My first samples

[Jiten Patel]

Hey guys, so I finally got my galvo, and what a beauty she is. Just spent the last few weeks doing a few samples. Bagged my first order. Just getting the website ready to go live, so I thought I would take the time and load up some pics from my first batch. I have completed 12 sets, 51 to go!!!

Hope you like. Critic welcome. ;)

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[Hannu Rinne]

Someone is an artist and someone is jealous ( I belong to the latter group ) - just marvelous job !

Regards,
Hannu

[Mike Null]

Jit

Those are absolutely elegant! It would appear that you have already mastered the intricacies of your new machine.

Thanks,

[Dan Hintz]

What can we say, Jit... top notch work. I'm envious of that new machine...

[David Fairfield]

Beautiful work-- artistically and technically. I'm sure the machine will pay off quickly for you, and I hope you'll show more as you go!

Dave

[Dee Gallo]

Beautiful designs, fascinating to look at - I'll bet your customers are simply amazed! It's great to see you hit the ground running with the new machine, looks like you are having fun too - good luck with your growing business!

cheers, dee

[Dan Hintz]

Jit,

A reminder to get rid of the "coming soon" in your sig ;)

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Jit,
Beautiful work and very inspiring. Like the photography also. Nice depth of field on the 7th one and what color purple is the 8th one?

How much of a time difference is there from a CO2 laser and a galvo? Maybe you could make a pattern and post it here, with time to cut and type of paper, then several of us could run the file on our laser and see what a comparison of time is between different lasers and wattages. What do you think?

[Dan Hintz]

Michael,

The card with the '4' in it, upper left hand corner of first pic... that would take me several minutes to laser. The galvo probably does it in 10-15 seconds.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Dan,
We both have 60 watt lasers and I think mine would only take less than a minute. I know galvo's are fast when engraving but not sure how much faster when cutting.

I cut poster board for stencils and construction paper sometimes 3-4 layers at a time and can do it fairly quick but we need a benchmark file and same material to get a better than ballpark idea of how much of a difference in time they are.

Just curious to see real world example.

[Jiten Patel]

Hey folks,

Thank you for all your nice comments, it is much appreciated. Make all the hard work worthwhile.

Michael, depending on design, the galvo takes between 5 seconds anywhere up to 5 minutes. The bronze heart design takes a while, but saying that commands a matching price tag. The card colour is simply called purple, it’s a matt card with a slightly roughened finish. Really great quality stuff, comes in 51 colours. I prefer cutting the pearlescent stuff, less charring and dust to clear from the card stock which is a pain.

Dan, I do have to get rid of the coming soon bit hey, 3 months of it being there, I was kinda getting used to it being there!!!

Most of our card stock is 200-300gsm. A time comparison would be great. I have enclosed a file which takes me about 15-20 seconds to complete depending on thickness (vector). To engrave like in the picture take about 5-7 seconds. If you guys run it on say 300gsm and see what sort of time you’re getting, that would be great.

Also how do you stack the card? I tried it with weights but the charring and smoke marks where unacceptable for the type of product I'm trying to create (the highest quality wedding stationery with no exceptions made). It’s something I would love to know how to do because it would save me a hell of a lot of time, but running tests, it just didn’t work.

[David Fairfield]

Hi Jit, again beautiful work. How is the resolution of detail on a Galvo compared to a CO2? I imagine you get completely smooth curves and tight corners, without the little jiggles you can get when vectoring with a CO2.

I never was able to layer without smoke stains, but there is a thread here, not long ago, where some people discussed being able to do it.

Dave

[Jiten Patel]

David,

I tried those techniques, but they didnt work for me. One at a time it is then!

The galvo gives tight corners and perfect curves everytime. I guess this is due to the beam being directed by mirrors rather than a moving head. The biggest compromise for speed was detail. Our spot size is massive compared to what you guys have on your flatbeds. We get in the region of 0.2mm (I think).

[Michael Kowalczyk]

Hey Jit,
Thanks for the file and paper info. I think it would be a fun project to compare notes with. I will see if I can get some paper soon to run a sample.

So if any of you paper gurus out there know what the equivalent card stock is here, please share it so we can all be on the same page.:D

When I do multiple layers, there is usually a sacrificial layer in there also. Hardest part for me was adjusting the airflow so it would not make the paper flutter while being cut and that the small pieces do not get in the way of the laser or clog up the extraction vents. Have blast gate on extraction unit to slow airflow but sometimes even wide open is not slow enough. Then I'll put small dams in front of vents to minimize as much as I can without smoking up the cabinet.:eek:

[Dee Gallo]

Here's a chart for you Michael. Actually this is a pretty handy thing to know!

So it looks like we need to try something like 100-200 pound stock.

:) dee

[Dan Hintz]

I'll try and run the file this weekend. I have some 67lb stock on hand... weight shouldn't matter, though, as I'm well under 100% power and therefore limited by speed. Just by looking at it, I'll guess it will take about 2 minutes to complete (but it has been a while since vector cutting board, so I could be off).

[Dee Gallo]

Hi Jit,

I was wondering how big the sample card is supposed to be? When I imported it into CD, it was 12" x 13"... that seems big. I want to resize it to match your size for the test. Thanks!

[Frank Corker]

Fabulous job Jit, there'll be no stopping you now!

[Robert Walters]

Jit,

I HATE YOU! LOL

Keep up the good work =)


When stacking, could you put sacrificial paper (newspaper?) on the top and bottom of the stack?

[Jiten Patel]

Cheers Robert, I love you too!

I've tried sacrificial paper. but I still get smoke damage, which I deem unacceptable.

Dee, the size of the vector is, (in inches) w - 4.78 - H - 4.9 - Its cut on a 150mmx150mm card (6"x6")

[Dee Gallo]

Well, Jit, your galvo is definitely superfast next to my 35w. But we knew that... Anyway, my test was done on a 6" x 6" piece of 130 lb. white watercolor paper (slight texture) at 100 speed/50 power/500 freq on my 35w Epilog. Your file worked perfectly, it took 1 minute 15 seconds total. I got hardly any charring, and even without any masking there is only a hint of smoke on the front, none on the back. I chose white to see this, but if I used any color, I don't think you'd see any. The edges are clean as you can see from my blurry pic.

Thanks for providing the file for this test, it was instructional! And of course we all need a galvo now:D

cheers, dee

[Jiten Patel]

Dee they look great. We hardly get any charring now. We do however get a bevel type edge on one side due to the way the galvo cuts (from a fixed point). But this can be used to great effect. The other side is always perfect with zero charring, or discolouration (apart from when those pesky bits that fall out start to smoulder).

How do mean instructional?

I would recommend the galvo to anyone with a few pennies laying around. Its an incredible machine. But judging by what you guys produce, Im not sure you would really need the speed and sacrifice the detail. I mean we cannot do photos or fine text.

[Jiten Patel]

Round two of pics.