Damocles Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Can any one advise of a company who can lazer cut plasticard (2mm thk) in the UK or Ireland ?. I need to make several exact copies of the same shape to make up some molds, and the Mk 1 eyeball just aint good enough anymore. Regards, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Can you laser cut plasticard that thin? I would have thought a better bet would be going to your local signmakers and asking if they can cut it with their plotter, or at least cut you a series of vinyl templates that you could then cut around. Probably quite a bit cheaper too! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenko Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Get chatting to your local secondary school D&T department. Most of these departments have laser cutters (as their use is part of the curriculum). If a pupil can use this as part of his/her GCSE work, your on to a winner. The department might even help you. HTH Dick (retired D&T teacher) PS for the record I used to get the kids using the laser cutter on thin cake icing and even paper..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonP Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) Don't laser cut plastic card it will melt!!!! We have a 60W laser and I tried it Polystyrene and PVC cannot/should not be cut on a laser. However you can cut Mylar ( masking material) and Rowmark (engraving material) very well with a laser and they behave like plastic card. Let me know what you are trying to do and I'll see if I can help. Jon www.progeng.co.uk Edited July 12, 2011 by JonP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 John & Jenko, Many thanks fo the response & guidance, the sign makers sounds a good idea, and I would have a few contacts through work. Unfortunately schools finish here at the end of June so I'll have to wait till september to try that avenue. I will give Jon a stabb at this one, John I got your email addess from your website so will drop you a quick note. Kind Regards, Thanks again folks, I'll update the post and let you all know the outcome. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I'll be interested to hear how you get on. J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lufbramatt Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 i have lazer cut 3mm clear acrylic sheet and it worked fine. just have to get the speed of the lazer right so you dont get too much heat build up. Managed to engrave it as well which looked cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenko Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 i have lazer cut 3mm clear acrylic sheet and it worked fine. just have to get the speed of the lazer right so you dont get too much heat build up. Managed to engrave it as well which looked cool. Try engraving a picture ( must be changed to mono chrome) and then illuminating from the bottom edge .... bit like a hologram! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lufbramatt Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 (edited) never did that but we managed to convert a photo into about 10 shades of grey using photoshop, imported it into corel draw to trace over the bitmap file and convert it into a set of vector images, imported the vector images into a cad package (proEngineer) to make a 3d solid with each shade of grey as a different thickness cut (so the lightest areas were the thinnest). Machined that into a block of wax with a little CNC milling machine and you get a similar hologram effect when illuminated from behind! Edited July 13, 2011 by lufbramatt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenko Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 never did that but we managed to convert a photo into about 10 shades of grey using photoshop, imported it into corel draw to trace over the bitmap file and convert it into a set of vector images, imported the vector images into a cad package (proEngineer) to make a 3d solid with each shade of grey as a different thickness cut (so the lightest areas were the thinnest). Machined that into a block of wax with a little CNC milling machine and you get a similar hologram effect when illuminated from behind! We used to do a lot etching on glasses and vases when I was teaching......went down very well....especially at Christmas. Funny that's when everyone wanted to know the DT department!!! (cheap pressies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share Posted July 16, 2011 Well, progress has been swift, I drew up my initial sketches and sent them over to Jon on Wednesday morning. Sketches where drawn in 1 to 1 scale and scanned. Jon then drew them up on CAD and sent me a .pdf to confrim dims and quantities. The parts are cut from 1.3mm white/black Rowmark. (i have never used this material before, but it reacts well to plastic-weld and is ridgid, with a gloss black surface to one side and a matt/satin white surface to the other side. With great suprise, the parts arrived this morning in a bubble wrap envelope, taped to a thin, but rigid MDF board. Before saying anymore, big thumbs up for Jon and 'Progressive Engineering Solutions’. Even at this early stage, I cannot recomend him enough, which when you see the pictures below combined with other posts about his paint jar holders/workstations will not be hard to believe. We agreed to do a bit of a trial run. This consisted of the parts to make one mould for my ‘Alaska Wall Sections’, and the parts to form the basis of a MARS Sangar. The mould needs some patience, so I blasted on with the MARS Sangar to see how it would react with plastic weld or Cyano. The plastic weld worked 100%. Below are some pictiures & brief explinations. These are all the laser cut parts. Crisp cuts and perfect angles. This is an overlay of the cut parts for the Alaska Wall section and my original sketches. Absolutely perfect. As above but for the MARS Sangar Close up of some of the parts. This is a picture of a MARS Sangar. These where very common in Northern Ireland in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. I managed to get access to one of the last remaining units in the Province to measure it up. What I have got cut are the main wall and roof sections , with cut-outs for the sliding BRG units. As the BRG units are all the same, I will make up a master with evergreen strip and cast in resin for fitting on each elevation along with the lifting eyes. This is the MARS Sangar made up. Very quickly I might add and is stting on a plaster base. I am more than happy with this. Whilst not beyond my capabilities to cut four squares of plastic card with cut-outs, the accuracy and sharpness of cuts and angles could not easily be reporduced by hand in large quantities, and are worthy of the nominal cost. This is a demonstration of how accurate the cutting is. I specified four 9.5mm square holes on this roof section to house evergreen square tube section. Cant say anymore......fit is perfect. (the black mark, is where a little plastic weld took off the white surface. While no issue, I need to be mour careful in the future. I will post up some pictures of the wall section parts asap. Gereat job Jon !. Regards, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonP Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Many thanks for your comments and glad to have been of help. