Laser engraved and laser cut wooden airplane construction kit

We'll show you how you can use your Trotec laser to make a wooden airplane construction kit. Children and grown-ups alike will get endless hours of enjoyment from this this cute toy airplane.
Engraving materials available at Trotec, browse product range: www.engraving-supplies.com.au

Preparation

Required material:

We used two different kinds of wood in our sample: (available at Trotec)
* 1 sheet Wood Veneer Cherry 3 mm
* 1 sheet Wood Veneer Walnut 3 mm
Material to cover the engraving table (e.g. paper)
Adhesive tape

Used machine:

Speedy 360
80 Watts with 1.5" lens

For this sample you can use any laser machine from the Speedy series.

Important:

Use the aluminum cutting grid table. It reduces the beam reflections to a minimum.
The 1.5" lens produces less kerf than the 2" lens.

Step by Step

Step 1: Import /create design template

Import our design template into your graphic program and adapt it according to your requirements.

Important:

Our template has been designed for 3 mm material. Please adapt the size of the connectors according to the thickness of your wood.

Print settings

Process mode	Resolution	Cut line
Standard	500 dpi	none

Halftone	Others
color	enhanced geometries, inner geometries first

Step 2: Laser process

Position the wood sheet into your laser and cover the rest of the table to maximise the exhaust power. Engrave and cut the various parts.

Laser Parameters

Color	Process	Power (%)	Speed (%)	ppi/Hz
black	engraving CO₂	70	50	500
red	cut CO₂	100	1	1000

Passes	Air Assist	Z-Offset	Advanced
1	on	+6	High quality
1	on	-	-

Tips:

We used the standard laser parameters from JobControl optimized for speed
The material parameters of JobControl can be downloaded from www.troteclaser.com
The more z-offset for engraving, the darker the engraving result. At the same time the details of the engraving decreases. For a good result we recommend a z-offset value of +4 to max. +6 mm.
Cutting all parts out of two different kinds of wood produces two toy airplanes in one run.

Step 3: Post-processing

Clean the surface and the edges from the traces of dust with a damp lint-free cloth. Assemble the airplane. Fix the parts with wood glue if necessary.

Tips:

The propeller is freely movable and is an eyecatcher due to the rotating, engraved graphic.
Clean the material directly in the machine after cutting. This is how you can wipe the complete area in one step.

Inspirations

If you want to use the airplane as a gift, you can engrave the name of the recipient on fuselage or wings.
Combining different kinds of wood creates a trendy look.
You can find a lot of different kind of wood on www.trotec-materials.com. Create a complete fleet of different airplanes.