When lathe meets laser ornament

[Steve Krumanaker]

Got a new toy, the vision pro from WeCreate, it's a 45watt diode laser. According to the manufacturer it will cut up to 1" thick soft wood. Haven't tried that but I can tell you it cuts 1/4 maple and walnut like butter. I've wanted to do something like this since I saw a similar ornament from Gwinnet wood workers on youtube several years ago. Anyway, this is the first one I've done taking advantage of my new capabilities. It's a walnut shaft with  maple medallions that have a walnut inlay. Possibilities are promising with this I think. 

 

 

 

[lew]

WOW! That is incredible, Steve! Would love to see the blank before it was turned to expose the ovals and crosses!

[Grandpadave52]

Amazing work Steve. I always love seeing your creativity.

[HandyDan]

Looks excellent Steve.  Glad some of us are computer savvy.  I'm not at all.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Just awesome! 

[Steve Krumanaker]

3 hours ago, lew said:

Would love to see the blank before it was turned to expose the ovals and crosses!

 

Pretty straight forward Lew. I used the laser to cut out the matching pieces and they are just glued to the shaft. Everything for these is 1" wide or 1" square. Of course that is arbitrary depending on what a person wants to do. Plan to do some with a manger scene and wise men, those will likely be a larger diameter. These pictures are of a cherry shaft with walnut medallion and a maple inlay.

 

 

 

 

I just hold the piece in place until the glue tacks, clamp it for a few minutes and then do the next side until all four are glued on. I do let it set overnight before turning.

 

[lew]

Thanks, Steve! Looked up your new laser- Nice "Toy"!!!

[Wichman3]

Did you save the "scrap" pieces and do another set with reversed colors?

[Steve Krumanaker]

1 hour ago, Wichman3 said:

Did you save the "scrap" pieces and do another set with reversed colors?

 

I do not, at least for this purpose. A laser has a kerf just the same as any other cutting tool and the fit wouldn't work well.

[Wichman3]

6 hours ago, Steve Krumanaker said:

 

I do not, at least for this purpose. A laser has a kerf just the same as any other cutting tool and the fit wouldn't work well.

So you have to have two shapes to cut? One slightly larger (smaller) than the other?

What is the minimum kerf on your laser?

Edited November 14 by Wichman3
spelling

[Steve Krumanaker]

4 hours ago, Wichman3 said:

So you have to have two shapes to cut? One slightly larger (smaller) than the other?

What is the minimum kerf on your laser?

 

I want to make sure to say, I am just learning this technique so consider that please. From what I've researched and from my limited experience a person can figure the kerf to be somewhere around .1" and that can vary from one material to another or from one thickness to another. 3mm bass plywood will probably have a wider kerf than 6mm white oak. To get the fit I wanted for these ornaments it took several test cuts. To answer your question, yes, there are two shapes to cut. I have the cutout set to burn at .776" high and .75" wide. The insert is set at .807" high and .78"wide. After getting the numbers right I can cut at least 10 sets of each at a time, although I haven't really experimented to see how many I could realistically do at once

[Steve Krumanaker]

I apologize, I meant to say kerf is just over .1mm and not .1 inch.