First Gloat (if it qualifies) - Anybody got a shark?

[cubicdissection]

OK, well, I actually received this just before I became a member...like a couple days before. So not sure if I can post a gloat, but hey let's give it a shot.

Here

Is

My

Brand

New

Frikin LASER BEAM (anybody got a shark I can borrow?)

Still working on my first drawings for it, but here's some pics I took during setup. Man o man is this thing fun to play around with. Someday I'll get tired of watching it operate and actually get some work done while it's working!

 

[Ray Martin]

Well... I think it should count as an official gloat. So, congrats. Looks like a very cool machine.

Ray

 

[WoodWrangler]

NICE SCORE! That is a heck of an addition! That will be a lot of fun!

Are you thinking about providing a service for people to lease time on it?

 

[mkepke]

Road trip to Eric's shop !!

-Mark

 

[CarvedTones]

Telling a guy with an actual laser that he sucks somehow seems like a really bad idea....

Very nice!

 

[Badabing]

Nice addition to the shop Eric! Just yesterday I got some pieces laser engraved and really loved watching that thing burn the wood :gar-Bi

Very cool toy :tongue2:

 

[Trent Mason]

Telling a guy with an actual laser that he sucks somehow seems like a really bad idea....

Very nice!

:rotflm::rotflm::rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

Yep, you're right Andy. I can't dish out any suckulations to someone with a laser. Eric, will you be my friend??????? :err:

Trent :-D

 

[Glennbear]

Cool machine!!! whatever the date of acquisiton it defintely qualifies for gloatage and the required you suck. The ex at one point in her career ran a laser marking machine to label stainless steel dental insturments. It always fascinated me to watch it inscribe REALLY tiny words on the dental handpieces. They had cooling problems on long runs which resulted in using supplemental jury rigged cooling (buckets of salted ice :roll Good luck with it and I hope the provided cooler works for you :wsmile:

 

[Travis Porter]

Congrats!!!!

I Want One!!!

 

[sapwood]

Dang! It's a Gweike with it's own chiller :week:
That's smoking!
Will it do tattoes? :tinysmile_hmm_t:

Congrats and enjoy,
Roger

 

[DaveO]

I am assuming that is a laser engraver :dontknow: If so will you be my friend :eusa_pray
Please give us more insight into how it works, and what it and you are capable of doing. I have had a few pens and plaques laser engraved and have always wondered how it was done.

Dave

 

[cskipper]

That rocks! Details please!

 

[TBone]

That most definitely qualifies as a gloat and a major one at that.

As for the laser, well I like living dangerously so you get a


[banana]
YOU SUCK![/banana]

 

[cubicdissection]

Details in a nutshell:

1. Wire a bunch of money to a sketchy Chinese guy you have never met.
2. Pray (even if you're an athiest like me).
3. Get really confused by the import process.
4. Drive up to Norfolk and hope it fits in the back of the pickup truck. Bribe forklift operators on each end of the trip.
5. Spend a day setting it up and looking for something broken (everything worked).
6. Spend another day figuring the software out.
7. Spend another day cutting circles and basic shapes, wasting tons of time watching it cut like a kid at the circus.
8. Get serious and try to make something. Realize you need a bigger water chiller and need to hook the air assist up to the shop compressor. Also realize you're about to go on vacation for two weeks so it will have to wait.
9. ????
10. ????
11. ????
12. ????
13. ????
14. ????
15. ????
16. Profit.
17. Invite your friends from ncwoodworker to come check it out and play with it :icon_thum

 

[Travis Porter]

Details in a nutshell:

1. Wire a bunch of money to a sketchy Chinese guy you have never met.
2. Pray (even if you're an athiest like me).
3. Get really confused by the import process.
4. Drive up to Norfolk and hope it fits in the back of the pickup truck. Bribe forklift operators on each end of the trip.
5. Spend a day setting it up and looking for something broken (everything worked).
6. Spend another day figuring the software out.
7. Spend another day cutting circles and basic shapes, wasting tons of time watching it cut like a kid at the circus.
8. Get serious and try to make something. Realize you need a bigger water chiller and need to hook the air assist up to the shop compressor. Also realize you're about to go on vacation for two weeks so it will have to wait.
9. ????
10. ????
11. ????
12. ????
13. ????
14. ????
15. ????
16. Profit.
17. Invite your friends from ncwoodworker to come check it out and play with it :icon_thum

For you, that may be correct. For me, there would be a few changes from number 9 on.

9. ????
10. ?????
11. Screw X up
12. Buy a bunch of parts that won't work trying to fix X
13. Think about it for a day or two
14. Say the heck with it and order a NEW X
15. Receive new X and realize old X isn't broken, I just reinstalled it wrong.
16. Get unit back running.
17. Realize that I broke Y. Repeat steps 11 through 16 but substitute Y for X
18. ????
19. ????
20. Maybe profit
21. Invite NCWW buddies over to play with it.

 

[nelsone]

Quite an acquisition! Congratulations. I only wish you were in the Charlotte area!

 

[Gotcha6]

You guys are so shallow trying to buddy up to Eric since he got the new machine. BTW, Eric, when can you make it down for steaks?:rotflm:
This carries WWing into the 21st century.

 

[cubicdissection]

This carries WWing into the 21st century.

It does in a way. Interesting, but this thing is by no means plug and play - you have to tweak a lot of settings to get the cleanest possible cut depending on the material. I'm still learning a ton every time I turn it on and suspect I will be for a while.

So, like a tablesaw or any other tool that can be used to cut wood, there's a noticable difference between the product of someone who has some skill using it and a novice like me. In a way it's more difficult since you have the added variable of different pieces of material. Two planks of the same species will have varying densities and even have the density vary throughout the single sample, which can really play **** with things.

Frankly that surprised me as I thought it would be far more straightforward. If any of you want to avoid the hassle, just buy an industrial 5000 watt machine and you can zip through at such high speed and power that you have a much wider envelope. Than I'll be the one inviting you over for steaks ccasion1

 

[DavidF]

That sounds like areally cool machine to play with, you could suddenly become very popular....... Please let us know when we can visit........