Our super reliable laser had a break down this week. The controller let the magic smoke out. After many options were debated about downtime, repair costs, replacement costs and lots of quotes we ended up with a controller system upgrade, by Testra. The laser now runs great, its like a new machine! 

To test out the new features on the controller I engraved this lazy susan for my wife. She picked it up a while ago for our table and it looked a little tattered when it arrived. Its made of maple. To do the engraving i worked up the vector graphics in CorelDraw then masked the wood with a paper tape, and engraved with 45% power and 100% speed. It took about 45 minutes on the laser. The wood was then resealed with butcher block wood conditioner so it would be good for use with food. It came out really nice and my wife loves it. 

 

We turned these out in record time for CrossFit SK, going from initial request to complete design, samples, 3d printing the full order, post print cleanup, ringing, invoicing and shipping in just two business days. 

This looks like a fantastic new direction for 3D printing to take. We have been investigating the next machine to add to our shop, hopefully this one reaches production very soon. The idea of decreasing print time by a factor of 25 is fantastic. 
I am anxious to see where the price point for these machines lands and what kinds of goo can be used for resins. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/03/16/this-new-technology-blows-3d-printing-out-of-the-water-literally/

The Lyme School contacted us for help in creating a special gift for folks that helped with recent renovations. The initial request was for these 3D printed bolts with extruded wording on the faces. 
We looked at it and it was not going to be cost effective to 3D print those bolts due to the size. We also had concerns about the resolution of all the requested text to be extruded on the faces. We went through some design options with the school and came up with the bolts you see here. These are 1/2-6 grade 5 steel bolts and nuts. They came preserved in an oily coating. We had them chemical stripped and black oxide coated. From there we applied a brushed gold finish laser foil, cut out the desired wording and then applied MANY MANY MANY coats of clear lacquer to give it a beautiful luster. The school was very happy with the results and these little mementos (just over 8 pounds a piece) will definitely keep everyone's bookshelves from floating away.   

Forman3D is proud to offer BuildTak sheets for your 3D printing needs. These durable, long lasting, heat resistant 3D printing surfaces will make your life easier. No more hairspray, kapton tape, etc...

We stock 5.5" x 5.5" sheets, the same ones that fit our printers (Afinia and UP! 3D printers) 
Order yours in our webstore.
Email us for custom size orders

Everyone loves Batman, especially my kids. So i put together these little emblems for, um, the kids. Yea for the kids. As well as for a demo of the types of things we can make with  acrylic and our laser. 

I started out by downloading a Batman emblem (JPG) from the web and importing it into Corel Draw, from there i quickly created 'curves' or traces of the emblem for use in creating the acrylic shapes.  

Method One: Straight cut out form Yellow Acrylic. Using a vector outline of the emblem the laser cutout the shape in just 1:31. I have a black truck, this will look pretty sweet on there. 

Method Two: Engrave the batman emblem into a yellow piece of acrylic. Using 40% power on the laser i get a relief of the emblem in the acryilic about 1/16" deep. The laser just sweeps back and forth and raster's the design. It then cuts out the oval shape surrounding the emblem. This took about 12 minutes of laser time. To finish this, before removing the masking i spray painted the engraved area, first with black enamel and then with clear coat. 

Method Three: Cut out a batman emblem from a piece of yellow acrylic and then cut out the oval shape so we have a 'void' emblem. Then use the same dimension Batman emblem and cut it out of 1/4" black acrylic. The laser kerf is perfect for a nice tight fit.  I should note the yellow being used through out here is 3/16", 1/16" thinner than the black acrylic for a raised emblem. This emblem is also 'double sided' or reversible.  We then take the black and glue it into the yellow. This method used about 4 minutes of laser time. 


The very cool results are pictured below.