Convince your S.O. that a laser is a good idea...

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Convince your S.O. that a laser is a good idea...

Postby j_siegel » Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:09 pm

My girlfriend kept asking why I needed a laser cutter. I couldn't honestly answer her, so I built one and then made her some wall stencils. Now she sees the "need" and is happy as a clam!

This was made out of contact paper ($6/25 footx18 inch roll at WalMart), then spray painted or hand painted with plastic paint. It turned out great, and it's totally removable. Dialing in the laser so it didn't cut through the backing was difficult, but made application incredibly easy.
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Re: Convince your S.O. that a laser is a good idea...

Postby j_siegel » Wed Sep 14, 2011 6:10 pm

I should add, this was done using Photoshop -> Illustrator -> Cut2D -> Mach3. Unfortunately, some of the images I used are copyrighted, so I cannot post the source files.
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Re: Convince your S.O. that a laser is a good idea...

Postby steves » Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:28 am

Funny that you posted this today... yesterday I was wondering if I could use a laser cutter to make a stencil for a boat name ("Now I Need A Pony" - see if you can figure that out), but not having any experience yet wasn't sure if it was practical to cut through only one layer.

Can you share how you figured out the right settings? Thanks.

Steve
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Re: Convince your S.O. that a laser is a good idea...

Postby j_siegel » Thu Sep 15, 2011 6:52 pm

I wish I could! In all seriousness, it was trial and error. I got lucky in that I think the adhesive didn't fully absorb the wavelength of the laser, making it a bit of a buffer. I also cut on a metal bed (perforated, but more surface contact than honeycomb, so perhaps it acted like a heatsink?).

Regardless, the paper is very inexpensive. I tuned it by turning the knob while sweeping the last head in a straight line. As soon as I could see the cut, it was deep enough and therefore powerful enough. Too deep and I saw reflected light from the metal. I imagine vinyl would be similar.
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