Kurt Feigel -
School is officially out for the year. My boys had a great group of teachers this year so I thought I'd make them some nice gifts.
- It's cheaper than gift cards.
- It will last them for years to come
- It's fun
- Because I can
Last year I did something similar. I used the CNC machine to make desk plaques with the teachers names on them.
I thought it would be fun this year to do something similar but using the 130 watt laser.
For my Son's science teacher I started off trying to make the entire periodic table. But it was a bit too large, the numbers too small, and the Laser focus was off on the bottom. Not to be deterred I took the elements of the periodic table and spelled the word SCIENCE with them. To make the modifications I was using INKSCAPE and saving as a .DXF so I could scale the file to the size I needed in the lasers software.
Laser is fast. But still takes time.
Design takes longer. I found some great vector files at www.VECTORSTOCK.com. No relation to Vector Space. Vectorstock is great because you can get vector graphics for around $1.00. All you have to do is pre-purchase credits.
The laser will cut material that is up to 1/2 inch thick. Most of what I was working with was 1/4. It will move at 8 mm per second at 95% power to make a cut.
I probably spent 8 hours working on all of these. Most got a coat of poly added. I am very happy with the results:
