Quote:
Originally Posted by DampRobot
I recently got a membership to TechShop in the Bay Area, a hackerspace that has a fairly extensive shop. One of the many machines they offer for members to use is the Epilog Laser Engraver. I was wondering what experiences people have had with this machine in specific, and with laser engravers in general for FRC use. Were there any cool or innovative uses you found for this tool? What kind of parts did you use it to make, and how did they perform?
The first specific use that came to my mind was using this machine to make plastic gearbox plates, out of either polycarb or ABS. Has anyone tried this? What kind of tolerances can this type of machine hold? Is this a good/bad idea?
If I do end up trying to make plates like this, I'll be sure to share the results with the community.
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Generally the laser cutters can be pretty accurate (about .005, depending on machine/settings) but that's only the center point on the laser. Other issues mentioned above will prevent any highly delicate work to be done.
My general decision on laser cutting VS Milling/watterjet:
Does it need to be done fast?
Is Acrylic/Delrin/Wood okay?
Are the tolerances okay?
Typically, a gearbox plate has a no in all three of those questions!
That being said, I'm uploading pictures now of entire robots I've made on a laser cutter for WPILib as well as classes.