ZOMG Gears!

[tugrik]

Because every good steampunker needs red acrylic gears.

Comments

[rosequoll.livejournal.com]

Do you have a pricing setup yet for the laser engraver? I'm looking to get a large amount of 'cutouts' style keychains (in black acrylic and green tint acrylic if possible), plus I'm looking at getting some acrylic luggage tags made as well.

I can do all the artwork if I have the guidelines (how to set up the vector artwork so the machine knows what is cut, what is 'engrave', etc), just wondering on how you're pricing, size, cut, time, etc?

I was gonna go with Ponoko.com, but I'd rather send the business your way!

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

No pricing as of yet; I'm only starting out on getting everything leveled and running properly! However, go ahead and get a quote from Ponoko and email it to me, so I can do my best to beat it. I need the practice anyways and can afford to take a loss on a few jobs for friends while I figure it all out.

As for artwork, the laser talks Corel Draw natively, but I can run/convert from anything that Adobe CS3 (photoshop, illustrator, etc) can handle. For vector work, .EPS is best if you can't do Corel directly. For raster work, .TIF or .JPG is fine if high enough quality/resolution.

If you're doing a combo raster/vector (engrave/cut), you *must* work in a vector format such as .EPS or Corel. Color the raster areas greyscale (white is no-engrave, black is 100% deep engrave) and color the vector areas solid red (and as thin as you can make them; "hairline"). If you're actually working in corel use the 'hairline' outline setting for those.

As far as material, do you mean cast acrylic (see-through, rigid) or do you mean that semi-soft bendy-plastic stuff one usually sees soft keychains and tags made of? I can get the former, but I'm still seeking a bulk supplier for the latter.

[rosequoll.livejournal.com]

Working in freehand, hairline is fine. Already have the artwork done as EPS files, just need to convert the cuts from true blue to true red for you in that case.

Quote from Ponoko was about $47 and change for the luggage tags and something INSANE for the keychains, like...$150 a sheet because of all the vector lines. Ugggh. In their defense, it was a huge sheet, but that's more than I can spend on tags to attach to purses and stuff I make.

I'll get an exact quote, and then e-mail you with the files and the quotes, and then just lemme know what you can do. The only one I *need* is the luggage tags before I head to the US. The keychains I can do some other time. =)

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

I am *so* going to have to commission both chip models and pseudo-MEMS from you ;). I should be able to produce EPS automatically with a bit of wrangling. TIF is easy, but a straight raster scan of any large area would take forever.

Please let me know when you've evaluated what the resolution limits are for the laser (both for positioning and for cut width) for various thicknesses of acrylic.

On a more mad-sciency front, how feasible would it be to add a laminated foil backstop to an acrylic or polycarbonate sheet? The idea is to have a thin layer of something the laser won't cut, but that I can easily etch away chemically after delivery. Otherwise, a chip or MEMS design with a thousand disconnected polygons per layer would be prohibitively difficult to assemble. There are other options that don't result in as many disconnected pieces, but being able to do this would open up many more possibilities =^.^=.

-Deuce

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

Sanity check: If all I'm doing is vector work, I don't need to worry about pen colour in the EPS, right?

[ksilebo.livejournal.com]

Are there presets for depth, power, etc for the material you're cutting into? Or do you have to experiment on each material you're working with? I'd imagine there's a significant level of trial and error to start.

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

There are indeed presets, but they can all be 'tweaked'. Due to the variance in individual materials (even between batches of the same material) there is a lot of calibration and experimentation to be done to get things "just right". But that's half the fun.

[ksilebo.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I should have some business trips coming up this year to CA, so I will definitely need to stop by and marvel at its glory.

[mejeep.livejournal.com]

MEEP! I'm no mechanical engineer but I've always wondered if there were design rules for the spokes and inner patterns to gears. I always adored the "S" shaped spokes inside wheels and gears.

[tugrik.livejournal.com]

There are rules, definitely... but heck if I know 'em. :) These gears, however, were designed by a friend of ours explicitly for costume work, and are such more artistic than they are mechanically accurate. They look pretty awesome.

[cjthomas.livejournal.com]

I don't know the design rules for exact dimensions, but my understanding is that the straight spokes are there to make the gear lighter (by allowing most of the non-rim material to be removed), and the S-spokes are both for this and to act as springs (reducing backlash if the gear sticks or is stopped by a mechanism).

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Nifty!

anher has recently been bitten by the steampunk bug. We've been trying to put together basic costumes by Halloween, with more complicated ones to follow.

[loranskunky.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Once you're up and running, let me know. Penh and I have some projects ideas for ya.

Sweet.

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

Duuuuuude.

[mythos-amante.livejournal.com]

Oh my GOD, Tugrik, these are AWESOME! I can't believe my eyes! My dawings turned into THESE??!! WOW!!

[mythos-amante.livejournal.com]

drawings, lol!

[revar.livejournal.com]

Yep, them's your design. :)

[mythos-amante.livejournal.com]

Hi, Revar! Any idea how much for the metal ones? You can e-mail me at tessaberry(at)gmail(dot)com, or leave me your e-mail here and I will contact you on yours! This is pretty darn cool!

[revar.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I need to get some thinner brass plate than I have in stock, and the milling will take some significant setup first. My best guess is around $150 for cutting bits, brass, and time.

[mythos-amante.livejournal.com]

what e-mail address can I discuss this with you on?

[revar.livejournal.com]

revar a_t belfry d_o_t com should do.

[zeeth_kyrah]

To everything (turn, turn, turn),
There is a season (turn, turn turn)...

[slith-tschillin.livejournal.com]

need a way to contect you for a price on some work i need down shirts and metalwork

[fallenpegasus]

You must come up to Seattle Steampunk Con this next year.

http://www.steam-con.com/

(I'm on the con com.)

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Maybe-good idea: You know those 'build a working paper clock' books? I wonder if you could steal plans from one of those and make a clock out of translucent acrylic, laser-cut out of varied colors.

[revar.livejournal.com]

The idea has occurred to me, yes. :) I've just taught my CAD how to make gears.

[hgryphon.livejournal.com]

Gears are sexy.

[doctorpinkerton.livejournal.com]

Well, you KNOW I approve of this usage!!!

[theassassinnox.livejournal.com]

*blinks* You can do gears?? Can they be done in metal...or something that looks like metal? If so....we must talk. *shifty eyes*

[revar.livejournal.com]

The laser can cut mirror backed acrylic for fake gears. Or, I can make gears in brass on my mill, but it takes more time and money.