All the frame parts, deck beams, back bone pieces and
the deck knees were nested as close together as possible on a
2 x 24 inch sheet of Boxwood. A small bridge is left holding each part in
the matrix. A little twist of the part will break the small bridge and the
piece will fall out. |
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| A close up of the parts show what appears
to be a burn from the laser. Actually it is not a burn at all
but rather the smoke from the cutting process. This smoke can
either be scraped off with a razor blade or cleaned off with
steel wool. The darker squares are the notches etched into the
parts. These notches are for the ends of the carlings and ledges. |
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| It's the nature of a laser to cut on a
slight angle. The laser beam losing focus and spreading out causes
this. This photo was taken with a close up macro lens and the
actual angle can barley be noticed. |
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| Both photos are examples of both sides
of a laser cut when joined together. The first photo is of the
front side of the pieces, when turned over the space is much
wider due to the angle of cut. Remember this is very close up
photography and the gap is no more than .008 thousands of an
inch. The ridges in the background fabric can barley be seen
with the naked eye. Correcting the angled cut of the laser is
a simple task. Take a file or sandpaper and file along the edge. |
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| Very little material has to be removed
from the joining surfaces to obtain a close neat fit. The seam
in the photo is less than half the width of the ridge on the
edge of a penny. There is no need to remove all the burn from
the joining edges. Epoxy will bond to the edges with no problem. |
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| Some edges with an angle are more critical
than others. Looking down on the notches cut into the keel you
can see a slight angle to the edges. Two or three passes with
a file and the notches will square up. |
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| The keel was dropped back into the matrix
piece after it was cleaned up to show there is no trace of the
laser smoke. This clean up took only a few passes with a razor
blade. What is seen on the edge of a laser cut piece is not a
burn but rather the resin from the wood. There is no burnt or
charred wood along these cuts. I measured a piece before and
after the resin burn was removed and only .003 of wood was actually
removed. When the parts were laid out for laser cutting the width
of the beam was taken into account and the actual cut was offset.
The model is designed within a tolerance of .006 of an inch. |
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