Every once in a while, a video comes along that solves all my problems. This is one of those. Laserboard and PolyBak are just what I need for my current laser projects. Thank you, Dave!
wow..this was really helpful information..I also look for matherial to cut really smooth..thank you a thousand times..this will be amazing for me in 1/35 scale where I need a lot of window frames and furnitures.
This is invaluable. I love how you covered the biggest hurdle of "Well how do I make the file?" So many people have great ideas but going from idea to a file is the biggest snag regardless of if you get it laser cut, 3D printed, or CNC milled. Secondly, materials are critical. Some are "iffy" to cut due to flammability, and some are downright toxic! Below are my experiences with materials on both an Epilog at my job and my import K40 laser: A pro tip, avoid marine/aircraft ply whenever possible. The glue and sealers make it char like no one's business. Craft ply is not sealed and cuts great. Laserboard is incredible stuff, albeit a little hard to source. I cut lots of "chipboard" aka the same stuff that cereal boxes are made from. Just seal it up when you are done! MDF is great, albeit the stuff sealed with linseed oil behaves a lot like marine/aircraft ply so avoid it like the plague! I cut lots of acrylic for a client and personal projects and it cuts quite easily. Some people will use it for the "core" of their buildings too for strength. PETG (polyester) can be cut, albeit it has a fine line between turning into a pile of melted goop and cutting. This is best done on a machine where you can adjust the frequency of the laser output to adjust the heat going into the material. Leather I have engraved, not for train stuff directly, but it is awesome for making custom tags and things like that! I spend the money for veg tanned so I am not breathing in the chrome-tanning chemicals. It does smell so... keep that in mind!
Dave, Great definitions of craftsmen's stock. One of my RxR Clubs' have a poster of same hanging in the craft room. Sans Bass Plywood. It's immeasurable how often I, and others, go to that poster for a refresher before picking our materials from the supply bin. On a more personal perspective. I enjoy your use of a hat tree behind you, on set. Back in my youth, my fourth or fifth TV Series, post Mouseke-Years, I appeared as a regular, child actor, on the PETER LYNDE HAYES TV show. As a set prop Peter had a similar Hat Tree with a wild collection of hats.🎩⛑️🪖🎓👒🧢👑 The individual CHAPEAUS would be the KUFI of the GARRISON BILLYCOCK improvisation .🙉 The adults mostly would CAPUCHE their TAM-O'-SHANTER of CASTOR.🙈 Most of the nasty humor I had to KEPI to myself.🙊 Or the HARDHATS, in the censor's office, would take my off the show & put me in detention.😎 FEDORA weeks at a time.🦨 Jim in N.Y.
Great information on the best things to use with a laser cutter. I have always enjoyed using bass wood when I carved my animals like ducks, hummingbirds my rhino. It's is a great wood to use. Thanks for sharing. GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖
I believe all Laserboard type products are Polybak, which is a product made for the cabinet making industry (as a backer for laminate and veneer). If you can find a local supplier willing to sell it to you, you can buy 4x8 sheets or even off a roll for a tiny fraction of the price the model making suppliers sell it for.
I got into laser cutting 25 years ago when I bought a New Hermes commercial 25 watt machine. I made tons of stuff including a number of kits I sold. My materials were styrene, acrtlic and artist matt board. I did a lot of structures with matt, easy to find, pretty cheap and when used right for structure cores a good choice. My laser days are over as my laser has lost it's charge and getting it fixed is much more than a good home laser today. My $30K boat anchor. Thanks
One major thing with a lot of it is one other material. Masking Tape... It's pretty much the greatest thing to have in large supply with a laser cutter/etcher. Even more if it's with a machine that isn't your own... You can pretest layouts with a low power run and test it against a layer of tape over the top to let you see how it works and lets you adjust settings. It also can be cut through at a normal setting for whatever material you're using in most cases or engraved through...and has the massive added benefit of limiting scorch marks around the cut meaning that there's less required work since the soot can screw with painting/staining a finished project. You can also cut/etch and then leave it on to function as you normally would for masking tape, letting you do other things that I've seen done. A friend of mine used it to make some stained glass windows for a church or cathedral, it let him use some colored UV resin to make the actual window panes without worrying about it screwing with the rest of the surface. I didn't see the end result there, my main laser access is a local, free maker space that has several lasers available for use and he was filling in the panes as I left, but it looked neat. I have seen acrylics used with things, but they tend to be more modern than most railroad modeling does...one major one I did see was a core of acrylic with a more specific layout that involved older skyscrapers with other things built around it as well as more acrylic for the glass & steel or scifi look for dioramas.
Very informative video. Thank you. Wish this technology had been as commonly available half a century ago. But I still had fun building the models I was able to build back then.
