Does SB Hackerspace own a laser cutter?

[Ron K. Jeffries]

Seeing so many cool enclosures made from wood using laser cutters.

Does the space have a laser cutter? What might one cost? 

This tool for Inkscape looks useful.

http://hackaday.com/2012/07/26/box-maker-extension-for-inkscape/ 

Thanks,
---
Ron K. Jeffries [from Arroyo Grande]

805-567-4670

[Tom King]

Don' t I wish they did...

how many cool things would that create.

Tom

[John Gomm]

Looks like $2500 will get you an entry level one (Full Spectrum brand 40W laser) or $8k for a decent Epilog of the same 40W. Never used one, so don't know what to look for, specifically. But reviews say 40W will handle 1/4 inch acrylic, ply and mdf. I saw a couple of people cutting kapton film to use as solder stencils for surface mount stuff.
Agreed, it would be nice

Dr John

[Warren Schultheis]

Man. That would be sweet.

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Warren Schultheis

www.wsao.net // 805.886.1627

@sleeptest // sk: ennwarenn

[Ron K. Jeffries]

Mumble mumble. Not thought through in any depth.

What if there was a way to have people "subscribe" (sorta kinda like Kickstarter)

in a project to acquire a major new tool?

So if 25 people each agreed to pay $100... 

A semi-related funding model would be that a few people fund the acquisition,

then others agree to pay by the hour when using the tool. So a small group takes

the initial risk (puts of $$$ to purchase) then an honor system is put in place

where people sign up for one or two hour slots at [to be determined] $$/per hour.

I need to dig through a pile (first, FIND correct pile...) but at Maker Faire

I talked at length with a commercial maker space that has facilities in

Bay Area and other cities that has FABULOUS tools. They had a yearly fee,

but also one could sign up for shorter periods (I forget the details).

It appears to be a thriving enterprise. I guess I can plan a trip

up there to scratch my laser cutter (and other...?) itches. 

There are all sorts of interesting ideas about how to shield against liability

if somebody is an idiot. That facility has paid staff on the floor who train

and keep an eye out especially on newbies. 

---
Ron K. Jeffries

805-567-4670

[JCM]

It's called techshop

--
Jay Miley

[Tom King]

this is something I could get behind.

T

[JCM]

I'd pledge $100 or so. Could do a Kickstarter. Rewards from a laser cut trinket to use of laser cutter whenever it's available.

--
Jay Miley

[Tom King]

I'm willing to do $100 for the lasercutter

T

[Bob Kryczko]

Anyone ever talked to this guy?

http://santabarbaralaser.com/ 

[JCM]

I did. He charges $60 an hour and estimated it would be and hour for a small box I wanted cut. Ended up getting two from Ponoko for 30 bucks.

--
Jay Miley

[Warren Schultheis]

It'd be interesting to designate times of the week that we could do projects for people, so that it pays for itself.  Once it's paid off.. maybe we can continue that until it starts to pay for other awesome stuff.. like a mill and 3d printer stuffs.

just sayin'

-Warren

p.s. I'd pitch in 100.

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Warren Schultheis

www.wsao.net // 805.886.1627

@sleeptest // sk: ennwarenn

[Ron K. Jeffries]

I am in for at least $100. 

But for now this is just noodling by all of use. Steve needs to evaluate the whole idea IMO.

And is  $2500 (nominal) laser cutter the right tool? I am only interested in a tool that will last at least 2-3 years

with reasonable (define "reasonable") usage. 

I assume the laser may have a limited life?

Purchase price may not include other significant cost adders such as shipping and tax?

The starting point to even talk further is what materials do people want/need to work?

Is 1/4 inch acrylic one popular target? What thickness of plywood could we handle? 

I really want to do some wood projects myself.

I am not clear re trade off of a CNC (non-laser) vs a laser cutter. My hunch is

CNC can work with thicker material, and different (tougher) material, say some forms of aluminum?

And yes I know, at the limit there are wonderful (and PRICEY) tools such as

water jet cutters (amazing!) and plasma cutters (~lust~).

 

I live 80 miles north of Goleta. So for use to be practical

I'd need a way to sign up for blocks of time via the web.

mumble mumble mumble.

[Tom King]

signups are always advised....

since we have google groups anyways thats not an issue to create calendar space.

Tom

[Michael Bales]

I am also in for $100 so that gets us nearly 1/5 of the way there. I'm all for pay by time till its paid off, doing outside jobs for people, and hell even a kickstarter would be fine. Full spectrum's $2350 deluxe hobby laser says " cutting/engraving many materials such as paper, 1/4" acrylic and 1/4" wood as well as marking anodized aluminum and Thermark treated metals."
as far as capabilities. shipping is $125 (though pick up is free, they're based in las vegas, nevada). Replacements tubes are $300 and rated for 1500 hours, though they give away a laser tube every month as part of a promotion (http://fslaser.com/free-laser-tubes-for-life). at that rate its about $0.30 an hour to operate, not bad. If there is further interest and someone is willing to help put together a kickstarter or other fund raising activities let me know.

[Joe Andrieu]

We might consider setting up a catarse fundraising site, especially if we have a ruby guy who could take the lead. I'll chip in html/javascript time, but ruby == Greek to me.

-j

--

Joe Andrieu

j...@switchbook.com

+1(805)705-8651

Sent from my iPad

[Jim McGaw]

This is a pretty sweet idea. @Joe- I was unaware of catarse, but it appears to be an open-source Kickstarter-type framework we could take and make our own? And based on what you said, it is Rails-based? I would be down for helping out with the Ruby / Rails portion if this is the case, and it is needed.

Cheers,

Jim

--
Jim

http://jimmcgaw.blogspot.com/

[Joe Andrieu]

Yep. Rails. Here's the repository...

 

https://github.com/danielweinmann/catarse/

 

-j

 

--

Joe Andrieu

SwitchBook

j...@switchbook.com

+1(805)705-8651

[John Fisher]

lurker here...

I'm in for $100 IF it cuts sheet metal - 18 ga? 20ga? dunno what the
cost-thresholds are.

The sblaserguy does not seem to cut metals (after a quick look at his site)?

The granite people in Ventura have a water jet, a Big Water Jet, which
will cut anything reasonable - Stone Werks I think? Maybe the local
machine shops can cut metals?

On 07/27/2012 10:42 AM, Ron K. Jeffries wrote:
>
>
> I assume the laser may have a limited life?

I *think* you want to have a very long-lived carriage and bed, like any
machine tool, and then do maintenance on the cutting equipment. The OEM
would be the place to start...

>
> The starting point to even talk further is what materials do people
> want/need to work?
> Is 1/4 inch acrylic one popular target? What thickness of plywood
> could we handle?
> I really want to do some wood projects myself.
>
> I am not clear re trade off of a CNC (non-laser) vs a laser cutter. My
> hunch is
> CNC can work with thicker material, and different (tougher) material,
> say some forms of aluminum?
>
> And yes I know, at the limit there are wonderful (and PRICEY) tools
> such as
> water jet cutters (amazing!) and plasma cutters (~lust~).

there is another option, which is to acquire a 2.5D carriage and bed off
a commercial tool like a CNC router table and make different heads for
it, laser, plasma, cutting


John

[John Gomm]

From my limited reading, looks like etching aluminium only with the
40W machine we're considering (just like SBlaserguy). Ponoko does
laser cutting of metals (FAQ:
http://www.ponoko.com/mingle-and-share/working-with-metal-faqs).
Metals tend to be reflective and high melting point, so lasers have
problems. "Typical beam output at a sheet metal workpiece: 500-1500
Watts" Wow.

Dr John