Devon Custard

tbh whichever way works for you. at present i glue the base and middle layers together because im going to use those to mount the switches and rotaries etc. The top layer (because i forsee it being replaceable when its get damaged or scratched or i need to remove/replace/adjust a toggle switch i simply place on top of the glued layers and then bolt through. Any last components i.e. tactiles/arduino/leds will sit on a matrix board under the base layer and will attach to the bolts that come thru.

See my recent post. i included the CMSP sketch i did. Things to bear in mind. I cut using 3mm acrylic or 1.5mm engraving laminate (thats the top layer that will allow me to do fine engraving without having to mess around with paint) Measure your components and ensure you leave enough space for nuts / washers. Ideally you want at least 2.5 mm between cut edges. Otherwise the acrylic warps or snaps when detaching the cut pieces. Really important to think about this for buttons if you are using the old method of using a shoulder on the underside of the button. 10mm square on the top layer is 12mm square on the bottom layer if youre using a 1mm shoulder. Make sure you have holes for bolts/screws etc and that they line up. The laser has an effective burn width of 1mm on the top of the substrate your cutting through. At the bottom its not. Theres a slight slant. This is called the kerf. Basically when you stack layers on top of one another they dont line up straight as each layer as mentioned has that curve. You may want to sand that down to get a smooth edge. Glueing acrylic can be a nightmare. I recommend using EMA Plastic Weld(get it from Amazon). Also recommend you line everything up and then bolt thru to hold your layers in place before you apply. Then triple check everything as it really does WELD the plastic together.

CMSP sketch attached. Always said i would provide these to the community for free. Im not planning on gauging people for work im doing anyway. Prototype cutout done. Just need to wire up the various components now. Also need to find some very fine grit paper to polish off the tap layer to remove paint smudges. When i lasermax that shouldnt be there.... cmsp.zip

The lasercut software doesnt import pdf, and to be honest the pdfs need cleaning up and adjusting for the components im using, i.e. the holes are too small. The pdfs arent optimised either, you might have 100 nodes where only 5 will do. Also when you import the pdfs its a series of lines that arent joined together into a polygon. Means the laser can skip all over the place instead of following a nice smooth line. End result is that you get a lot of small cuts joined up which doesnt look as good. Additionally some regions need to be engraved which requires a closed polygon, think paintfill. And then you have to mark those lines as engrave instead of cut. I do the node "welding" in sketchup not Corel. I only use Corel as its DXF export isnt buggy. I simply load it and export it. When i find time ill probably write a macro and automate it. The basic rule of thumb is that the more curves you have (DZUS cutouts and text) the more complicated it is.

Not quite sure what you mean. The bed of the laser is a bit smaller than A3 so thats roughly the size that i can cut. If you can fit it in there ill cut it. Trying to figure out the optimum size to fit as much onto a sheet in one go. A4 wastes a major chunk of the sheet. Will probably buy the larger sheets when i decide to buy. Which will be this weekend i think. Time to dip my toe in the water and go for it. I used the list of switchs that was kindly supplied to buy a bulk order from digikey.

Well, i just took reactorone's CMSP pdf and turned it into a sketchup model. Nasty work trying to weld all the polylines into a laserable model. Took about 4-5 hours to do. Running a first cut now. hoping to have the completed prototype done this weekend.

Im currently doing all my work in sketchup and then outputting it into DXF. Probably best if you send me sketchup files 1. Because sketchup is free. Google it. 2. So many versions of the DXF format all of which have variations that screw with the laser software. The export from sketchup ive got working pretty nicely. I can work with anything you send that coreldraw can read so PDF/DXF/AI/PNG/SVG. But if you do that it will extend the time i have to work on it so a little more expensive. Sure i can paint and engrave for you.

Are simmeters still in business? Their website is still in and has been in maintenance mode for at least 2 months now? Wiki page is still up tho.

Welcome back Glider, thanks for your PM. Its a real pleasure to see you back. your threads have been a real inspiration to me. Cant wait to see your new work.

As for cost I'm just working out if there's enough interest. I'll be PMing those that show interest to talk about what they want.

