MSRaynsford

The laser upgrade went remarkably smoothly and the laser cutter was functional but there were a few minor changes and improvements that needed to be done. Fixing the screen image Image flipped on the controller The first and most noticeable tweak for my new Ruida system was to fix the screen display. Most of my cuts are symmetrical so it was a day or two before I noticed that the image on the screen was mirrored. The laser cutter was cutting the correct way so I knew this had to be a simple setting on the controller. In the menu system is an option called 'Screen Origin' we have to set this to 'Top Right' so that the controller knows it's cutting from the same corner as the laser. Screen origin setting Screen Origin should be set to top right Image corrected on the controller Wiring in the water protection The additional wire patched into the WP line on the PSU The lid switch and the water flow detection were already wired direct...

Leetro MPC6515 Control System Since I recently upgrade to a ruida controller I figured I should sell the spare parts that I no longer need, a second security dongle is always handy or a brand new control panel should your buttons be wearing out.  Finally I'm listing a complete Leetro system , sure the ruida controller is better than the leetro system but if you've got a limited budget then you can snag a bargain and any kind of DSP controller would be an improvement for a K40. Lasercut 5.x Security Dongle PAD-03E control panel

6mm ABS inner core of shields This project turned out to be quite the collaboration between makers. I was asked by Eldritch to cut some thick ABS plastic that was going to go inside a pair of ballistic shields. There is a growing crossover between LARP  and Airsoft  and new rules being developed to cope with both. These shields don't have to follow the normal, foam rules, and actually need to be stiffer and stronger to withstand all the incoming ball bearings. The possibilities of windows in shields now becomes an option so I cut some 6mm perspex for windows and wooden surrounds to hold them all into place on the shield. The shields then went on to Eldritch who covered them in a layer of foam, bolted all the parts together and generally turned them into functional shields. Shields at the Eldritch workshop These shields look great however nice shiny shields don't really fit into the post apocalyptic style game they were destined for, that's when the owners too...

To go with the saxon helmet we made a super simple shield. It's literally just a circle of 3mm birch with a handle cut through the middle. I had a vacuum formed shield boss left over from the roman shield we made previously. The details were just drawn on with low power lines which made it easy for Eli to paint. He even got to wear my chain mail shirt to finish the look off.

Simple helmet design covered in scales Homework last week was to build a helmet for the school battle reenactment. We joined a few strips front to back, left to right and around the circumference, filled in the quarters and then covered it all in cardboard scales. We cut a whole sheet of scales on the laser and painted them metallic silver, leaving them all connected at the top made them easy to apply to the helmet. Sheet of laser cut scales Handy head model

The new light fittings The light in our lounge is pretty dim, really we should replace all the lights with better ones but we're waiting to redecorate everything at the same time. The idea suddenly hit upon me that I should replace the shades with something better (and laser cut). The old fittings basically block out a large chunk of the light being produced so I copied the size and shape but reproduced them in semi transparent materials. The new light fittings, three of them, allow much more light to actually enter the room making it appear much brighter. The old light fittings blocking most of the light The fittings were made from 6mm clear acrylic which was double stacked for strength. Double sided carpet tape was placed around the edge to affix the polypropylene to the front. Simple but effective. Curved former for the polypropylene Light fitting ready to be placed on the light

Coolflow DTX from Hydratech, good for lasers We're having a bit of a cold spell in the UK (I'm aware the US has it worse too) but we're not used to cold weather, temperatures dip below zero and we all panic a bit. One of the things that people always forget is that the glass tube in the back of their laser cutter is water cooled. If the water freezes it will expand inside the tube and cause the glass to smash, that's going to leave a hefty bill to replace the tube. Putting some antifreeze in with the coolant is easy to do and it's going to save you the worry. If your laser is in the garage and isn't warm and snuggly inside your house it's well worth doing. If you have the CW3000 you're going to need 2.25L of antifreeze and if you have the CW5200 you're only going to need 1.5L. The internal reservoir of the CW5000 series is smaller because it actively chills the coolant. Small quantities can be purchased via ebay and the usual sources at sensibl...