Made on Epilog II

[David Fairfield]

Guys, I enjoyed the last M o E thread so much here's my next finished model. All the flat parts from walls to shingles and lettering cut on my 35 W Epilog. (you have to click the photo 2x to get the full size & resolution on your monitor) Any other model builders out there with something new to show? Be my guest and post away! :)

Dave

[Kim Vellore]

WOW that's a beauty... do you have more views of it.

Kim

[Pete Simmons]

How did you make that dime so big with a laser?

[Frank Corker]

Fantastic stuff Dave, keep it up, shows what can really be done with a laser. Good example!

[Joe Pelonio]

Incredible.

You must have good eyes (or glasses) to do such fine, detailed work. Can you tell us about how many hours you spent on it, start to finish?

[Ben Levesque]

Really nice David, Like Kim said, show more views if you have time, how did you do the lettering on top? decals or stamps?

Ben

[Shane Turner]

WOW!

I love the detail. The weathering and the mud on the step... very impressive!

[Robert Alexander]

Dave, that is a totally AWSOME model!

[David Fairfield]

Hey thanks for the feedback!

Pete, lol!! Hey when they said I could "make big money" on the laser, I believed them. Now I know its only relative! :D

Joe, yes, you need good eyes for this sort of work. Here's a photo of my good eyes. As for time start to finish, its always tough to say as I do this work between things. I guess about 15 hours drafting and 25 assembling. As usual, a lot of parts didn't quite work on the first try so they had to be done again. Ordinarily I'd just make 'em fit, but the design might go to commercial kit production, so fit has to be precise.

Ben the lettering is a stencil, I engraved some peel n stick label material, stuck it on, sprayed thru it and peeled it off. I got the font from Dafont.com they've got great historical stuff there! Font flexibility for model work is, in my opinion, one of most awesome things about the laser!

The model has a partial interior, here's a photo of the furniture which I made from scrap from other laser projects. Can hardly see it now that the roof is on, but it keeps it from looking empty.

The busted window glass I made by hand, but I think I'll try lasering an elaborately shattered window next time.

Dave

[martin g. boekers]

Dave,
Quite the job!!!
Is this a model of an existing building, or did you come up with the design also?

When I've been out and about and see a neat old building I try to take photos of all four sides so when I get a chance to "play" I can try to make something. Any tips for the aspiring artist?

Seeing such cool work makes me want to stop what I'm doing and have fun. Then reality sets in!

Do you sell any other designs as kits?


Marty

[Tom Radachi]

Hard to believe what I was seeing:eek:! That's museum quality work to say the least. Simply OUTSTANDING!:):):)

[Mitchell Andrus]

How did you make that dime so big with a laser?

It's some sort of plastic, the kind that accepts zinc plating. If you look at the near edge you can see a small holiday in the metal surface. Nice job hiding all of those seems. How many pieces? Have you ever done a quarter that size?

Looks like zinc... maybe a nickel alloy???

[David Fairfield]

Hey Mitchell, nah its a real dime, I just soaked it in Miracle Grow. You should see the tomatoes this year! :D

Marty, the structure was built from plans of an actual building. I wish I were qualified to give artist advice. But for model building I'd say your most valuable asset is time, so time management skill is as useful as any manual skill. I'm still learning how to budget my time, and its not easy. Anybody know of any good instructional books on the subject??

Next I'd say choose something relatively simple and just get going! You may not think so, but you already have everything you need.

Also, keep in mind that frustration is probably the #1 project killer, and its totally unnecessary! For every problem, there is a solution. One of the greatest joys in any creative activity is finding "The Elegant Solution" -- a simple answer to a complicated problem. For me the great thing about the laser engraver is its a versatile problem solver.

Didn't use the laser to make the hanging oil lamp, but it was this project's Elegant Solution-- clear sprue, half a craft bead and a strand of copper wire. :)

Dave

[Lee DeRaud]

Hey Mitchell, nah its a real dime, I just soaked it Miracle Grow.Back in the early '80s, the aerospace company I was working for was always doing publicity pictures of miniature circuit boards with coins or ballpoint pens next to them for scale. At one contract award party, we presented the boss with a 6' fiberglass pen (some kind of promotional display from the Cross pen people) and a welded-up sheet-metal quarter the size of a trashcan lid.

