Devon Custard

All, im creating a page listing suppliers, i can put a list of the UK ones ive used, however we need people from every country to contribute. If youre not happy editing the page, please drop me or Tigershark a PM with the details. Devon

Gus's site is a treasure trove of info :)

Looks like a MAX7219 with 7 seggies glued on top. Drive it direct from a duino or anything that will drive data and a clock source.

Im going to start pulling the various panel data into tables this week as well. By which i mean, the various identifiers you need to access the data in the export.lua. e.g. 404 is the Master Caution Lamp Stub - that one i know from memory, but the other several hundred i dont so having one place to read it instead of scouring thru the lua files will be a good thing.

Lolz, migrating this over to the wiki and ive noticed a lot of errors. Ooops. ah well. Editing web pages is a CHORE! :D

The clear coat ive got eats certain paints for breakfast, so i use it sparingly and only when i absolutely need to :)

First questions i put to tigershark when we were looking at wiki platforms. This one will allow us to take backups regularly. Storing those backups in git makes the backup open to all And of course theres always google net archives. Do you have the url for the first wiki? Maybe the net archive still has some pages stored. I was browsing Gus's site whilst it was offline using it. Yes there are many questions about organisation. But we just want to get going for now and get this info stored. Have we thought everything thru? No definitely not. Will we? Yup

Yeah, it certainly came up trumps that time. Thanks to some great tips from metal and pete and others in my engraving thread. Tempted to try the lasermax stuff just to compare but only if i run out of this laminate. I think once ive built all my panels ill probably spend time polishing off my process but for now i think that im pretty happy with the results im getting. I can go the expensive route later.

Pete, just a thought, why dont you paint the lasermax/laminate first, engrave through and then you can touch up the edges with the same paint. Also that way you protect the lasermax with a layer of paint and potentially a clear hardcoat as well. Im trying that now with the grey paint im using for buttons and engraving the laminate for the top/face of the button.

Its UFC weekend. Nice faceplate cut n engrave so just need to sort the buttons (TACNO styleee) and wire it up. Pictured here with the enclosure i designed and cut last week.

Much better result today. Pumped the text up (maybe a bit too much), bit more power, same speed. Still get better results with the tape mask applied, however the cuts are much better. Again most of the edges need a good sanding down but thats just the tidying up. Virtually no scorch this time and the white is white and not burn brown.

Not sure where i actually did something to upset you Deadman, apologies if i did but it wasnt intentional. Would appreciate it if you didnt unload in public like that. You can always PM me if you want to pass on your views.

The emphasis is on EVERYONE being able to collaborate, we're just getting it started. Its up to the community to donate their knowledge. The more everyone puts in the more everyone benefits. Ive been trying to get people to share knowledge since i started and on the whole its been a positive response. Tigers comments on knowledge getting lost on the forum is spot on. Posts disappear and/or are dispersed amongst numerous threads. Bringing it all together is an obvious move.

I think one thing we need to be really upfront about. We are relying on the intellectual property of the COMMUNITY as a whole to make this work. Theres no way myself and Tiger can do this by ourselves. Im quite capable of putting some guidelines together and where people have offered general advice im happy to put that in as well. What i wont do is rip large chunks of people posts or scrape anyones websites unless i have explicit permission to do so. That said i really hope that others will want to contribute to this totally FREE and unbiased wiki. I know this may conflict with other peoples efforts to sell their IP and pit building efforts which i fully understand and applaud so we have to be sensitive towards those individuals. Tiger and myself will be contacting people for permission to use their ideas and or link to assets on their websites etc. Omg im starting to sound like Mr Wales..... :(

crap, you know this means i have to update my code now :)

Laser envy, your bed is HUGE!!! Im guessing youve got a decent wattage on that beast too :( Am JEALOUS!!! First thing i notice is that you dont seem to get any flare when engraving/cutting.Almost certainly the quality of the material as you and others have pointed out. Will definitely try the ISO alcohol as i have a large can of that at home. The edges i can file/sand down. Either the power setting is wrong or the focus is off coz it ddint cut all the way through and had to snap of the surround hence the crap edge. Really appreciate the input/tips. Keep em coming. Invaluable stuff for those learning as we go.

Oh and the other tip i found, turn off bi-directional for engraving

Ok magic eraser and air assist are excellent ideas! And metal i tried the same thing and got much better results but with a slightly diff twist, faster and less power. Went back to the manual and got the recommended settings :doh: Straight from the cutting table, need to file off the edges but its a reasonable cut. The problem with the UK suppliers is that only 1 i found supplies lasermax, and branded supplies. All the others supplies "laserable laminate" so you take it on trust. Anyway this is round one with this material :)

Generally true except for when its not. If i can make a $5 purchase work over a $50 purchase its worth trying it out. :) Lotta trial and error in this process. I can almost replicate lasermark quality with standard acrylic and paint if i can just get the right mixture of paints.

Ok so i finally got my hands on some laser engraveable laminate (suspiciously has a sticker with chinese chars on it) and its proving to be a biatch to cut/engrave cleanly. Im having to mask it with application tape / dish soap to minimise smoke damage and the engraving is reasonable however it will NOT cut cleanly. Any tips from fellow laser users out there?

If im going to be babysitting a laser for hours on end, im definitely installing a TV and comfy chair....

If you could afford the projectors im sure the cost of the power is not going to bother you :thumbup:

Sketches written for CMSP display and the Caution panel. Just need to finish the data transmission protocol and the bridging software im writing. Mac has affectionately coined the name "DEVIOS" but for obvious reasons i slap him upside the head every time he uses it.... :) Anyone here using Arduino Nano? loving the footprint. Pit wife called it cute and when put alongside the UNO who am i to argue. Other news, got an offer on a new house accepted. Pit wife has agreed i can convert the garage into a workshop proper (hmmmm heated with flooring) so after a small outtage DC Industries should be up and running :)

@metalnwood You got it right, i do want to play and im really enjoying the CAD design process. The problems im getting are almost certainly down to sketchups handling of the DXF output.... Something ive been meaning to get to the bottom of. Really appreciate your comments, helping my process immensely. I find the 3d cad views really helps when trying to visualise the size of the holes im cutting when using differing component heights, ie the shaft on my pot is not the same height as the one on my switches so have to consider which layer of the acrylic is going to be the one i bolt against. (hope that makes sense, does in my head :) ) gonna try solidworks and see if i can use that as easily as sketchup...

Is your laser using a leetro microcontroller then? Nice, got someone i can bounce ideas off :) I think my "problem" is that part of my process is the need to visualise it in 3d so that i can place and plan where the components go. It takes long because normally i convert something cut it, assemble and find out that the parts are in the wrong place or are too close together or in fact ive missed one set of cuts completely and then i have to go back and juggle. Getting the DXF into sketchup and making it viable in there is the slow part, (and im thinking it would be easier to use something like solidworks but not everyone can access that and SU is free). Dont you find with lasercut that you have to unite lines? And then remove the duplicate nodes?