Designing For Laser Cutting

[28ten]

I thought a couple of shots of tonights work on a commission for an engine shed might be of interest to those of you considering laser cutting.
First up a general shot of the side and some of the reveals


To make the correct thickness of the wall and allow full interior detail will require laminations to hide the glazing and give window frames on both sides



Note the outer layer will be mitred to get a nice crisp joint on the corners, whereas the inner laminations will form a butt to the shed front, which will have a similar set of laminations to the side, all of which gives a nice strong joint.

this last one shows the sheets exploded

 

[Ressaldar]

Hi Cynric,

looking good. I assume that the recessed (grey) brick panel is alao a seperate sheet. It would be useful if the tops of the inner 'panels' were notched to receive/locate the roof beams.

cheers

Mike

 

[28ten]

Yes it is separate. There will be some notches and aligning holes which will go in later. I ended up building a virtual brick wall to work out the bond, I now have a set of dimensions for calculating such things.

 

[Ressaldar]

I have an old - 1950s, Architect's diary which is more like a builder's bible than a diary and comes in very useful when I'm looking for 'standards' when putting my designs together - and it has the 'benefit' of being Imperial - for the pre 1970 stuff and then the 'scale' conversions keep the little grey cells ticking over.

cheers

Mike

 

[Steve Cook]

Like it Guv, interesting to see all the different layers in place. I noticed that you have an even number of layers, can I take it when you've got that many you no longer need odd numbers to prevent warping? (I am to buildings what chocolate is to teapots )

Can the laser cutter deal with the mitre, or is that something you will need to add by hand afterwards?

Steve

 

[28ten]

The main 'sandwich' is 5 layers and I find that quite stable. the outer (brown) layer will have some more layers added to it to build up the foundations. The mitre is done with a mini router.
Do you want one in 1/32? an ideal companion for your 14xx

 

[28ten]

I have an old - 1950s, Architect's diary which is more like a builder's bible than a diary and comes in very useful when I'm looking for 'standards' when putting my designs together - and it has the 'benefit' of being Imperial - for the pre 1970 stuff and then the 'scale' conversions keep the little grey cells ticking over.

cheers

Mike

Is that an actual publication? I have been going round measuring bricks on Victorian houses becoming a little obsessive about bonds etc. Recently I had the pleasure of chatting to an old boy in his 90's who used to be a brickie and i managed to pick up quite a lot from him.

 

[Steve Cook]

The main 'sandwich' is 5 layers and I find that quite stable. the outer (brown) layer will have some more layers added to it to build up the foundations. The mitre is done with a mini router.

Cheers Guv

Do you want one in 1/32? an ideal companion for your 14xx

Could be tempted as a mini diorama for 14xx or Pannier...mmmm...what's the prototype?

 

[D1054]

I like that a lot Cynric, and my thoughts are coming back to Swindon "A" Shop front so be wary of a stealthy approach from the Peoples Republic of West Yorkshire (Modelling the WR) Co Ltd!

 

[28ten]

Steve, its Wallingford, will email you.
Ian, my methods have changed a little since we spoke and the A shop is a really good candidate . Dumb question, is there anything of it left?

 

[Ressaldar]

Is that an actual publication? I have been going round measuring bricks on Victorian houses becoming a little obsessive about bonds etc. Recently I had the pleasure of chatting to an old boy in his 90's who used to be a brickie and i managed to pick up quite a lot from him.

View attachment 7361

it was a diary and therefore I would not think that it is classed as a 'publication'. I'll try and dig it out sometime - I think it is in one of the drawers in the workshop. Be mindful of Victorian brick sizes - they did vary from area to area.

cheers

Mike

 

[Steve Cook]

Steve, its Wallingford, will email you.

Thanks Cynric, lovely pair of photo's. Email sent back

 

[D1054]

Steve, its Wallingford, will email you.
Ian, my methods have changed a little since we spoke and the A shop is a really good candidate . Dumb question, is there anything of it left?

Ah so! My new shed will be arriving next month, and with it will come the first baseboards for front 5 running lines, including the three line entrance.

I like the 5 ply method which I think will be eminently suitable.

Not a dumb question, and not anything left..... well, not of the bits we'd be interested in...

However, I am armed with some decent enough photographs and dimensions to give it a good go.

Beware the stealthy whisper....... coming your way...... sometime soon.

 

[28ten]

Ian, I feel a trip to Steam coming on they are bound to have loads more photos, and as a bonus I get brownie points for visiting a shopping center
Rowmark comes in .75mm, 1mm, 1.5mm and 3mm so you need to work around these measurements.
I work in full size and scale the material thickness up eg .75 mm Rowmark is .994in in 1/32 scale so a lamination that makes 2.25mm is 2.834in scaled up which is close enough to one brick thickness. that way when the whole lot is scaled down I have the correct clearances

 

[Dan Randall]

my thoughts are coming back to Swindon "A" Shop front

Hi Ian

Regarding Swindon "A" Shop, since seeing John Dornom's excellent model in the MRJ, I too have had a yearning to do a 7mm diorama of this iconic building. However, I dislike the limitations of Slater's embossed brick and like Cynric, I have a bit of an obsession about correct bonding patterns at corners and door/window reveals. In view of this, I planned to etch the brickwork and started work on some drawings over 4 years ago. Due to other commitments, they're a long way from finished, but since then, laser cutting has aroused my interest more and if I ever do find some spare time to devote to the drawings, I think this is the route I'll take.

I've tried to include a picture below, but I'm a bit of a twat with technology and can't get it to appear as a decent size - sorry!


Regards

Dan

 

[28ten]

Dan, do you have a .dxf?

 

[Dan Randall]

Dan, do you have a .dxf?

I do and figuring you were going to suggest I tried saving the drawing as a .DXF, I did just that, but when I tried to upload it, I got the following error message:

Swindon A Shop (DXF).dxf - The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension.

Does this mean I'm even bigger twat now?

Regards

Dan

 

[28ten]

I do and figuring you were going to suggest I tried saving the drawing as a .DXF, I did just that, but when I tried to upload it, I got the following error message:

Swindon A Shop (DXF).dxf - The uploaded file does not have an allowed extension.

Does this mean I'm even bigger twat now?

Regards

Dan

Email it to me and I will do the business you cant upload dxf's

 

[Dan Randall]

Email it to me and I will do the business you cant upload dxf's

Thanks - just sent it.

Regards

Dan

 

[lancer1027]

Dan, you cant possibly be anywhere near the BIG twat that i am when it comes to technical stuff Mind you when it comes to most things im a bit of a twat

Rob