[Bryan Cowan]

That is simply amazing. Every time I see something like this, I inch closer to my wallet for a CO2 laser. I love our FiberMark laser, but you can only do so much with it :)

[David Fairfield]

Thanks again for the encouragement, always appreciated. Sometimes I tell laypeople "I made it on a laser" and they're underwhelmed because they think its like Star Trek-- you tell the computer what you want, the lights go blinky blinky and the desired object pops out a little door. :rolleyes: The the nice thing about sharing projects and ideas with you guys here is we all know it ain't quite that simple. :)

Here's part of the next building. I had to think about awhile before a solution came to mind, really pleased with the results.

Dave

[Bryan Cowan]

That is incredible. Fantastic job and wow, what a camera :)

[Ben Levesque]

Here's part of the next building. I had to think about awhile before a solution came to mind, really pleased with the results.

Dave

Ok I'm hooked, You'll have to show us your technique on how you did this!
Did you use a 2" lens?

Ben

[Anthony Scira]

Man those bricks are AWESOME !

I already have way too many hobbies so I am not going to ask how you did all that.

I am off to set fire to my laser now..........

[David Fairfield]

Ben--

The bricks are just gray paper engraved through a layer of stippled brown paint. The dentils are a layer cake of flats cut from the same material. Artwork aside, once you have zeroed in on your power and speed settings to get through the paint but not through the paper, its pretty "simple" :)

I'm using the lens that came with the laser, I guess that's the 2". How is the finer lens working out for your miniature work? Do you think I should invest in one?


Anthony--

Solution for too many hobbies is try doing one for a living! :eek: I really like your signature line BTW, very true

[Mike Null]

David

That is just awesome work! How do you go about marketing your products?

[Ben Levesque]

Ben--

The bricks are just gray paper engraved through a layer of stippled brown paint.

Ok, this is very clear to understand.



The dentils are a layer cake of flats cut from the same material.
Meaning you had put each dentils one by one with several layers of cardboard?



I'm using the lens that came with the laser, I guess that's the 2". How is the finer lens working out for your miniature work? Do you think I should invest in one?

If the smaller scale of your work will always be 1:87 you will not need the 1.5 lens. At the scale I and others works on the Epilog (1:220) the 1.5 shows only a little differences, bricks at 1:220 are pretty small compared to 1:87

Thanks David for the info

Ben

[David Fairfield]

Mike... err... I don't actually do any marketing. :o The standard engraving work I do, nametags and signs and company premiums, is all local and word of mouth. The model work is more a hobby but I'm working on a couple of kits for commerical release. Want to have a small assortment before I invest in marketing / advertising. If you had any advice on marketing, I'd sure like to hear it!

Ben, the dentils are a stack of 4 continuous ribbons, with no backing. Some guys like doing things the hard way, but not me! :D

Hey, can you post a comparison picture of a vector cut and maybe an engraving with the 1.5 and the 2" lens? I've not seen what the difference is and I have some applications where it would be great to have a narrower kerf. Thanks!
Dave

[Ben Levesque]

Mike... err... I don't actually do any marketing. :o The standard engraving work I do, nametags and signs and company premiums, is all local and word of mouth. The model work is more a hobby but I'm working on a couple of kits for commerical release. Want to have a small assortment before I invest in marketing / advertising. If you had any advice on marketing, I'd sure like to hear it!

For my part it was to show my work on train forums. mostly it is the users who had convince me to go ahead and create kits. Then people start to purchase, than magazine asked to show my work, and all of this in the first year of my laser.



Ben, the dentils are a stack of 4 continuous ribbons, with no backing. Some guys like doing things the hard way, but not me! :D


Haaaa! now I get it, it is not noticeable when you look at the pictures, you need to look very carefully to see it the empty space under the dentils, woooo, this gives me ideas, this is great. thanks!



Hey, can you post a comparison picture of a vector cut and maybe an engraving with the 1.5 and the 2" lens? I've not seen what the difference is and I have some applications where it would be great to have a narrower kerf. Thanks!
Dave

Here you go, hope this can give you an approximation of the Kerf size.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2739601825_ab7c01bbf3_b.jpg

Ben

[Allan Wright]

That's wonderful work. Expertly finished.

