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Jon Sollee
03-27-2014, 2:17 PM
Anyone care to share any new projects they are working on? Would love to see what everyone is working on. Images would be awesome.:D

Just finished this sign for the Santa Monica Merchant.285768285769

100P 30 S 600DPI wood planks. They wanted the natural organic look for their shop sign. Took 1 hour to lase.

Bruce Page
03-27-2014, 2:36 PM
Jon, I'm not a laser guy but that is an awesome looking machine!

Jon Sollee
03-27-2014, 2:38 PM
Thanks Bruce!

Bert Kemp
03-27-2014, 4:54 PM
I ride with the Patriot Guard Riders of Arizona. For those of you who don't know who we are,Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives:
1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities. We usually form a circle of American Flags around the service area.
2. Shield the mourning family and their friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.
We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.
Even tho we do many285771 missions each year for Heroes we don't know, every once in a while one of our own pass's. When this happens I make a memorial mirror for the Family and its presented to the family at their loved ones service.
In the last 3 months we have lost 2 of our own and below is the mirrors that I made for the families.
Joe was a member of the Army's 5th Infantry Div. Their Insignia was the Red Diamond.285770

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgqb2GNrUWw285774

Mike Chance in Iowa
03-27-2014, 4:59 PM
Nice work Jon. I'm not working on anything interesting right now. Just name tags & such with people's names that wouldn't be appropriate to post on a forum. Now if you're talking about new projects that include Spring chores such as pruning trees, cleaning the winter ick off the RV, worming the livestock. You know. Fun stuff like that. Well .... I'll spare you the exciting pictures, since that usually involves a lot of stinky mud.

Gary Hair
03-27-2014, 5:11 PM
I ride with the Patriot Guard Riders of Arizona.

Good on ya Bert!

Jon Sollee
03-27-2014, 5:25 PM
Very cool Bert! Thanks for sharing!

Jon Sollee
03-27-2014, 5:28 PM
Mike that sounds like you have your Spring all mapped out. What are you making the name tags out of?

Bill Stearns
03-27-2014, 5:57 PM
Hey All -
Just finished 'little project for the assisted living place where my folks live 'n Florida. (both my Dad 'n Mom are 95 years old.) Their pastor is retiring - so, I made this plaque for 'em. Engraved a picture of the place on LaserBlak, then embedded it into the wood, 'stead of just taping it on. Trouble is: my Dad - the positive guy that he is - will no doubt think its spectacular. I could use your more unbiased opinions. (fun sharing ideas ... uh?)

Bill

David Somers
03-27-2014, 6:09 PM
Bill, That came out great!! The photo looks like it engraved beautifully. Nice idea embedding the LaserBlak instead of surface mounting it. It is a little hard to tell from the photo but my guess is it really gives it a very finished look. I think your Dad will be justifiably delighted with it, as will the pastor and his wife!!

Dave

Bill Stearns
03-27-2014, 7:58 PM
Hey 'gain -
Jon started this out by asking 'bout our projects; things we might share. It is neat seeing what others are doing. I do pretty well with "lake maps" - but, could use some advice. (I'm up against those selling 3-D engraved maps 'n sometimes "routed" lake maps.) Using Corel Draw X5, if I were to take the time to segment the different areas of the map illustration into layers, and engrave each layer, or map segment, with different tones, different colors - would I achieve a 3-D look? Haven't tried yet. Anybody have an idea how it would work out? Or, any other ideas on how I might improve on engraving the maps I do. (Epilog 35 W.) Eager to hear.

Bill

Mike Chance in Iowa
03-27-2014, 8:25 PM
Mike that sounds like you have your Spring all mapped out. What are you making the name tags out of?

Barely scratching the surface yet with Spring chores. :-) I usually make name tags out of LaserMax or Textures depending upon what the person needs. Veterinarians I work with prefer scratch resistant. I use magnetic strips instead of safety pins. Less jabs into the thumb that way!

David Somers
03-27-2014, 11:35 PM
Bill,

That is a lovely map!

A couple of thoughts come to mind for variations. One would be to do something similar to the actual layered 3D maps that are out there and instead do inlay for the layers. The map would be flat, one layer, but each band of depth would be an inlayed wood of a different color. If you used a fairly white wood for all the layers and used aniline dyes you could create a series of graduated blue shades for the various water depths. If you got really fancy you could do blue shades for the lake depths, and shades of greens or browns for the land depending on the land cover that is there. Again, color gradations for contours. It would be somewhat labor intensive, but possibly not as bad as it sounds. Since it is inlay, the entire map could be cut on one piece of whitish veneer. Cut a bunch of them in one session while you are set up. Then have your dyes ready and do all the pieces that will be color a, then color b, color c, etc. Then glue and assemble and clamp till dry. I don't think I have seen someone take this approach yet.

