Reply with QuoteNow I get it bpoulin, much appreciate your time
I knew about the Lasers but I didn't know how they work and now I got it
Thanks again
Sorry I misunderstood you. It's all in the software used to run it. I use vector art, but you can use grayscale bitmap images as well. It has to be a true black and white image the laser is pulsed on for black areas and off for white, and it runs like a printer back and forth across the image, and at the end of one line it will step up one line and repeat. When watching it, it looks like a giant inkjet printer. The machine uses a .mol file which I think is a machine operating language file. Probably similar to G-code.
Now I get it bpoulin, much appreciate your time
I knew about the Lasers but I didn't know how they work and now I got it
Thanks again
Nicolas
No problem, any more questions drop me a line. poulinphotography@gmail.com
GLEN,
Excellent work my friend.
I always enjoy seeing your signs. Please keep posting.
Joe Crumley
Norman Sign Company, Norman, Oklahoma, SandBlasted Signs, Sign Painter, Redwood Signs
A few more!
Oops I posted a repeat!
http://www.glenspeymillworks.com Techno LC4896 - 2.2Kw Water Cooled Spindle | Moving Table Mill from Omis 3 CMM, 500Lb granite base | Epilog Legend 32 Laser Engraver
One of the big advantages for those of us with routers, we can pocket, mask, and paint as seperate pieces. I often us HP Vinyl letters, applied on panels. This also speeds up the finising process.
That's a beautiful job Joe
What is HP Vinyl letters?
Nicolas
Nicolas,
That is high performance vinyl which is cut in a plotter.
If I was doing this job today I'd use Dibond or PVC for the letteering. But that was well over fifteen years ago and the materials weren't available. The major point being, with a router you aren't locked into having to paint the sign as a single piece. Most of my signs now are made in several pieces. Each being painted seperately and attached.
Joe Crumley
www.normansignco.com
what kind of wood are you using?
kevin
Thank you Joe, you are a real artist. I looked at your site and that’s an excellent job you did.
I will have a look in the stores and see what I can find. It will be an interesting experience
Nicolas
My local store carries various thicknesses of self adhesive vinyl rolls
I would cut the vinyl with my CNC router using 1/8”, 1/16” or 1/32” one flute bits.
Is there any recommended vinyl thickness there?
Nicolas
Why not use a drag knife on your cnc? You could make or buy a holder easily and attach it to the spindle. Just don't turn the spindle on!
http://www.glenspeymillworks.com Techno LC4896 - 2.2Kw Water Cooled Spindle | Moving Table Mill from Omis 3 CMM, 500Lb granite base | Epilog Legend 32 Laser Engraver
That's an option I'm working on but I also read that some use the bit as a cutter.Originally Posted by Pplug
Why not use a drag knife on your cnc? You could make or buy a holder easily and attach it to the spindle. Just don't turn the spindle on!
So the question remains: is there a specific vinyl thickness guide line for cutting either with a knife or a bit
Nicolas
You should ask that in the right forum. This one gets buried and fewer people see it. I think my knives can dig about 1/16" on my cnc. I haven't tried it yet.
http://www.glenspeymillworks.com Techno LC4896 - 2.2Kw Water Cooled Spindle | Moving Table Mill from Omis 3 CMM, 500Lb granite base | Epilog Legend 32 Laser Engraver
No problem Pplug, dont know which one is the right forum so I will experiment and find out which vinyl gives the best results. I guess there must be other variables involved besides the vinyl thickness like plunge speed, router RPM, feed rate etc.
Nicolas
When you say vinyl, do you mean like peel off vinyl we normally run through a plotter? Because I can't see a rotating bit working on that it will wrap up and gum up a bit quickly. A drag knife really is the right way to do that on a flat bed CNC machine.
I read somewhere that you first paint the material and then cover it with vinyl sheet and let the CNC cut through the vinyl. After you spray paint the cut and then you peel off the vinyl. Perhaps I misunderstood but it sounds a good way of achieving a good finished product with 2 or more colours.
Yes the vinyl sheet I got is with peel off backing. It looks like that the peel off is much thicker than the vinyl but never tried this process and don’t know what is right / wrong.
I plan to use a hand held router to try a sample and see if it works or not
Nicolas
OK boys, here is one artists take on vinyl marking films.
The only vinyl I use are the ones made for the sign industry. The High Performance will last for up to seven years and maintains good colors. These plotters are dead on accurate. My oldest, a "Gerber HS 15 plus" is twenty years old. I keep it to cut sandblast mask and vinyl as per the photo.
Joe Crumley
Norman Sign Company, Norman, Oklahoma, SandBlasted Signs, Sign Painter, Redwood Signs
This may work, I misunderstood what you were saying, I thought you were just trying to cut vinyl only. I would probably go with a paint mask in your situation. Vinyl is normally made to have a permenant adhesive, it may not want to come off your surface clean, and it may take the paint up with it. There are temporary vinyls, and paint mask that will probably work better for what you're doing.
The way to make money is the shortest and ceanest process.
My photo was showing sandblast mask applied over the whole panel, then using a small brad point round over bit to score the mask. After that I hog out the background to -.40. Now she's ready for sandblasting. I paint the background with the sb mask in positition. When the mask is removed there will be lots of adhesive left behing. I use a big disk sander with 100p to clean it all off. Now were ready for the finish coat. The black & white letters are High Performance vinyl for the lettering.
Joe