[Belinda Barfield]

Dave,

Following this thread has been absolutely fascinating for me. I can't thank you enough for sharing. Maybe you should consider turning this into a tutorial for the under Woodworking Articles and Reviews. Although "technically" you are not wood working maybe the powers that be could make an exception.

[Kim Vellore]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3004/2739601825_ab7c01bbf3_b.jpg


Ben,
What speed are you using for these cuts I see lots of wiggles in the lines also near the tabs. There was a thread about this problem with Epilog, I am curious if this is inherent issue with Epilog.

Kim

[David Fairfield]

Hi Belinda, thanks! A lot of the tasks in model building / engraving / woodworking are really just exercises in problem solving, which is what keeps the work fascinating. :) Always good to hear back from people who share the enthusiasm. Wondering what sort of woodworking thing you do that has laser applications?

Kim, those darn wavy lines are caused by tremors when the laser's armature turns a corner at high speed, its like mini whiplash. Mine does it too but its always possible to work around it by lowering speed, breaking the lines into grouped sets of parallels, or engraving the part out of the material. By the way, those shake shingles you made for the 1/220 station you posted in the original "Made on Epilog" thread are super! Best I've seen in any scale. I need something just like that in HO scale, do you sell them, or can you give me some hints how you did it? Thanks!

Dave

[Kim Vellore]

Dave,
I bought those from http://papercreek.com/ but now I would do it myself, it is just printed paper cut with a laser. The key is to get the right picture to print, For HO scale you can do way better than that by using real wood shingles google for paper wood and you will find it
Here is one
http://www.woodveneers.net/paperwood.html
I have got one sheet of all types of wood and the dark ones have very good contrast and nothing to beat real wood shingles. Just add double sticky tape to the bottom and cut, I'll email you the vectors files I have in corel for the shingles when I get home.
Kim

[Kim Vellore]

here are some made on Epilog too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7m_OxyQulo

The forklift is 1/64" wood cut in different slices and glued side by side to form the 3D model.

Here all the mechanism parts is cut by the laser. It is Acrylic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyR69SQGFo0

The laser gets u to do some prototypes fast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDC9c4CyXsQ

I am fascinated by the things you can make with scrap acrylic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHiHGaBGerc

at the end of the video the plastic parts you see are all cut by Epilog.

Kim

[Belinda Barfield]

Hi Belinda, thanks! A lot of the tasks in model building / engraving / woodworking are really just exercises in problem solving, which is what keeps the work fascinating. :) Always good to hear back from people who share the enthusiasm. Wondering what sort of woodworking thing you do that has laser applications? Dave

Dave,

First, I must apologize for wording something incorrectly in my previous post. I meant that some might not think of this as technically wood working. In my opinion what you do is wood working regardless of the fact that you are using the laser. I actually don't do any type of woodworking with my laser, but I'm encouraged to try based on the things I see you doing with yours. I'm just not sure I have the design ability to do the type of work you do. Thanks again for sharing.

[David Fairfield]

Hi Belinda, no apology necessary! I really enjoyed reading your original post-- any comparisons between me and a woodworker are taken strictly as a high compliment :) :D ;).

Agree with you, always thought there could be great 1/1 scale traditional woodwork applications for the laser-- maybe for inlays or elaborate dovetailing-- and I'm curious to see who's doing what. I hope you'll follow your inspiration, give your ideas a try, and share some pictures with us.

Kim I checked out your work online-- you remind me of the guy who made the gadgets for James Bond. That miniature camera transmitting from inside a moving Z scale train was a pretty awesome display of miniature electronics and model building. And thanks very much for the link to the veneer company. I spent half a day on the web trying to find a source for veneer that thin before I gave up and faked my shingles out of paper and paint. Shoulda asked here first, doh! :rolleyes:

I'll PM you my email for the shake shingle file, will send you a copy of mine.

Dave

[Ben Levesque]

Ben,
What speed are you using for these cuts I see lots of wiggles in the lines also near the tabs. There was a thread about this problem with Epilog, I am curious if this is inherent issue with Epilog.

Kim

Hi Kim

Like David said, it is an Epilog thing, yes I have read Robert's thread about this issue, and it was very instructive, I'm only using a 30% speed and probably will have to work something like what David said to get around it.
I was talking about this wiggles back in 2006 on this following forum train board (http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showpost.php?p=316801&postcount=34) thread but it did not conclude to any reason as to why, now I know why.

