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From GJMakerspaceWelcome to the GJmakerspace Wiki Information, knowledge, rules, procedures, and other topics are documented here. Who We Are:We are membership based community, non-profit, workshop/laboratory providing tools, knowledge, and learning resources for our members.
Useful LinksPolicies (**Visitors/New members, please review) Capabilities - Equipment3D Printing6 FDM(Fused Deposition Modeling) style printers. These style printers use a filament that is extruded through a heated nozzle in a series of layers.
1 SLA(Stero-lithography) Photo-resin polymer based 3D printer These style printers use a laser to harden liquid resin in a series of layers.
Laser Etching/Cutting2 Laser Systems
Electronic Design
General ToolsPCs
Categories
How to Find UsWe are located in the The Business Incubator Center Directions: GJMakerspace, 2590 26 7/8 Road, Grand Junction, CO 81503 Coming in from Grand Junction, go over the 5th street bridge toward Orchard Mesa. Bear right (and turn right) at the intersection of 26 ¼ road (and Unaweep) This will bring you into the cemetery. Follow the signs through the cemetery. At the bottom of the hill, turn to the left past the Department of Energy complex. Take your next right hand turn, going over the railroad tracks and into the Business Incubator complex. The building straight ahead as you enter through the gate is the administration building and the GJmakerspace is on the left side of the building, enter through the double brown doors and go straight ahead to the main room.
Basic How-To'sImporting *.DXF files into Inkscape for laser cuttingThese have been compiled using LibreCAD as the source software, but should be applicable to most 2D CAD software that use the *.DXF format, and possibly others also. Unfortunately, due to how Inkscape scales, this will only work for simple projects. If you have a complex part, you will find that cuts or etches that are disconnected from the outline will not be in the exactly the correct position. Open the *.dxf file in Inkscape. If your original is drawn in something other than MM, you will need to scale it correctly. For example, if you are drawing in inches, use a scale of 25.4. I found that with LibreCAD, this gets the drawing close to the original size, but it is not perfect. Your project probably won’t be centered in the canvas, and you can use CTRL+A to help locate it. The best results that I have been able to get utilize the scale feature first, then I set the stroke style to the .001 inches that the laser requires to indicate ‘cut’. Next, look at the overall dimensions of the project in both the source software, and Inkscape. By locking the X and Y axis so it scales proportionally, you can take the overall dimensions from your source, and type them into Inkscape. Again, this is not 100%, but should be close enough for all practical purposes. Before you send your project to the printer, you will want to check your measurements by looking at 2 lines, one horizontal and one vertical, and verify they are close enough for your purposes. At this point, the only way to get more precise is to check against a cut part, as opposed to relying on the software. After you have correctly scaled your project save it as an *.SVG. Open a new Inkscape project, and import the *.SVG you just saved. This brings your project into the default template that is configured for the laser to function correctly. You are now ready to print your project just like you normally would. |