First Attempts

[JephM]

Hi All,
Have spent a few months lurking and reading through endless tips, project ideas etc on this excellent forum. Finally took the plunge (apologies for the pun ) and bought my X-Carve a month ago.
A few entertaining “prototypes” in and here’s my first few finished carves.
All on a range of IKEA chopping boards (seemed like a good cheap source of practice material!) some with infill of coloured epoxy, some with v-carve acrylic painted and then filled with clear epoxy.
Comments, Criticism, Feedback all appreciated

Thanks to all for your unwitting tips and inspiration - via your posts on here!

[WayneHall]

Nice job they all look great. Keep up the good work.

[HaldorLonningdal]

Really nice, I stop by the same section when I am at IKEA aswell

[SteveMoloney]

Looks good, you got the “FEVER” now

[SidMaru]

My favorite Ikea section!

[RonGafron]

Hi, I’m brand new, still building my x-carve. So, you’ve replaced with the router with a laser? That’s awesome. Could you share how you went about doing that? Thanks. Ron

[SidMaru]

Hey Ron

Absolutely, but I’ll clarify that the router is actually still on there, and the laser is just an add-on. It sits to the right of the router, affixed to the top two screws of the DeWalt router clamp.

I initially bought the JTech 2.5A driver, JTech high resolution lens, and an DTRs Laser Shop NUBM44 laser. The 2.5 amp driver was never going to be enough for this incredibly powerful diode laser, so when I stumbled upon somebody selling their 5 amp kit on eBay, I purchased it.

Wiring was pretty simple. I did not purchase the full kit from JTech since I figured I could source the molex Jr connectors and wiring for cheaper, which worked out just fine because the JTech driver only really requires connectors for fans, the rest can be screwed in.

JTech has a pretty solid graphic on how to wire it, but ultimately it’s really simple. The driver connects to my x controller via the spindle PWM. The laser is connected to the driver. The fans are connected to the driver. And a large laptop sized power brick is connected to the driver.

I started using laser web 4, as it’s a stellar and free software. Had no issues using it, but saw LightBurn as a reasonably cheap upgrade, since the gcode version that we would use for our machine is only 40 bucks.

Amazingly, JTech also has a full write-up in their blog on how to connect and what settings to use for connecting LightBurn to your machine.

I realize this is wordy, and not terribly specific. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[RonGafron]

Hi Sid,

Thanks so much for that reply. It’ll be a bit until I’m ready for a laser upgrade, but I do appreciate the response to that I can start thinking about it.

Have a great holiday season.

Ron

[SteveMoloney]

Ikea? never thought about them, what is that you are burning on?

[SidMaru]

In the photo, this cutting board: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/fascinera-chopping-board-mango-wood-60393486/

But any cutting board will do. I finish it with a mineral oil and beeswax combo.

For the cleanest lines, use some masking tape over the board and let the laser cut right through it.

[SteveMoloney]

Laser is my next purchase! thanks

[JephM]

Well I bit the bullet and bought an Opt-Laser 6w in the Black Friday sale. Finally got round to getting it installed, after a few teething issues (operator error!) am enjoying seeing what it can do. A lot is my first impression - thank goodness for Lightburn. I’ve cut felt leaves for my wife’s craft project (and earned a few brownie points). I also reverted to the good old ikea chopping boards and just finished this as my first full on job.

[WayneHall]

Very nice job. You will get to enjoy it more the more you use it and find out what you can really do.

[Opt_Lasers]

Awesome work! it is so hmm stylish. Would you like to share with us some more picture to share on our website with credits to you?