Been away from the hobby & fascinated by Laser & 3D Printing but unsure best place to start

[Markess]

Been away from the hobby for a long while and much has changed, including sadly, my skills as a pilot. After pretty much wiping out a Mighty Mini Tiny Trainer kit I bought through the FT store, the wife suggested I just cut a bunch of spare parts at once. Smart woman.

I've got access to a 60W Universal Systems Laser with forced air ventilation/exhaust, as well as decent size filament and resin 3D printers. Gonna stick to foam at first until I can fly a trainer without crashing, but wondering if there's any caveats to laser cutting foam on this style laser system? I'm seeing lots of remarks (some contradicting) posted over time here about various laser systems, and wondering what the current "best practice" is?

Thanks!

 

[Cnat]

Sorry I'm late the game on this. I haven't played with lasers yet, but I use 3D printed parts on literally all of my builds. I've also 3D printed entire airplanes.

I've printed wheels, firewalls, power pods, control horns, canopies, cowls, props, exhaust features, wing tips, and I'm sure lots more. Right now I'm building the FT master series mustang with 3D printed gear retracts and a printed steerable nosewheel. Thingaverse has tons of stuff you can download and mess with in your slicing software. Or if you're good with CAD, i've designed and printed stuff using Fusion360. 3D printing has made building models so much more fun for me. Being able to start a project and not have to worry about the little stuff like firewalls and control horns is a game changer.

This plane i printed was a free download on Thingaverse. It was a good learning experience. I may try the 3Dprintlabs P51 and there is a 3D printed CRJ 700-900 floating around out there that I NEED. (I flew those planes for SkyWest)

Anyway I know its not laser related but you can find stuff online that people have already made pretty easily.

 

[LitterBug]

On the laser, make sure you are looking at the output power, not the overall power. 60W output "should" be able to cut foam. NEVER leave a laser cutter unattended while it is running. Fires can start and spread quickly.

 

[Markess]

Sorry I'm late the game on this. I haven't played with lasers yet, but I use 3D printed parts on literally all of my builds. I've also 3D printed entire airplanes.

I've printed wheels, firewalls, power pods, control horns, canopies, cowls, props, exhaust features, wing tips, and I'm sure lots more. Right now I'm building the FT master series mustang with 3D printed gear retracts and a printed steerable nosewheel. Thingaverse has tons of stuff you can download and mess with in your slicing software. Or if you're good with CAD, i've designed and printed stuff using Fusion360. 3D printing has made building models so much more fun for me. Being able to start a project and not have to worry about the little stuff like firewalls and control horns is a game changer.

This plane i printed was a free download on Thingaverse. It was a good learning experience. I may try the 3Dprintlabs P51 and there is a 3D printed CRJ 700-900 floating around out there that I NEED. (I flew those planes for SkyWest)

Anyway I know its not laser related but you can find stuff online that people have already made pretty easily.

That plane looks pretty awesome! I've been thinking about 3D printing eventually as well. It makes building highly detailed scale models a breeze. Takes a while to print, but I can be doing other things while that's going on. Thanks for the tip on Thingiverse! I frequently look there for computer and other hobby parts, but never thought to look for airplane items. I'd looked at those 3DLabPrint models, but they are pretty obviously beyond my current skill level to fly. Eclipson has several "trainer" like options, and I thought I'd eventually try their free Wolf first. Its a model of a high wing motor glider, and is supposed to be easier to fly. But first, I've gotta get those foam models to stay in the air more than 45 seconds without crashing!

 

[Markess]

On the laser, make sure you are looking at the output power, not the overall power. 60W output "should" be able to cut foam. NEVER leave a laser cutter unattended while it is running. Fires can start and spread quickly.

Thanks! "Never leave the laser cutter alone" is literally the first thing we teach new users here. Great advice and it never hurts to repeat it.

We routinely to cut materials up to 1/4" (6mm) plywood for educational programs in local schools, so my issue has been cutting the foamboard without completely melting it. The software driver has a materials database, but its preset for full-thickness cuts on "foamboard" destroys the foam and chars the paper. I eventually did test cuts using a range of speed/intensity combinations till I found ones that gave me full and partial-thickness cuts that don't damage the foam or paper.