UK, Surrey, As for panels. I could cut reactor ones panels from his PDF. But that's not going to work if you don't use the exact parts. I could take your money and cut the panels but I think it would be a waste of your money. Much better that you take the design, make sure you can work it with your parts and then let me know. Not putting you off but I've been there very recently and I know how much designs may need to he adjusted. I have my own plans but I'm working thru each panel one by one. I have CMSP / UFC / CDU pretty much figured out and I'm starting on the rest. Btw I'll be sharing the link to my plans in the next day or so. Feel free to have a look and use.

Ive been tempted to drill holes into the plastic and embed the leds INTO the panel.i figured i could route the wiring as well if i wanted to use the laser to cut the channels. Now that im going to steal tacnos idea to mount buttons on laser transparency i dont have to worry about crafting a shoulder for the key. That means i can use a thin 1.5mm layer on top of a nice thick 5mm diffuser. Sounds like a project for this weekend :)

Now that im getting some decent results from the laser. And also considering buying in bulk is cheaper, whos interested in getting panels laser cut/engraved? Kinda curious how many pit builders out there are active. Im not looking to turn this into a business i.e. im not planning on charging huge prices. Basically im planning on charging for materials and labour (i have to sit and watch the laser and ensure it doesnt erupt into flame!). As long as you guys are only paying for me to operate the laser i wont charge a fortune either. Ive found some LaserMax equivalent laminate, its about 60% cheaper but theres a minimum order of 5 sheets. As well as that im going to order some 3mm acrylic (again in bulk) . Im not planning on competing with Glider at this point. This is more a cutting service, you want it cut, ill cut it - and cheap. Im going to be buying the stuff anyway so its an oppurtunity for you .

Ive been doing the following method. Clear acrylic 3mm. Paint it black Mask it using standard tape and then spray with a 40/60 solution of dish soap and water Run the engrave and cut program (laser), task the engrave first. Pause after the engrave is complete. Remove the acrylic and spray the mask with white paint. Semi dry the paint (i use a heat gun). Remove the mask, wipe the excess paint with a soft damp towel. Let it dry. Remask and respray. Replace the acrylic and restart the laser so that it does any cutting needed I end up with this.... (sorry bottom is slightly outta focus) The mask and spray stops the air around the beam from heating up and reacting with the paint/surface surrounding the cut edge. Also prevents smoke damage to the substrate. The dish soap is a cool low tech solution. i love it. Its fixed the issue i had with not getting a clean and sharp edge. Im actually pretty happy with this one, just finished it today. Running outta acrylic now so will probably go with the lasermax. Nice to know you can do it without tho. :)

Tks Thick8 actually getting people to share specific details is actually one of the harder things here :) Its great when you get hard cold facts you can use. Especially when its freely given.

This is awesome guys, keep it coming.

Oh the external stuff im not worried about, i cracked that months ago. Passing data back in is something i want/need to do now, just need to work out how. But yes Boltz's app should fit that niche nicely or you can roll your own like ive done.

No worries, shouldnt be too much trouble to get something working. :)

I guess this is more for the laser users out there, Im starting to make my panel faces in anger now and i want to get as clean and professional look as possible. So what and how are you guys doing it? Do you paint and then cut and engrave ? Or are you using lasermax? Do you backlight? Or just want a nice clean white lettering? What size do you use for your lettering? So many questions i know but for those who want to share, please do. Also might be nice to get a single thread with all the techniques in it for those who are also in my position.

Ive been planning to work out how to do it myself doveman, ill PM you when i get started and we can trade ideas etc.

As for a sticky then that's up to the moderator to do that

I did write a basic guide for doing that with an arduino and c#. I've rewritten it into a much heftier app which will handle multiple arduino inputs and outputs so that it will scale out to my needs.

Ah if my arduino does stop it's only drawing current for 1 led anyway which the resistor is rated for. I know some people drive the LEDs at a higher current because the led is only on for a short time but I'm not so its fine.

The Custard Pit :) That video is a matrix 6x8 driven by an arduino so 5v, the duty cycle is determined by how many warnings are run. So the whole panel lit will mean the LEDs are lit for less time than only 1 LED. When I have time I'll probably drop a few uln2803's in and drive it without a matrix. Have just reread this post and realised it made no sense whatsoever. I should never try and type whilst under the influence... :)

Multiplex the LEDs in a matrix, 8 resistors max.