tools

This is just a quick list of notes and links looking at cheap Chinese laser cutters and possible uses

 

Materials:

Acrylic

Cardboard

Leather

Denim

Felt

MDF

Chipboard

Sugar

Rubber

Paper – books

Glass?

craft foam

Mirror (back)

rocks

sponges

beans

 

Materials to Avoid:

Vinyl – PVC

Kydex

ABS

 

Project Ideas :

Superhero masks

Catan

Stencils

Stickers?

Inlays

Comic prints

instrument panels

Plant tags

Stamps

Gloves

Holster

Topo Maps

Tokens

Records

cut pipes

name tags

license plate covers

Vacuum Former

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/152532418116?ul_noapp=true

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Water-Break-Protection-40W-CO2-Laser-Engraver-Crafts-Cutter-w-Panel-Control/162448714948?hash=item25d2b2acc4:g:vWQAAOSwTM5Y2ysr

https://fslaser.com/Products/Lasers

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4060-Laser-Engraving-600-400mm-50W-Co2-Laser-Cutting-Machine-with-Honeycomb-Specifical-for-Plywood-Acrylic/32728471493.html?spm=2114.10010108.1000013.1.12091572wP2NcW&traffic_analysisId=recommend_2088_1_90158_iswistore&scm=1007.13339.90158.0&pvid=8047e5a3-de46-465c-af61-8f9edf7a9602&tpp=1

http://en.voiernlaser.com/index.html

salewang@voiernlaser.com

https://lightburnsoftware.com

Buy Mini Gerbil K40 Controller

https://cncpro.yurl.ch/

http://svgnest.com/

Dremel Rocks!


My Dremel burned out recently when I was using it. I was cutting through some thin aluminum with a grinding wheel when it got hot, then stopped working altogether. I received the Dremel as a gift for my wedding and didn’t have a receipt for it. I called up Dremel and they had me send it in without giving me any trouble. A short while later I got a box from UPS. Not only did it contain a perfectly working replacement unit, it had a nice letter, a CD of project ideas and a free accesory. Thank you Dremel very much. I think I may need to go buy some more Dremel products.

The accesory was a 120 grit flapwheel sander. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, but right now just about everything is looking like it could use a good sanding.

In case you are wondering how I finished my project after the original dremel died, the metal was thin enough that I was able to cut through it with a box cutter. You’ll see that project in a later post.

At work I found a hand push drill from Yankee Handyman. Unfortunately it was missing all but one drill bit, and it was bent and broken. I decided that I had to have one. I went to Rockler with my Grandpa looking for one, and it turned out that they haven’t been made for a long time.
When we got back to the house my Grandpa took me out to the garage and to one of his older toolboxes. He pulled out a Yankee Handyman drill, with four bits still stored in the handle.

This beauty belonged to my great grand father. Both it and the drill from work were dirty and slightly rusty. So I decided to clean and oil them. First up was the work driver.
All it took to dissasemble the driver was unscrewing the threaded bit at the front of the handle. As you can see there was a spring inside and below that a wooden peg that the whole thing spins on. It was all covered in dirty oil so first I cleaned all of the grime off with rubbing alcohol and q-tips.
Next up I oiled all of the moving parts and threads, as well as the bit since it was bare metal and a little rusty.
One neat thing about this drill is the bit storage area. Too bad I don’t have any bits to fill the other slots.
The threads on this driver only go in one direction. When you push it in the bit spins clockwise, on the way back out the bit spins counterclockwise. This probably explains the unique design of the drill bit.
Next up was cleaning my driver.
The shaft of this driver has threads in both directions. It can spin in either direction.
The driver had an amazing mechanism to allow it to spin in one direction, and then release freely in the other.

As you can see there was quite a bit of grime on the inside, and rust on the bits.
Getting inside this one was much harder. First I unscrewed the front like the other driver. Then I had to push in the switch on the ratcheting mechanism and slide down the silver cover. This got me into the ratchet. After removing three bits of metal the gears were loose. Next I had to unscrew the back, and then another bit that it screwed into. Even still I wasn’t able to get the shaft out completely.
After a thorough cleaning and oiling both drivers look much nicer, and work better as well. It is much easier to get the bits in and out. With the gunk and rust cleaned off these fine tools are ready for many more years of use.