the performance was adequate. But as I was unable to sit down and try the woods we use, I can’t give a full report on it. The owners use basswood and thin veneers for creating dollhouses, model railway buildings, etc. The output seemed of good quality but again, it was not the woods or sizes we use. My observation is that this is basically a hobby machine upgraded to being a production type. The one I’m testing is the Micro-Mark brand (~$2000 US). It comes with a 30 day refund guarantee which, if I determine this isn’t what will work for me, I’ll return it. I read their claims that this machine is built to their specifications (http://www.micromark.com/html_pages/misc/the-micro-mark-difference.pdf) . I know that some of us (myself included) have issues with certain practices which I won’t go into. I will say that I won’t buy ripped off equipment. This unit doesn’t appear ripped off but an upgraded Chinese unit. I did not consider anything more powerful than 40W. Maybe I should have, but there's also a cost factor that goes with that. Pre-Order The unit uses CorelLaser as its cutting software using an industry standard HP Plotter Driver and also Corel Draw. I downloaded the manual and documentation from MM. I also ordered a copy of CorelDraw X6 from Amazon. CorelLaser works only with CorelDraw above version 13 so I bought a shrink wrapped, new-in-the-box program for $150 US. I would suggest you do your homework on this. X7, the latest from Corel is a subscription based program. In other words, you pay every month for it. I prefer to have a CD in my drawer just in case…. I spent a week or so refreshing myself on CorelDraw as the last time I used it was Version 5… yeah… been a few years. Unpacking and Set-Up I received this is 3 boxes, well packed in foam. Unpacking is pretty straight forward. I would suggest that the air pump and water pump NOT be removed from their bubble wrap as there is nothing on these items to indicate what they are. I wish that MM had put a photo or two in the instruction manual to identify parts. One thing that is needed is a GFI socket. I’m using a GFI adapter in case I wish at some future date, to move the cutter to a different place. Set-up is pretty straight forward following the manual. The hardest part was figuring out the exhaust setup without cutting a hole in the wall of the house. Also, do NOT secure the exhaust unit to the cutter with tape. Use #10 X 3/4” self-tapping screws. There’s bit a misfit between these parts and the tape will not hold it securely in place. Here's photos of the unit and all the accessories... Testing Started I used the factory settings and followed the instructions in the manual for the recommended passes and power. Not a happy camper using boxwood. The little nameplate is 1/8” thick boxwood. Took 9 passes to cut. Lots of charring. I discovered the mirrors were off. MM instructions are vague in the extreme and need some serious re-writing to be useful. I Googled and eventually found the information I needed here: http://dck40.blogspot.com/ Using other web sources, I discovered that the lens in the cutting head was upside down… WTF!!!! This really irritated me. After spending a day going back and forth between all three mirrors and adjusting them, and then resetting the focus for the wood, here’s the next round. I’m continuing to test and massage things. This will take time. I’m able to cut 3/16” boxwwod which requires multiple passes but as yet, not I’ve not tried ¼” boxwood. Overall Observations. The learning curve on this machine is a vertical, straight line. These machines are still in their infancy and not mature. Documentation is extremely sparse although there are forums out there for laser cutters, getting to the information you need for a particular type or model is a bit overwhelming and I consider myself a knowledgeable Googler. There is no guidance on power settings or cutting speed to cut various types and thicknesses of wood. Serious experimentation is required. This machine is finicky in that all mirrors have to be perfectly adjusted to make use of the power and they have to be kept clean. It is big, and sometimes smelly. It’s not a production machine and the bucket of cooling water will have to be watched. Running at “high” power (no definition from anyone on this or on the max water temperature) will shorten the life of the laser bulb. There is a focus issue and I believe it could cut with a thinner kerf. I’m trying to talk with MM about this…. The nameplate, I couldn’t even begin to cut something that tiny on the scroll saw. It’s now almost ready for carving. I do need to tweak the drawing some more to get a bit better spacing. The anchor stocks I’ve done, would have taken maybe 30 minutes on the scroll saw. Including drawing time, this took approximately 1 hour and no wasted/ruined pieces. However, all 4 are exactly alike and the bolt holes are ready to be cleaned of char and the bolts installed. No fiddling with the drill press, either. I have about 8 other parts ready for cutting and will do them as I go. The kerf size and charring are still an issue. I’ll say it again, it’s not for everyone. If you have the time and ability to Google and research and then to fiddle with it and get it running correctly and then to keep it running, it might be ok for you. The manuals are skimpy at best and a bit of creative Googling will need to be done to help sort things out. There’s still settings in CorelLaser that I have no idea what they do. There is an alternative to CorelLaser called LaserCut 5.3. I haven’t tried it yet and the documentation on-line seems rather sparse from what I’ve seen. Thicknesses of 3/16” and up are tricky to work with. There’s no tables or inputs from MM on this and the web is all over the place on using these “hobby” cutters. However, most folks who have reviewed similar machines are using basswood and thin woods. Doll houses and RR accessories seem to be the major uses along with etching for various things like signs, pendants, etc. I need to have a conversation with MM on the lens… I think it needs to be higher quality and damn it... there’s no excuse to have it installed upside down. Lastly, tech support. I emailed them late on a Sunday night about some issues. I'm still waiting for answer after 3 days… Since we’re talking tech support, it’s worthwhile to note that tech support hours are very limited… Monday through Friday, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm, EDT. I asked tech support before I ordered about using an extender cable and the answer was a simple: not recommended. The unit comes with a 9 foot USB cable so I had to seriously rearrange my workshop to get it closer to the computer. I’m testing a USB powered extender cable so I don’t have cabling running across the floor where it can be stepped on. Jury is out on this. The short answer for all this is: I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are tech savvy, not just with computers but also can tolerate a large learning curve. The quality of the cuts could be a lot better. Overall, it might better that if this tool is something you have to have then spend about double the cash and get a higher powered, non-China built laser cutter with some tech support. The BossLaser that Chuck uses runs about $5000 and has the higher power to cut thicker woods and is, I believe, also suitable as a production machine. I'll continue to test, adjust, fiddle, and tweak for now...

All I can say is: "Wow". Lovely work, Lee.

Beautiful work, Thanasis. Congratulations on a wonderful model.

Ted, If you just want something to practice with, have a look at this article: http://modelshipworldforum.com/resources/plans_and_research/InterpretingLineDrawings.pdf Russ explains the meaning of the lines and there's a simple set of plans.

It's plastic.. do NOT use a candle. :o