Another approach I have been fascinated with visually are city maps I have seen that are kind of the skeleton of a leaf. The veins remain but the material between the veins is gone. You are left with a very open tracery. The same thing is done with a street map, but what is left are the streets. A big city becomes an open tracery of streets with all the spaces in between gone. Quite striking. A little tough to navigate with when you are out for a Sunday drive of course, but you can't have everything. (they don't fold well) To be honest, I would need to ponder a bit to see how that would be effective with a contour map like you are doing versus a street map. Might not work so well, but worth a thought.

A last thought would be a bit odd, but perhaps worth a try.

You have seen what they call light twirlers, spiral cut snowflake type designs done in a modestly thick mylar? Or Christmas ornaments that are thin wood but cut in a spiral so they expand out when you push on the center? Do that same thing with your contour lines in the lake. You would need to modify a copy of the file so that the shoreline contour is not simply one continuous closed line, but instead spirals over to include the 20 foot contour, which spirals over to become the 30 foot contour, etc. Use some clear acrylic rods as stand offs and use them to support the shoreline contour above the plaque used as a background and have the contours down below the shoreline spiral open down to the plaque surface. That plaque surface becomes the lake bottom. Obviously you would make the "lake" and its contours out of a thin enough wood stock that it can flex enough that the spiral can expand down from the shore to the plaque level.

Fun work though. I bet that engraved map does well for you? Very nice.

Dave

Chris DeGerolamo
03-28-2014, 10:48 AM
We recently moved to the mountains of NC from Raleigh and I had the time to make a new sign. This is constructed of stained and/or sanded 3ply baltic birch.
285823

Jon Sollee
03-28-2014, 12:08 PM
Thanks for everyone that has shared! Love to see what everyone is doing. Lots of great work here. Keep the projects coming!

Paul Phillips
03-28-2014, 12:37 PM
We use our laser to compliment what we do with other processes such as Rowmark letters for ADA signs. Here is an elevator sign we did for the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
285830
Here is one we used the laser for to cut the letters out of 1/4" Acrylic with VHB tape on the back, the Backer was cut on the CNC out of 1/2" Acrylic.
285834
Paul

Sotos Patistas
03-28-2014, 12:42 PM
Not real glamorous. It's a wind tunnel model of a rooftop with 224 solar panels on top. 56 of them have pressure taps in the surface of the panel, and 56 of them have pressure taps underneath the panels. Each of the pressure taps has a 4' section of flexible tubing attached with in turn connects to a device that reads the pressure while the wind tunnel makes wind. The other 112 don't have pressure taps, but just need to be there. The completed model will have 7 different rooftops allowing different panel placements to be tested. The solar panel arrays are all removable allowing for the different placements. Like I said, not real glamorous, but the next time you walk by a building with solar panels on the roof and they don't blow off and strike you dead, well, you're welcome. :) 285831285832285833

Joe Hillmann
03-28-2014, 12:47 PM
Hey 'gain -
Jon started this out by asking 'bout our projects; things we might share. It is neat seeing what others are doing. I do pretty well with "lake maps" - but, could use some advice. (I'm up against those selling 3-D engraved maps 'n sometimes "routed" lake maps.) Using Corel Draw X5, if I were to take the time to segment the different areas of the map illustration into layers, and engrave each layer, or map segment, with different tones, different colors - would I achieve a 3-D look? Haven't tried yet. Anybody have an idea how it would work out? Or, any other ideas on how I might improve on engraving the maps I do. (Epilog 35 W.) Eager to hear.

Bill


Bill,
I found a great way to do lake maps is to cut the shorline of the lake from 1/8" birch. Then behind the wood shoreline mount a piece of plexiglass that has been painted blue and engraved from the backside then the engraving painted white.

