Suitable wood for laser cutting

ron0909

ron0909

Joined
Jul 8, 2018
Messages
149
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Location
Ottawa, Canada
Hi everyone,

After looking at everyone's beautiful wooden models, I have been thinking of converting one of the Shipyard 1:96 kits to wood. So far I have traced and scaled up to 1:64 all of the bulkheads and most of the parts that will be needed. I'm pretty much ready to hit the laser cutter armed with my vector files but I would ask what would be the best wood for cutting on a 100 watt laser? thickness of the ply is 3 mm and pretty much everything else will be made from 1.5 mm hardwood. I realize some woods cut easier and faster than others but have no idea which to use. The parts sheet below is actually tabloid size which will be split up into 3 individual sheets for cutting. Ocooch Hardwoods looks like an amazing source for quality wood and the reviews I've found seem to be excellent. I am looking at their scroll saw ready selection as my source. http://ocoochhardwoods.com/scroll_saw_lumber.php

trial1.jpg
 
Hi a 40 watt laser will cut most ply. Birtch ( Airplane ply) or bamboo cuts well . If using a lower power diode laser ( 4watt ot better) then then look for the words laser ply. In Australia plyco is good. Also Darkly Labs where I got my emblaser 2 from sell laser ply. EU & US have ply readily availalble.

Reminds me to do a review of 4 new toys:( well some i have had for over a year.)
Stay tuned.
 
Hi Ron... I purchase wood from Ocooch and have had great results. You mentioned a 100 watt laser.. that's a lot more power than needed for 3mm wood of any type. You didn't say what type of laser you have, I assume it is a CO2 laser. If so, you will be able to run it at pretty low settings for modeling.

Regarding types of wood... the world is the limit. Some plys are better for internal bulkheads for strength versus price. Look through the scratch building build log section of the forum to get ideas. I am working a project now where we have cherry frames, maple deck planks, boxwood, swiss pear, ebony and holly outer planks... LOL... Your laser can cut any of that with ease.

I looked at your drawing and would suggest that you close all your vectors. It looks like you left some gaps as tabs to hold the parts in. While this is needed for kit manufacturers to ship around the world, if you are just making a model for yourself you can eliminate those tabs. The parts will fall right out... you can put some masking tape over the top after the laser run to hold them in until you need to remove the parts.

The only other feedback I can offer is that 1:64 scale is pretty small if this is your first time building a laser cut model from scratch. Going with something simple at a larger scale such as 1:48 - 1:32 you may find to be easier.

Happy to help if I can.... have fun!!!!
 
I looked at your drawing and would suggest that you close all your vectors. It looks like you left some gaps as tabs to hold the parts in. While this is needed for kit manufacturers to ship around the world, if you are just making a model for yourself you can eliminate those tabs. The parts will fall right out... you can put some masking tape over the top after the laser run to hold them in until you need to remove the parts.

I agree with Mike I would close up those parts, now I use gaps to hold the parts in place because the table is 4 x 8 foot and the bars are far apart so the parts would fall through and get hit by the laser. in your case you would not have that problem.

a 100 watt laser should cut most anything you need for model work and it will cut any of the plywoods out there 1/4 inch and thinner.

the only thing I can suggest is try to cut through your material in one pass every time you make another pass to cut through thicker material it chars the edge a little more. I found cutting fast in one pass leaves less char, however the laser I use is 900 watts. Tweaking the power and speed will affect the cut and the char.

some of the tropical exotic wood have a resin and oil in them those will burn a little
 
At one time a friend of mine had a 50 watt laser and we were testing 3D carving with a 2D laser. Before we could perfect the idea he got into a nasty separation and had to sell much of his machines including the laser. The laser I use now is way to powerful and I can not dial it down enough to do such delicate work.

The concept was to create a stern X section kit where basic carvings are provided and an instruction log on carving would be created. It was geared more to teaching and learning to do a basic carving. to give the student a fair chance on success a blank would be provided.

the process begins with CAD files

rattlesnake stern.jpg

the 2D cad file is then converted to a 3D file

rattlesnake stern3.jpg

rattlesnake stern4.jpg

the idea was to create color zones and the laser dialed in to etch each zone at a different depth

as7.jpg

this could be applied to other elements besides carvings

as6.jpg

problems we were having was if you look at the leaf patterns and the space was less that .012 the beam cut into the pattern edge next to it so trying this at a scale of 1:48 was to small. A X stern section had to be twice the scale minimum. Another issue was the char along the sides was very difficult to remove in such a tight space. Using an air brush size sand blaster solved that problem.
What the student would do is round out the edges between layers and add detail.

this concept was tried with CNC milling but the tiny size if the cutters made the process difficult.
 
realizing the question was wood suitable for laser cutting and letting it drift from that question here is a rough and I mean ROUGH concept of the above idea.
the project was abandoned when my buddy got raked over the coals and the laser was gone. and I never tried to refine it so the idea is wide open for anyone wanting to give it a go. I would be more that happy to add my CAD work

this idea was intended for a finished cabin with little people. stern4s.jpg

stern1s.jpgstern2s.jpgstern3.jpg
 
Dave, a thought just entered my mind, why not do this as a MSB PROJECT, making it a Generic stern X SECTION AND INCLUDE THE CARVINGS, I have been in touch with Joseph and he is winding up his family problems and ready to post in another week or so, WINSTON IS SICK AND IN BED WITH A BRONCHIAL PROBLEM, let me here your views, just a thought. Don
 
Hi guys,
Thanks for the advice! In regard to closing the vectors, I have a community workshop cutting the bulkheads for me. Can't risk losing the pieces before I get 'em home! I personally don't own a laser although I did own a 60 watt Co2 laser a few years back. Sadly I was into the cardmodel scene and used it to produce frames for about a hundred different commercial kits. Sadly enough, cardmodelers are notoriously frugal and Canada Post was really pricey and dim witted. Long story short I sold it out of frustration and poverty and am really kicking myself! One thing I did notice while trying to source wood or veneers in the 1/16" - 1/8" range is that there is a really big shortage here in Canada. The US has a ton as does the UK. One could probably do well if they were set up to mill small scale lumber here in Canada! Didit, That stern carving is beautiful! Nice to have it done on a good quality US laser that has the ability to cut at different power levels on the fly and get those different depths you were mentioning.
 
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