 

[LitterBug]

Not sure what you are using for software, But with LightBurn, you can do calibration prints that vary the intensity and speed which helps dial things in. If you have air assist, turning that on would help out quite a bit too.

 

[Markess]

Not sure what you are using for software, But with LightBurn, you can do calibration prints that vary the intensity and speed which helps dial things in. If you have air assist, turning that on would help out quite a bit too.

View attachment 242553

That looks like it's really handy. We've been doing the design & basic layout in Corel or Inkscape and use the proprietary Universal Laser Systems Control Panel/drivers to manage the laser. That has a series of presets for each material type & thickness in the database, but they sometimes turn out to be inaccurate. When that happens, we're reduced to trial and error till we find settings that work (and that we hopefully write down or create a new preset for).

 

[LitterBug]

I set the range of power and speeds, Lightburn automatically generates the grid. Afterwards I peel the paper to see how the foam fared.

My biggest problem lately is the foamboard has been warped from the store so I can't set the laser height optimally to get consistent results. Makes it tought to get a cut all the way through with a low power 10W laser. So I have just been scoring and marking the foamboard by laser, then hand cutting with a blade.

Still much less time consuming and more accurate compared to printing tiled plans, taping them together, and manually transferring them to the foam, BEFORE even cutting.

LB

 

[Cnat]

Are you guys using lasers instead of 3D print heads? Creality sells a laser for my printer but i think its just for engraving so i havent bought it. It would be sweet if you could cut with it. Imagine the parts I could create!

 

[LitterBug]

Are you guys using lasers instead of 3D print heads? Creality sells a laser for my printer but i think its just for engraving so i havent bought it. It would be sweet if you could cut with it. Imagine the parts I could create!

Those add on laser heads creality sells are very weak. good for light etching and cutting of thin wood.

I have a 10Watt output Creality 400x415 Falcon Laser cutter/engraver. It is barely enought power to cut foamboard all the way through under ideal conditions.

 

[telnar1236]

Something I haven't seen anyone else mention but that is pretty important is that foam board can make some pretty nasty chemicals when it is cut including a few acids that can attack metal parts of the laser cutter (and you if you get too close)

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

Something I haven't seen anyone else mention but that is pretty important is that foam board can make some pretty nasty chemicals when it is cut including a few acids that can attack metal parts of the laser cutter (and you if you get too close)

What foam board are you talking? Adam's and Flight test which is made by Adam's is just polystyrene and paper. About as clean as anything you can laser.

 

[telnar1236]

What foam board are you talking? Adam's and Flight test which is made by Adam's is just polystyrene and paper. About as clean as anything you can laser.

Honestly I'm mostly getting this from the rules I've seen a couple places banning foam board on their laser cutters. Reading into it a bit more laser cutting polystyrene gives off a bit of styrene gas which is toxic, but doesn't release anything too crazy or in particularly large quantities. I think they were mostly concerned with some other foam boards that used foamed PVC which is a lot less friendly when it burns.

 

[LitterBug]

I have a vented cover over my laser with the duct venting outdoors. also have a hepa filter in the room for anything that may escape the cover.

 

[Flying Monkey fab]

Honestly I'm mostly getting this from the rules I've seen a couple places banning foam board on their laser cutters. Reading into it a bit more laser cutting polystyrene gives off a bit of styrene gas which is toxic, but doesn't release anything too crazy or in particularly large quantities. I think they were mostly concerned with some other foam boards that used foamed PVC which is a lot less friendly when it burns.

Okay, that makes perfect sense, anything PVC is an absolute no. As little as one cut will ruin a machine. This goes for all chlorinated plastics. The chlorine released is both toxic and will cause massive corrosion. Might as well dip your laser in sea water!

Now for woods, and polystyrene foam board, all the fumes have something not great and should be vented to a heap filter or outside.
Also, acrylic is mostly harmless but stinks something fierce!