I am starting my research, and want to as some advice as I am getting a lot of links that don’t fully answer my questions.
I have an access to a 100w Thunder Laser at a Makerspace. It gets used a lot so sometimes setting can get changed or two things don’t come out the sam, because so many people use this thing and it has wear and tear.
I have a friend that asked me to turn a custom dreidel. I want to burn the letters on all 4 sides. I may make a few of these for friends as gifts. I want to get the letters in the same place as I rotate the sides.
What kind of jig do I make and how do I get my origin point to line up with my jig for accuracy even if I remove it from the bed and take it back later to finish?
Cardboard makes a good jig material - it is cheap, easy to manipulate and easy to glue/tape.
When I need a jig, I will draw the outline of the part to be held and increase the overall size by .1 to .2 mm for ease of insertion.
I put the jig material in the laser in a place that is easy to replicate - a known good “zero”. I like to attach the jig material to a heavy scrap of wood so that the air assist does not move the jig. Cut the shape out of the jig material. You can easily add more layers of cardboard to get a deeper jig if needed. Check fit of the part and start running the job. If I need to remove the jig and come back to the project another time - replicate the positioning as close as possible, then use the rubber band FRAME command to get the laser outline to line up with existing jig (or make a new cardboard jig if needed - cardboard is cheap )
Since you’re using a makerspace machine you really can’t affix anything to the bed that would make for easy repeatability. Therefore I recommend using the print and cut feature to align your jig.
I would also make the jig to engrave multiple units at the same time rather than one at a time. Every time you turn them to a new side you risk the jig moving slightly so magnets to hold the jig in place would be of benefit.
Since you’re engraving a 4 sided cube, I would make a jig that holds multiples of 4 and have a different design on each location. Then you run the file, move the dreidels over 1 and rotate 1 time and run the file again. Repeat this 4 times and each one will have all 4 designs without having to change the design in Lightburn for every run.
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