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Post by jennifer on Nov 13, 2016 10:15:27 GMT
This thread is to house all my laser engraving related posts.
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Post by jennifer on Nov 13, 2016 10:15:58 GMT
The following is from my boardgamegeek.com thread (be sure to read comments there as well, if interested): boardgamegeek.com/thread/1671419/paint-filled-dice-100-laser-engraverIn another thread I was asking about these 1000mw (1 watt) USB laser engravers (made from the internals of two DVDs). Like what I read and so I purchased one -- thanks Jake Staines for your help. But after using it, I was surprised to find it has exceeded my expectations. It actually engraved deep enough to take on thinned down $1 craft store acrylic paint. Well I started by making a jig in OpenSCAD (CAD software), to hold four 16mm dice in place while it prints: I made this jig available for free on Thingiverse.com for printing on your 3D printer (don't have one? they are only $329 these days -- I recommend the Monoprice Maker Select V2 from Monoprice.com and follow the support & mod groups on Thingiverse.com for this printer). Here is the URL to the free jig on Thingiverse.com: www.thingiverse.com/thing:1887756Here is a photo of it holding four blank 16mm white dice (which I bought in bulk from Amazon.com) : Here is how the dice turned out after engraving and wiping the black powder off with a wet rag: See the nice checkered texture? Provides a lot of surface area for the acrylic paint to grab onto and stay adhered. I only did two coats of the thinned down acrylic paint, let dry and rubbed it on a thin flat cotton dish cloth. Here they are painted: And then rubbed down: Paint seems well adhered, and with only two coats, I tried scratching it with fingernail pretty hard and couldn't get to the white underneath the red paint. (These are all close ups of the dice.. they look razor sharp at normal viewing distance, and solid in color -- plus I could probably do another coat or two if I wanted.) I'll keep you guys posted. Just thought I'd share. Pretty excited about this. Looking forward to trying a set of 10 Star Trek dice -- filled with paint. I got black dice but don't know well it can engrave black. By the way I had the burn time set only to 60, and you can bump it all the way up to 240.. haven't done this yet, but I imagine one can get an even deeper cut? Jennifer
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Post by Meph on Nov 13, 2016 10:57:14 GMT
They look good. What was the burn time for 1 side of 4 dice?
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Post by jennifer on Nov 13, 2016 11:41:22 GMT
They look good. What was the burn time for 1 side of 4 dice? Each pass takes quite a while actually. I've never timed it.. but I'd say like 20 minutes for each side? so maybe a couple hours for 4 dice? I'll time it next time. Got some things to work out.. device is acting up a little. One one corner, part of the image isn't printing on one die. If I have a lot of problems with this laser engraver I'll look into another. Perhaps that one you linked for $200. I need to look into that one. That one is 60% more powerful as well, and well I could do many more dice per pass with that one
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Post by fantascientist on Nov 13, 2016 16:44:26 GMT
Those dice are so awesome! Wanted to exalt you but apparently there's something broken...
Does it give off a lot of fumes when you use it?
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Post by jennifer on Nov 13, 2016 20:05:39 GMT
Those dice are so awesome! Wanted to exalt you but apparently there's something broken... Does it give off a lot of fumes when you use it? Yes a subtle amount on these dice. Can't really see them. Can smell them a little when right over it (sat it on floor near my computer last night). Anyways, it's a bad idea to print inside here with no ventilation. I'll be printing outside with notebook computer in future. It'd probably really dangerous what I did. just becuase I can't smell something doesn't mean it isn't there, I know.
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Post by jennifer on Nov 14, 2016 3:33:26 GMT
Well I just engraved black dice with the same burn settings (@60). And I was surprised again -- very pleased with results. And well it cuts even deeper.. lots deeper really. Maybe this has somethign to do with black absorbing more light/heat than white? Anyways here are the sides of three dice I engraved and painted with cheap yellow acrylic paint (Americana Primary Yellow $1.49 at craft stores). [There are only three dice because the image in the top left die keeps getting random portions of it cut out.. so I stick a sacrificial die there. Actually, I'll just keeping putting the same junk die in there, so no new dice are ruined.]. Makign dice for Star Trek the Dice Game. It's a PnP and needs 10 dice if I recall.
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Post by l7arkness on Nov 14, 2016 19:21:34 GMT
THink it can do a d20?
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Post by jennifer on Nov 14, 2016 21:19:49 GMT
Lol yeah, without take a long time flipping 20 sides And you'd have to be really careful with alignment. Might be too difficult I am not sure. I don't get these dice perfectly Centered as is
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Post by l7arkness on Nov 15, 2016 13:36:30 GMT
Lol yeah, without take a long time flipping 20 sides And you'd have to be really careful with alignment. Might be too difficult I am not sure. I don't get these dice perfectly Centered as is i was just curious how small of a design it could make? you could always make a jig like your d6, might only be able to do one ate a taim but still
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Post by SpielMeisterKev! on Nov 15, 2016 18:25:47 GMT
Howdy, I was gonna ask about d12... Can't seem to find any reasonably priced d12's with only 1-6, 1-4, and 1-3 on them, Kev!
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Post by jennifer on Nov 16, 2016 9:57:42 GMT
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Post by Draklith on Nov 17, 2016 0:10:31 GMT
Holy badass-ness...I'd buy that just to cannibalize the laser out of it need to start somewhere with these saber plans I drew up
thanks for sharing J
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Post by jennifer on Nov 17, 2016 2:12:34 GMT
PACS Dice -- Set 1 Heads or Tails? I like it better than flipping three coins I am going to be engraving and mailing DM Scotty a few sets of these in different colors
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