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Laser engraved and laser cut wooden airplane construction kit
Below we show you how you can use your Trotec laser to make an wooden airplane construction kit. Kids and grown-ups will like this cute toy airplane.
Engraving materials are also available at Trotec. Browse our product range at: www.trotec-materials.com
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
Machine used:
- 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 keeps 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 maximize 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 give 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 several different kinds of wood on www.trotec-materials.com. Create a complete fleet of different airplanes.