Lasered Louvers
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2024
- Making mortises for louver slats with a laser opens up design/style options not possible with router jigs or CNC machines for a modern touch to timeless louvered panels.
Ready to enter the brave new world of Laser Fabrication and Engraving? GREAT!!
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#louvers #master #woodworking
Chapter List:
0:00 Introduction
01:42 Fabricate louver panel frames
03:18 Louver mortise strips explained
04:37 Laser mortising fixture
15:39 Mortise lasering location explained
23:17 A word from my sponsor… NOT!
26:28 Final setup for laser mortising
27:21 Burn louver slat mortises
31:28 Fit laser-mortised strips
32:27 Milling 81 louver slats
33:56 Thumbnail profile on louver slats
48:38 Assemble louver panels
52:56 Glue-up louver frames
57:58 Final sanding of louver frames
59:10 Rabbet louver frames
1:00:21 Outtro and End X3 
Хобби
Your videos are too damn long when I start to lose interest
Then do both of us a favor and stick to makeup videos on TikTok.
Now that's just hilarious!
You sir, or madam, are missing the point of this channel. Anyone on YT could have taken this video and made it 10 minutes long but cutting out or speeding up the video. The channel is called next level for a reason. It's different. Capich?
Toooooo looooooong
Apparently you are quite proud of the fact your attention span is less than that of a gnat... funny but actually sad.
This blending of advanced millwork techniques and fixturing with the capabilities of a laser is the mind-blowing example I've been looking for to illustrate the use of a laser in a conventional woodshop. I'm in the camp of rolling my eyes every time I see another 'how you can make money with a laser' video thumbnail that leads to selling cutesy trinkets on Etsy. This was a breath of fresh air (once the smoke clears). Thank you, Matt. Best thing I've watched all week.
Your comment just made my day... thank you!
These are the best slot-slat laser-louvers I've seen all day. 😁
Haven't seen you for a while. Nice to see you back.
Extraordinary precision and painstaking detail. Intimidating and inspiring in equal measures. Wow
Thanks for watching and commenting. There's a lot of backstory to be successful with lasered louvers but knowing all the answers to the test provided in this video I think the barrier to entry and success has been lowered considerably😎
I have made a lot of louvered shutters in my lifetime using my big CNC, but this video has given me a different direction to consider. Thank you for the detailed explanation and the excellent content.
BTW: I'm pretty sure the guy who thought this was too long walked out in the middle of "Avengers Endgame."
That last tip about cutting out a Slot was really worth the wait. Hellova lot easier than cutting it out by drilling, Jig sawing, etc
I love your content. Keep up the good work. Detail is everything to make it understandable.
Thank you for that sped up preparation.
Another homerun Matt, thank you for your attention to detail and thorough explanation. Im not interested in owning a laser and my shop is a 7x14 enclosed trailer, but man i love your videos and have gained alot from your Patreon as well.
Thanks for watching and commenting as well as giving a shout out to all the extra content on Patreon!
Lovely work.
I have made nice fixed louvered panels before, but yours live up to the name. Next Level.
Thankyou.
My daughter wants a set of louvre doors for her wardrobe and I have been procrastinating over starting this project, knowing that if I blindly launched into it, I would have a lot of problems with the assembly stage.
Your video has provided all the answers to my questions (and others I hadn't considered).
This is a challenging and rewarding project albeit rather impractical so if you have any options for pre-made louvers you'll be time and money ahead... but you would miss out on the trill of success IMHO 😎
@@NextLevelCarpentry good point 😉
Although I am sure, with care and your insights, we will end up with something nicer and better suited to our needs. (And also it is an opportunity for some father/daughter woodwork - which is beyond value) 🙂
We won't be fiddling about with "frickin lasers" - but do have a CNC we built together years ago - a bullnose will be sufficient.
The best thing about making louver slat mortises with a CNC instead of a laser is that you can cut them directly into the stiles of the Louver panel which would simplify the process and there's no shame in a bullnosed Louver slat IMHO
@@NextLevelCarpentry I was thinking about making an "assembly jig" stile, with oversized through motrices where I can feed each slat into place and individually glue each at my leisure during the first phase of assembly...
But I am sure, no matter what, I will still be left with the awful "fiddling a bunch of slats simultaneously into a bunch of mortises" phase when the final stile is being fitted.
Another thing is making the same jig but split, so it can be in place to help with alignment during assembly and removed once the glue sets.
I kind of want to glue all the slats for rigidity because they are large doors...
(So many assembly ideas - and I am sure everything will go to hell once the glue begins setting).