David, for the comparison with the 1.5 and 2'' lens, was the pic OK ?

Ben

[Lee DeRaud]

...always thought there could be great 1/1 scale traditional woodwork applications for the laser-- maybe for inlays or elaborate dovetailing--...Haven't figured out how to do dovetails, but box-joints/finger-joints work fine: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=29243

[David Fairfield]

Hey Lee,

Cool laser joinery there. Seems to me a guy who can do a complicated box like that, can do a dovetailed box no prob. What's the thing about dovetails that makes it harder than finger joints?

Ben,

Yeah the comparison shot is good, thanks. The smaller lens looks interesting for me. Does the narrower beam extend the engraving time? And will it run same files at the same power settings as the 2" lens or will I need to compensate?

Also, can you recommend any scale model bulletin boards where other laser users gather?

Dave

[Lee DeRaud]

Seems to me a guy who can do a complicated box like that, can do a dovetailed box no prob. What's the thing about dovetails that makes it harder than finger joints?The tails are easy: the cutout is just a trapezoid instead of a rectangle. But the pins are a whole 'nother deal, since the cut has to be made at an angle to the surface and the laser can only cut straight up and down. About the best you can do is use the laser to hog a rectangle out of the middle and then angle out the slots with conventional tools. (And my apologies if I got that whole thing backwards: I can never remember which are the tails and which are the pins.)

As long as you're looking "outside the box", consider this one:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=31522

[Ben Levesque]

Ben,

Yeah the comparison shot is good, thanks. The smaller lens looks interesting for me. Does the narrower beam extend the engraving time? And will it run same files at the same power settings as the 2" lens or will I need to compensate?

No compensation needed, I've run my files with the same setups, now it is more about the whiplash as you probably saw. Time cutting are the same, you will have to find the proper focus distance though, using either iodized aluminum plates and find the bigger flash point or like me, trials and error using wood, I could never make work this flash technique, god knows how many plates of Alu I've scrapped.



Also, can you recommend any scale model bulletin boards where other laser users gather?
Dave

The trainboard (http://www.trainboard.com)forum is where I got all my starters information, laser cutters are mostly in the Z scale forum, there is no dedicated threads, so everyone shows their work from time to time.

The Kitforums (http://www.kitforums.com/index.php) has a lot of laser cutters and scratchbuiders (all scales)

The railroad-line (http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/default.asp) forum as a nice craftman (http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=64) corner about scratchbuiding. (All scales)

Well those are the one's I have so far.

Ben

[David Fairfield]

Lee that octagonal box is a work of art and a perfect example of bringing the laser into traditional woodworking. I filed that idea away for something I might do for Mom's Christmas present. What a beauty! :)

I see what you mean about dovetails now, I overlooked the 3rd dimension aspect. I've often thought how great it would be to have a 45 deg miter function on the laser.

Ben thanks for model RR craftsman forum links. I grew up with MRR magazine in the 1970s - 80s, still thumb through them occasionally. Those old timers who made do with stone knives and bear skins are still an inspiration. I wonder what they could have produced if they had our high tech tools. Maybe they just would have gotten lazy :rolleyes:

Dave

[Darryl Jacobs]

Hi Dave,

All I can say is WOW! I have beend wanting to do some small scale model buildings for a while and this is the stuff I need to get motivated.

Any new progress on the buildings? I am very very impressed with the Brick work.

I have mainly been doing laser cut aircraft.

Thanks for sharing the fantastic work!

DEJ

[David Fairfield]

Hey Darryl

Cool to see this thread brought back up to the surface, thanks. :)That looks like a Royal Navy Walrus taking shape there. Very nice work on that canopy. :cool:

Between commerical work I'm doing a "reconstruction" of a bakery in Ansonia CT. Its 98% guesswork based on a building I saw in an old postcard.

I made the drawing and started cutting parts. The little thumbnail photo of the prototype is actually all I have to work with this time. :confused: But that's the fun you can have with old structures. They only have to look like they might have once existed, unlike scale aircraft and armor where accuracy is key. Get that Walrus done, and give it a shot. Post some photos here!

Dave

[David Fairfield]

This is as far as I've gotten. Actually I don't know if the original building was a bakery, I just like Bakeries. :D

D