Kev Williams
03-28-2014, 1:01 PM
Projects this week:

Laser etching part and serial numbers on a few hundred SS and anodized medical tools;

I built 14 black anodized aluminum ski lift control panels, did all the machining on the IS7000, and all the text and graphics on the Triumph (which is exactly why I bought those 2 machines last fall!), have two panels left to finish today;

I have about 20 of the above company's competition's SS ski lift operator panels in house to laser etch, they laser cut the panels themselves, completed one so far;

One of my customers builds custom fly sishing reels, I'm about t0 engrave the S/N and other info on the end caps and sides of his latest;

My BIL has done a few hundred SS ID tags (2 variations) for a local valve company;

Another local customer builds trucks that haul liquid explosives for mining operations, every week for these guys I machine and engrave/paint fill fiberglass and ABS electric boxes, fab and engrave hydraulic control labels, engrave/paint pull-knobs, laser etch SS ID tags;

I have about a dozen SS high-pressure control valves that I'll be laser etching part and serial number info on later today;

Cowbells, always have cowbells to engrave;

A local electric parts company supplies parts to Jetway and HK Systems, switch pushbuttons for these companies get engraved and paint fill here (Every Jetway in the world has buttons on their control panels that were engraved in my basement, most of them by my BIL)

I engraved logos into 5 Glock slides Wednesday, and I engrave NFA firearm info on about one firearm a day...

I need to quit typing and get to work on some operator panels! :)

David Somers
03-28-2014, 1:23 PM
Kev!

Fly sishing? Why would you want to apply Silver In Situ Hybridization to happless house flies?
<grin> Sorry....it is Fri after a long week and I am feeling a bit goofy.

Dave

Keith Outten
03-28-2014, 1:23 PM
I'm welding a post support that will be set in concrete in a couple days for the second Victorian sign I am working on for Saint Mary's School. The panel for the sign will be 1/4" thick 28" wide by 30" tall Corian so I will have some engraving to do and will share some pictures late next week. I also have four donor plaques to engrave that are part of the same project, its a Waterfront Classroom and Lab the school just finished building.
.

Jiten Patel
03-29-2014, 7:48 AM
Just a few of the things I'm working on at the moment.

285923285924285925

Dave Sheldrake
03-29-2014, 8:18 AM
285926285927285928285929More trains and lots of rockets :(

gets tedious sometimes

cheers

Dave

Chuck Stone
03-29-2014, 1:04 PM
Dave, those look great!

I modified the hummingbird box a little..

Chuck Stone
03-29-2014, 1:21 PM
and getting ready to pop a clock into this one for a group doing
their best to duplicate the old series..

Kev Williams
04-11-2014, 10:58 PM
Even engrave Lacrosse balls? ;)

287019

Henri Sallinen
04-12-2014, 6:44 AM
The recent project, that was quite a large one was for ourselves.

The project we did, was make a laser engraved jewelryline. To see the end result click on my profile/homepage. (the page is finnish + english).

We decided straight from the beginning that we wouldn't just do the same kinds of jewelry everyone else does (cutting out silhouettes) and this is what we ended up with. I myself am very pleased on the whole outcome. Not just the laserign part, but the whole graphic design, website layouts etc. We also have a tumblr blog and a online shop for our Woodland jewelry (though the shop is currently only in finnish).
Hope you like it! Heres a pic of one of the 12 pendants:
287057

Keith Outten
04-12-2014, 10:59 AM
As promised earlier the pictures below are a couple of the signs I laser engraved this week.

Bert Kemp
04-12-2014, 1:53 PM
The recent project, that was quite a large one was for ourselves.

The project we did, was make a laser engraved jewelryline. To see the end result click on my profile/homepage. (the page is finnish + english).

We decided straight from the beginning that we wouldn't just do the same kinds of jewelry everyone else does (cutting out silhouettes) and this is what we ended up with. I myself am very pleased on the whole outcome. Not just the laserign part, but the whole graphic design, website layouts etc. We also have a tumblr blog and a online shop for our Woodland jewelry (though the shop is currently only in finnish).
Hope you like it! Heres a pic of one of the 12 pendants:
287057


Very nice Henri but you might want to remove the link to your website.

Stephen Kane
04-27-2014, 1:11 PM
Dead Man's Penny

One of our more interesting jobs was to create a plaque using Irish Bog Yew for a customer who wished to mount a 'Dead Man's Penny'.
Those commemorative 'pennies' were awarded by the British Government to families of people killed in the First World War.
In the case of our customer the dead soldier was born in Co. Mayo Ireland and the profile of the piece of bog yew we used approximates the shape of County Mayo.
The attached image shows the final product in our customers home.
288184

Bert Kemp
04-27-2014, 2:10 PM
Dead Man's Penny

One of our more interesting jobs was to create a plaque using Irish Bog Yew for a customer who wished to mount a 'Dead Man's Penny'.
Those commemorative 'pennies' were awarded by the British Government to families of people killed in the First World War.
In the case of our customer the dead soldier was born in Co. Mayo Ireland and the profile of the piece of bog yew we used approximates the shape of County Mayo.
The attached image shows the final product in our customers home.
288184Thats Awesome, love the bog yew piece you got.

brian saban
04-27-2014, 5:46 PM
Kieth, very nice work. What type of material are those signs?