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 A quick update, showing the pre-production drawings prepared by PES from the sketches I provided. Sections should be with me in a week or so, so i will update when they land. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regulus Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 What is the price associated with cutting a project similar to the one illustrated with the three drawings above? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buccymad Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 spent many a happy hour in them things,wondering what i was doing with my life!!! dont forget to pee inside it to give it that authentic smell,and cover the inside walls in random graffiti (usually involving"stacy from thr naffi"stories) looking forward to seeing this one finished!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Hi Chris, You might want to try Methylene Chloride as a solvent for gluing the sign sheet plastic and EMS in London for steel and square section plus they do rod etc, from their EMA range, it's all ABS so needs a stronger solvent for the bond. I see you are using a syringe for solvent application, probably the best way to apply it and saves spillage and evaporation. EMA also have a solvent dispense with a 'pump' built in to dispense set amounts of solvent, may be worth investigating. All things I used whilst an industrial modelmaker. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted August 21, 2011 Author Share Posted August 21, 2011 Regulus, The cost varied between £25.00 and £40.00 per 'project' depending upon the quantities. The RAID Shelter and RAM where one-off items, but the MARS Sangar had enough items cut to make 4 sets. The company (Progressive Engineering Solutions), were very good. This is one of the first times they did a project like this, so it took a bit of going back and forward to get the drawings right from my end. The cost also included them, re-drawing my sketches onto CAD for approval. Whilst not exactly cheap, in my opinion it was well worth it, as I have 'original' kits that meet my needs. I am only getting around to making these up now, so should have some progress shots to show in a few weeks. Buccy Mad Nothing like the smell of years old urine on a cold winter's night in a Golf or Romeo tower !. My version, will be a slightly updated version for a 'What-if' project with a remote weapons station on the roof with some modern IT/Comms gear and Air-Con for a desert environment, but should still keep the same feel. A little undecided if a rocket-cage will be applied. Heloman1 Thansk for the EMA tip, looks a good source of parts, especially 12 bottles of the EMA plastic-weld for £21.00, not bad at all. Regards, Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChopperSteve Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 (edited) Buccy Mad Nothing like the smell of years old urine on a cold winter's night in a Golf or Romeo tower !. My version, will be a slightly updated version for a 'What-if' project with a remote weapons station on the roof with some modern IT/Comms gear and Air-Con for a desert environment, but should still keep the same feel. A little undecided if a rocket-cage will be applied. Surely that should be a "What -Wiff?" project..... Steve Edited August 21, 2011 by ChopperSteve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted August 21, 2011 Author Share Posted August 21, 2011 (edited) Surely that should be a "What -Wiff?" project.....Steve Very good, mid you the urine smell and staining wasn't what got me, it was the other tell tale signs of boredom left behind on the matt black painted walls (and ceilings in some cases) that worried me !. There is some new movie coming out, that comes with a scratch card with smells associated with certain parts of the movie, I am just wondering if that could be applied to modelling, for the latest in '4D' diorama's. Chirs. Edited August 21, 2011 by Damocles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 Brilliant, I need some stuff cutting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted September 27, 2011 Author Share Posted September 27, 2011 Brilliant, I need some stuff cutting! Do give Jon a shout, he could not have been more helpful, and not too hard to pay either. if you do get something cut, ask him for the off-cuts, and use them to test your glue, painting etc. i fould plastic weld and halford grey primer, work just fine. Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damocles Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 Just a quick update of some of the parts made up. Other pictures can be seen on my build thread. R-0423 Build Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hutch Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 (edited) Can any one advise of a company who can lazer cut plasticard (2mm thk) in the UK or Ireland ?. I need to make several exact copies of the same shape to make up some molds, and the Mk 1 eyeball just aint good enough anymore. Regards, Chris. Looking through this thread from a couple of years ago brought up a little H&S issue. If you laser cut Poly sheet it will release Chlorine gas...... Just something to think about if and when people start to get their own laser cutters at home/workshop/shed. It won't be too long in this happening especially as 3D printers are now down to a few £100s and due to drop even more. Hutch To add to this, my laser cutter in the school workshop can cut (and etch/mark) as thin as a sheet of paper and up to 12mm acrylic. It will also cut and engrave thin ply and mdf (up to 4mm thk). Very useful machine for all aspects of the modelling world... WATCH THIS SPACE!!!! Edited May 25, 2014 by Hutch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar2 Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Sounds like you have a similar unit to the one I use at work in the Uni workshops Hutch. We've got pretty good extraction, but it certainly worth considering what different materials give off in the cutting process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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