Kev Williams
02-09-2017, 8:21 PM
Here's another Macgyver special holding jig-- hey, whatever works!
353582
This is a seal mold a customer needed a part number in- normally I'd tool engrave this on the 3400 cylinder machine, because of its diameter and the welded-on handles and tabs there was always interference. I could've possibly rigged up a similar jig for one of the XT machines but it would have to be clamped down, hard, so it won't move. To laser etch, it just has to sit there and mind its own bidness. So, my HF motorcycle jack, couple of buckets, an old table leaf, an old weird clamp-on-a-board my dad made years ago (to hold 1-1/4" aluminum rod to be drilled), a piece of 2x4, an axle (the drill bit that drilled the hole ;) ), and a piece of 1x4 to prop it all up on the close-enough-for-me 30° angle needed and I was ready to go.
353583
I ran 2 letters at a time, rotated the mold and lined up the next 2- here it's working on the 3rd pair of letters...
353585
-finished product, which also shows some bad news... :( -
It turned out very nice, and I didn't get the best silly putty pressing but it does show I got 'er plenty deep enough...
But the bad news, notice some of the lettering shows shadows...
353586
I thought maybe the jack dropped a snick, or the mold moved on the axle, but nope. This is same stupid goofing-up it did before...
Note the 5, and all else for that matter, other than the engraving is out of position and the 5 is shaped wrong (like it did before),
the engraving is fine. At 500mm/s it takes over a second to sweep these 3/16" tall letters from top to bottom.
If the part had moved, the hatch would've been abrutly interrupted-- but it's not...
353587
this dash was the 'odd man out' in running 2 letters, so I did this by itself, and I watched it engrave since it went fast-
While I didn't notice it was engraving wrong, I DID notice that nothing moved during the engraving.
This dash missed 3 different times. And the 1 is skeewhompus shaped like the 5...
353591
So now there's this to deal with again. After I noticed the mold, I ran the job in the same exact manner, just lots less power, on some aluminum to see if I could get it to repeat the issue.
HELL no. Perfect. 45 three-hatch passes followed by 10 more three-hatch passes, as I did the mold. Not one bobble...
On the plus side, I still have the brand new not opened yet scanhead Triumph sent me. With so many Chinese holidays and trade shows they're having, they never know when they'll be in to accept the shipment, so I still have it. I may end up sending them back the old one...
The ONLY thing off the wall that happened during all this, is I have to move the laser toward the edge of the table so I could get at the mold . I have it setting on a small 1x board, and as I was pulling the board to move the laser, I ended up pulling the board out from under the rear legs, and it 'thumped' down on the table. Not very hard, but just wondering if jostling the thing may have caused today's issue? I've assumed an iffy connection was the culprit, maybe it's still iffy... anyway, going to run more tests as I have a job coming next week that will eat 20 full hours of fiber time, can't have it messing up! Think I'll just put the new scan head on for good measure too...
353582
This is a seal mold a customer needed a part number in- normally I'd tool engrave this on the 3400 cylinder machine, because of its diameter and the welded-on handles and tabs there was always interference. I could've possibly rigged up a similar jig for one of the XT machines but it would have to be clamped down, hard, so it won't move. To laser etch, it just has to sit there and mind its own bidness. So, my HF motorcycle jack, couple of buckets, an old table leaf, an old weird clamp-on-a-board my dad made years ago (to hold 1-1/4" aluminum rod to be drilled), a piece of 2x4, an axle (the drill bit that drilled the hole ;) ), and a piece of 1x4 to prop it all up on the close-enough-for-me 30° angle needed and I was ready to go.
353583
I ran 2 letters at a time, rotated the mold and lined up the next 2- here it's working on the 3rd pair of letters...
353585
-finished product, which also shows some bad news... :( -
It turned out very nice, and I didn't get the best silly putty pressing but it does show I got 'er plenty deep enough...
But the bad news, notice some of the lettering shows shadows...
353586
I thought maybe the jack dropped a snick, or the mold moved on the axle, but nope. This is same stupid goofing-up it did before...
Note the 5, and all else for that matter, other than the engraving is out of position and the 5 is shaped wrong (like it did before),
the engraving is fine. At 500mm/s it takes over a second to sweep these 3/16" tall letters from top to bottom.
If the part had moved, the hatch would've been abrutly interrupted-- but it's not...
353587
this dash was the 'odd man out' in running 2 letters, so I did this by itself, and I watched it engrave since it went fast-
While I didn't notice it was engraving wrong, I DID notice that nothing moved during the engraving.
This dash missed 3 different times. And the 1 is skeewhompus shaped like the 5...
353591
So now there's this to deal with again. After I noticed the mold, I ran the job in the same exact manner, just lots less power, on some aluminum to see if I could get it to repeat the issue.
HELL no. Perfect. 45 three-hatch passes followed by 10 more three-hatch passes, as I did the mold. Not one bobble...
On the plus side, I still have the brand new not opened yet scanhead Triumph sent me. With so many Chinese holidays and trade shows they're having, they never know when they'll be in to accept the shipment, so I still have it. I may end up sending them back the old one...
The ONLY thing off the wall that happened during all this, is I have to move the laser toward the edge of the table so I could get at the mold . I have it setting on a small 1x board, and as I was pulling the board to move the laser, I ended up pulling the board out from under the rear legs, and it 'thumped' down on the table. Not very hard, but just wondering if jostling the thing may have caused today's issue? I've assumed an iffy connection was the culprit, maybe it's still iffy... anyway, going to run more tests as I have a job coming next week that will eat 20 full hours of fiber time, can't have it messing up! Think I'll just put the new scan head on for good measure too...