Keith Outten
04-28-2014, 6:25 AM
Brian,

The last group of signs I made for Saint Mary's School were made from Dupont Corian. The panel insert for the Victorian post was laser engraved 1/4" thick Vanilla colored Corian. The donor plaques installed inside the Waterfront Classroom were 1/2" thick Glacier White Corian.

There is a thread in the Sign Forum with more details about these signs and the source information for the company that I purchase the sign hardware.
.

Kev Williams
05-02-2014, 4:55 PM
I get some pretty diverse jobs, here's a couple more I'm doing..


Brain surgery drill bits-- I'm laser etching the company logo (hidden), part number and serial number on these...

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/drill1.jpg

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/drill2.jpg


And how about Captain America's shield?
This is the actual shield used in the movie --I don't have it, but I needed the pic to digitize from...

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/capamerica1.jpg


What I DO have is its twin, a local guy is making an exact duplicate-- my job is to engrave the star in the middle (which isn't going to be ANY fun!)

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/capamerica2.jpg


It looks like it's 'cone' shaped, but it's actually a perfect partial sphere. Don't know who made it but they did a nice job!

I'll be engraving it later today (if all goes well)..
:)

David Somers
05-02-2014, 6:09 PM
Kev,

I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. had its own manufacturing facility for making his shields? I didn't realize they were contracting out. Glad to see they are "buying American"

Quite the project!!! Looks pretty fun!

What machine are you doing the engraving with??



Dave

Kev Williams
05-02-2014, 7:35 PM
I'll be engraving it on one of my 35 year old Vanguard 5000XT's, they have the necessary 4" table to spindle clearance I need. Holding the thing down is going to be no fun either...

Kev Williams
05-05-2014, 6:26 PM
Wasn't able to do it Friday, but I just got the shield done, took some pics in case anyone's interested--

Clamped down and ready to engrave on the newer of my 5000XT machines. I hate clamping stuff like this, it's always precarious at best.
Had more Z clearance than I thought I'd have, which was good--

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cap1.jpg



The star is laid out in 25 separate pieces so that all the engraving went downhill. I didn't want to risk having the depth gauge push the shield around the table going UP the shield.
The gold vinyl, I've had since 1991, it's a thick brittle vinyl that works great as an engraving masking, to keep the depth nose from scuffing the aluminum.

Here the center section is done....

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cap2.jpg


Next was the 'inner' star. The arc of the shield DID turn out to be a bit of a problem, I ran out of spindle Z-stroke before I ran out of shield to engrave.
The fix was to lower the spindle head while it it was engraving. Fortunately the XT's head remains true while doing this!

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cap3.jpg


And, she's done.

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cap4.jpg


Washed up and ready for the customer, who'll be here any minute! :)

http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/cap5.jpg

Bert Kemp
05-05-2014, 8:43 PM
Pretty awesome work Kev. You take on some pretty tricky jobs. Did you ever mess one up?

Kev Williams
05-05-2014, 10:43 PM
"Did you ever mess one up?"

OMG, now that there is funny... !!

;)

Bert Kemp
05-05-2014, 11:19 PM
Yea well I know we all mess some up but I meant a big job like the shield. Its a one of a kind job .

Kev Williams
05-06-2014, 12:07 PM
Not long ago I engraved a pair of refurbished circa 1910 gas fired headlight enclosures for an old car and muffed one up. Fortunately a little brazing and another layer of copper plating took care of it... And 2 weeks ago I had to buy a whole cedar chest just to replace a sliding door I engraved in totally the wrong place. The door can be repaired but time was a factor. We've already sold the cedar chest as is, with the messed up door for what we paid for it, so other than the hassle of buying the thing in the first place it all worked out.

short version of a very long list.... ;)

Mike Null
05-06-2014, 5:45 PM
Kev

Impressive work.

I appreciate your mentioning a couple of flubs as I had two senior moments this morning with a couple pieces of silver for my jewelry store customer.

We'll see whether it costs anything as I let them off the hook on 18 pieces last week where they made the mistake.