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... AFAIK the "finest" fonts until now were written with ink on a rice grain by an AFM -- the line-width was around 25 nanometers - would even better fit your needs >:)
Interesting enough, 25 nanometers too is the smallest detail, 3D-printable with the 2-photon-lithography-mothode, used by Nanoscribe :cool:
Viktor
... I found an old 10mm thick lasercut steel part and tried to mark it with the 20W fiber laser - in front light/dark letters and some "deep engraving", on the other side a QR code :cool:
Viktor
... and here the video showing the laser-marking - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ju...ature=youtu.be
Viktor
VDX how could I get into laser cutting wood and thin plastic say 1/4 or less. Are there kits for small work under 24” for 1k or so? I’d like to be able to cut small balsa for airplanes and models and plastic for struts and such. Not looking to make heavy duty stuff. I’m sure there are off the shelve solutions in this size but I like to diy so I can change it if I ever want to. Guess the software and the xy drive is the complex part. The laser I can handle. Thinking 60w CO2 or... mill on the xy head. Concerned with charred edges of balsa. Hard to glue carbon! Wild hair idea.
... wood and plastic is best cut with a CO2-laser - 1/4" would be possible with a K40 (40Watts) too, but 60Watts is faster and can cut thicker sheets (with a blue 3.5W-diode I cut up to 4mm plywood with 3-4 passes though)
But CNC-milling is fine and sometimes even better too -- have actually an Isel EP1090 for milling aluminium, brass, plastic and wood, which I've got from a colleague for 150€ (plus touch-PC for 300€) ... so could sell my old Isel FB2 for 600€ (got it some years ago for 300€ "naked" from a glue-dispenser company and added some tools and options for CNC-milling).
For laser-engraving/cutting with a CW-fiberlaser or with testing/using my laserdiode-modules there is another Isel "MiniFlat" - attached image of both (MiniFlat and EP1090) side by side.
There are some more CNC-machines waiting to be activated - a Movetec XY-stage with 500x500mm for a 10Watt-RF-CO2-laser (and galvohead+fiberlaser aside for "bigger marking area") ... and two JR2300 from Janome ... have much to finish until retirement, so I can start "seriously" with my own long-term projects :cool:
Viktor
... for 24" working area -- I'm avoiding this big machines for lack of precision.
The old Isel FB2 CNC-mill had a working area of 550x500x90mm and got chatter marks in 10mm aluminium sheets and even in 30mm plastic (and some "jittering" when laser-engraving with more than 10mm/s) ... the much smaller EP1090 (210x210x120mm) is much stiffer and so produce much smoother surfaces too.
With wood cutting only (milling or laser) this could be different fo you -- but I'm more focussed on higher accuracy (assembling a "micro-mill" and have most parts already there, with 0,1 micron resolution and around 5 microns repeatability without active temperature controlling, along 180x180x180mm working area :cool:).
Viktor
... since the QR Code wasn't really dark, I "deleted" it (or remelted the surface) and then "deep engraved" it again - this time with 9 passes and then again with "smoothing" over the outer square, so that the areas in between get a little brighter again :cool:
Viktor
I wish I had the space for such tools. I also fear my design skills far under exceed my dream abilities,
... I've actually occupied 3 basement rooms ... but my wife wants to get one of them freed again :rolleyes:
Could be, I'll swap the house for a smaller one with more basement rooms (and two garden sheds) soon -- then the situation could change :cool:
Viktor
... starting with a "test-rig" -- a 500x500mm XY-stage with the ability to fix different lasers (CO2, fiber, diodemodules, ...) on the Y-slide and combine a galvoscanner-lasermarker with 110x110mm scanning area with the XY-range to 610x610mm total working area :cool:
Attached images of a first placing-test -- later it should be sitting above a box with sand at the bottom to block/catch the laser-beams and some sort of Z-axis (single on the Y-slide or an elevated table beneath) ... and maybe a complete housing around ...
Viktor