Dear Dave, very cool summary of all these materials. Hence, a great reference video. Never mind your Imperial Measurement setting, even though I’m raised in the metric system, for modeling purposes I tend to use both measurement systems. If only for the fact that the Imperial system is based on fractions, which in my humble opinion makes it an excellent tool to understand and memorize the ratios I’m working with. One example; most European manufacturers tend to use denominations of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th radius curves. Some will give either the diameter or radius in millimeters. However, to understand the available space and to design according to the scale ratios, I find it so much easier to use the Imperial measurements. 20” curves as the minimal radius easily translates into the wider ones, with the same amount of numbers. Where in millimeters it becomes more of a chore, either for a more abstract (to me) kinda number, or even with numbers behind the the comma.
Thank you for going in depth on your opinion on each type of material and their uses! I'll be getting a hobby-grade laser up and running soon and look forward to doing structures for model railroading and wargaming!
Very informative video, however I think you need to revisit your sizing nomenclature at 4:25 where you mention the laser board being 1/25,000 inch and 1/35,000 inch thick. when you think about it those measurements are really small! I think you mean 25 or 35 thousandths of an inch or 25 thou and 35 thou as they are more commonly known (at least this side of the pond anyway). You had me going there and I had to rewind the vid to make sure I heard correctly! 🤣
Just getting into a laser cutter, what material would you recommend for making HO structures? General purpose, by the way, am in Canada and up here more people use the english measuring system then metric!!!!
Hi Dave, just wondering if a person becomes a member of your patreon do you share your Adobe Illustrator files for the builds that you have produced. If so which type of tier or member does a person need to sign up on. Very good video very informative thank you for parting your knowledge with us, I am in the process of purchasing a Creality Falcon2 Laser cutter.
Hey there! I am not familiar with any laser cutting machines. To get something out of my head and designed on a laser machine, what would be the best laser machine? Just personal use, not for a commercial production ?
Always an interesting NG model Railroad video. Don’t apologise for using Imperial Measurements. Over here we had the Metric System foisted upon us because the Continentals could only count on their fingers and toes !
Every once in a while, a video comes along that solves all my problems. This is one of those. Laserboard and PolyBak are just what I need for my current laser projects. Thank you, Dave!
That’s a fine rack of hats.
Like clamps you can never have too many hats !
Thanks for the information. Gonna order some chipboard and construction paper. 👍
wow..this was really helpful information..I also look for matherial to cut really smooth..thank you a thousand times..this will be amazing for me in 1/35 scale where I need a lot of window frames and furnitures.
This is invaluable. I love how you covered the biggest hurdle of "Well how do I make the file?" So many people have great ideas but going from idea to a file is the biggest snag regardless of if you get it laser cut, 3D printed, or CNC milled. Secondly, materials are critical. Some are "iffy" to cut due to flammability, and some are downright toxic!
Below are my experiences with materials on both an Epilog at my job and my import K40 laser:
A pro tip, avoid marine/aircraft ply whenever possible. The glue and sealers make it char like no one's business. Craft ply is not sealed and cuts great.
Laserboard is incredible stuff, albeit a little hard to source.
I cut lots of "chipboard" aka the same stuff that cereal boxes are made from. Just seal it up when you are done!
MDF is great, albeit the stuff sealed with linseed oil behaves a lot like marine/aircraft ply so avoid it like the plague!
I cut lots of acrylic for a client and personal projects and it cuts quite easily. Some people will use it for the "core" of their buildings too for strength.
PETG (polyester) can be cut, albeit it has a fine line between turning into a pile of melted goop and cutting. This is best done on a machine where you can adjust the frequency of the laser output to adjust the heat going into the material.
Leather I have engraved, not for train stuff directly, but it is awesome for making custom tags and things like that! I spend the money for veg tanned so I am not breathing in the chrome-tanning chemicals. It does smell so... keep that in mind!
Dave,
Great definitions of craftsmen's stock. One of my RxR Clubs' have a poster of same hanging in the craft room. Sans Bass Plywood. It's immeasurable how often I, and others, go to that poster for a refresher before picking our materials from the supply bin.
On a more personal perspective. I enjoy your use of a hat tree behind you, on set.
Back in my youth, my fourth or fifth TV Series, post Mouseke-Years, I appeared as a regular, child actor, on the PETER LYNDE HAYES TV show.
As a set prop Peter had a similar Hat Tree with a wild collection of hats.🎩⛑️🪖🎓👒🧢👑 The individual CHAPEAUS would be the KUFI of the GARRISON BILLYCOCK improvisation .🙉 The adults mostly would CAPUCHE their TAM-O'-SHANTER of CASTOR.🙈 Most of the nasty humor I had to KEPI to myself.🙊 Or the HARDHATS, in the censor's office, would take my off the show & put me in detention.😎 FEDORA weeks at a time.🦨
Jim in N.Y.
Great information on the best things to use with a laser cutter. I have always enjoyed using bass wood when I carved my animals like ducks, hummingbirds my rhino. It's is a great wood to use. Thanks for sharing.
GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖
I believe all Laserboard type products are Polybak, which is a product made for the cabinet making industry (as a backer for laminate and veneer). If you can find a local supplier willing to sell it to you, you can buy 4x8 sheets or even off a roll for a tiny fraction of the price the model making suppliers sell it for.
I got into laser cutting 25 years ago when I bought a New Hermes commercial 25 watt machine. I made tons of stuff including a number of kits I sold. My materials were styrene, acrtlic and artist matt board. I did a lot of structures with matt, easy to find, pretty cheap and when used right for structure cores a good choice.
My laser days are over as my laser has lost it's charge and getting it fixed is much more than a good home laser today. My $30K boat anchor. Thanks
One major thing with a lot of it is one other material.
Masking Tape...
It's pretty much the greatest thing to have in large supply with a laser cutter/etcher. Even more if it's with a machine that isn't your own...
You can pretest layouts with a low power run and test it against a layer of tape over the top to let you see how it works and lets you adjust settings.
It also can be cut through at a normal setting for whatever material you're using in most cases or engraved through...and has the massive added benefit of limiting scorch marks around the cut meaning that there's less required work since the soot can screw with painting/staining a finished project.
You can also cut/etch and then leave it on to function as you normally would for masking tape, letting you do other things that I've seen done. A friend of mine used it to make some stained glass windows for a church or cathedral, it let him use some colored UV resin to make the actual window panes without worrying about it screwing with the rest of the surface. I didn't see the end result there, my main laser access is a local, free maker space that has several lasers available for use and he was filling in the panes as I left, but it looked neat.
I have seen acrylics used with things, but they tend to be more modern than most railroad modeling does...one major one I did see was a core of acrylic with a more specific layout that involved older skyscrapers with other things built around it as well as more acrylic for the glass & steel or scifi look for dioramas.
Thanks Dave, really appreciate the links in this one, need to feed my new laser!
Very informative video. Thank you. Wish this technology had been as commonly available half a century ago. But I still had fun building the models I was able to build back then.
Excellent topic! Thank you for this. I always learn new things from your videos!
Dear Dave, very cool summary of all these materials. Hence, a great reference video. Never mind your Imperial Measurement setting, even though I’m raised in the metric system, for modeling purposes I tend to use both measurement systems. If only for the fact that the Imperial system is based on fractions, which in my humble opinion makes it an excellent tool to understand and memorize the ratios I’m working with. One example; most European manufacturers tend to use denominations of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th radius curves. Some will give either the diameter or radius in millimeters. However, to understand the available space and to design according to the scale ratios, I find it so much easier to use the Imperial measurements. 20” curves as the minimal radius easily translates into the wider ones, with the same amount of numbers. Where in millimeters it becomes more of a chore, either for a more abstract (to me) kinda number, or even with numbers behind the the comma.
Thanks for the Infos. Very useful.
So informative, thanks!
Thank you for going in depth on your opinion on each type of material and their uses! I'll be getting a hobby-grade laser up and running soon and look forward to doing structures for model railroading and wargaming!
Only just found out about Laserboard, Seems like it might be good for my 2.5W 3018.
Very informative video, however I think you need to revisit your sizing nomenclature at 4:25 where you mention the laser board being 1/25,000 inch and 1/35,000 inch thick. when you think about it those measurements are really small! I think you mean 25 or 35 thousandths of an inch or 25 thou and 35 thou as they are more commonly known (at least this side of the pond anyway). You had me going there and I had to rewind the vid to make sure I heard correctly! 🤣
Yes, of course that's what I mean. I just talk fast. It's kind of a tongue twister to say "twenty-five-one-thousandths-of-an-inch!"
Just getting into a laser cutter, what material would you recommend for making HO structures? General purpose, by the way, am in Canada and up here more people use the english measuring system then metric!!!!
What is your favorite material if the model where to have clap board siding?
Funny you should ask. I'm building a structure with clapboard siding right now. I'm using milled clapboard from Kappler Scale Lumber.
Hi Dave, just wondering if a person becomes a member of your patreon do you share your Adobe Illustrator files for the builds that you have produced. If so which type of tier or member does a person need to sign up on.
Very good video very informative thank you for parting your knowledge with us, I am in the process of purchasing a Creality Falcon2 Laser cutter.
I just saw this video and someone commented on your hats. Are those for when you go off to join the Society of Explorers and Adventurers (S.E.A.) ?? 😊
do you ever design directly in lightburn?
I've never used it
Hey there! I am not familiar with any laser cutting machines. To get something out of my head and designed on a laser machine, what would be the best laser machine? Just personal use, not for a commercial production ?
Dave, How does Laser Board cut with a sharp knife? I can't afford a Laser Cutter. So want to know if I can build with it Cutting it with a knife.
I've can be done, but it's not the best material for cutting with a knife. You're probably better off with thin basswood or cardstock.
Always an interesting NG model Railroad video. Don’t apologise for using Imperial Measurements. Over here we had the Metric System foisted upon us because the Continentals could only count on their fingers and toes !