It was really nice seeing your approach, thank you 🙂
Excellent video. I am impressed by the time and effort you have put into learning how to use to P2 laser for NLC purposes. The learning curve was, no doubt, appreciable, but what you have learned stays with you and can be efficiently put to use in future projects. That's a win!
The louvers turned out perfectly and they more than justify the time and effort that went into creating them. Another big win.
Thanks again for a great video.
Regards and respects. 👍👍
Thanks for watching and commenting on this one Jerry! FWIW the louvered panels actually 'turned out (so) perfectly' that my client now wants me to put a clear finish on them instead of the painted finish that was planned. Had I known I would have used hard maple instead of paint grade soft maple so I'm glad they turned out as well as they did...
I am glad the client was paying attention to the details. Take the win, right? 👍👍
Always!
All my friends and my fathers friends are all in ! No matter what we are building or involved in , if it's not perfect or even close to not being perfect we won't stop working it till it is perfect LOL😅 , you would be a friend of ours in the event we were neighbors or bar buddies we would friends till the end !!
This. Yes THIS is why I’m a dedicated Patreon subscriber.
Thanks much for this video Matt. As you know I’m still a rank novice learning the ins and outs of my CNC machine. The dadoed fixtures you developed to precisely hold the material in place, and then being able to slide the material to a precise point got my gears going on what I can do when I want to machine something beyond the limits of my CNC.
Great tip at the end of the end, I saw the slot, and did wonder how you “sawed” it. I envisioned forstner bits and a sharp chisel. I will remember this tip!
Great stuff as always Matt.
Knowing guys like you and your buddy Mark are out there in the arena motivates me to get off the sidelines and tackle intimidating new stuff like lasers and CNCs.
FWIW working through the challenge of precise location opened up new possibilities in my thinking and also makes some of the more routine things like engraving front & back of objects a breeze (I'll text you picture of an example)
Funny you're 'one of the 3' who wondered about that hole in the fence... crazy how easy it is with an outside-the-box approach!
Very nice work.
Very well done. Thank you for your detailed description of what you are doing.
You are quite welcome... thanks for watching and commenting!
Wow, heck of a video. I appreciate your explanations of all the little details.
Glad to know you appreciate 'all the little details' that other viewers criticize me for including. It's viewers like you who encourage me to keep on keeping on!
Sorry, I was 8 days late in watching your video. I am thinking about making louvers for my windows. Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge,
No need to apologize James... FWIW Not sure if your potential project is for interior or exterior but if I ever do another interior louver project I'll use the same process for making them. Because of all the extra 'joints and seams; in this design I'd want to use more traditional methods for exterior louvers to make them more durable.
Matt, another fantastic video. I used your router template technique last week to build some garden hods for a fellow RUclipsr and friend. Made nice quick repeatable results. The time it took to allay out and cut the template was well worth it. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise with us all. I always watch to the very end of the end of end.
Congrats on extrapolating router template techniques for an unusual project/application. Once you make the paradigm shift into using a template approach, a lot of things become easier, better and faster, right?
@@NextLevelCarpentry yes Sir, it made the whole process much faster and I got the quality of results I was looking to achieve.
That router jig for the thumbnail profile is truly next level!
I love your end of the end of the ends
Nice job and tight fits with lots of tips 👌
Almost too tight of a fit but glad I got away with it 🤯
Hi Matt! Yet another winner. Really enjoyed the whole video. Haven't seen Chip for a while, hope he is well too. Pedal on!!
Thanks Bob! Pedaling will be on hold for a while with winter blowing in full force this past week. That's OK because it's great to hike when it's nasty out... makes you feel ALIVE!! 😎
Nicely done sir. It is awesome to see someone using a laser for an actual useful woodworking project instead of just embellishing/engraving some pre-manufactured product.
Thanks for sayin'! I appreciate that you notice and mentioned the distinction!
Wow! What an incredible machine!! I have a small business in Portugal where I make light pendants from plywood using a small diode laser. Needless to say that it's a very slow process. I would love to be able to afford this machine. I think I would quit my day job! :-) Amazing!! Thank you.
You're quite welcome Jose... thanks for watching and commenting on this video. FWIW the great industrialist Henry Ford once said "if you need a machine and don't buy it, you'll pay for the machine and not own it. That bit of wisdom just might apply to the future of your small laser engraving business... 😎
1st couple statements very TRUE!
Thanks for sayin'!
Great job Matt 👍👍
Hey Ed... great to see a comment from you again... it's been a while! Hope all's well with you?
Hi Matt, I hope all is well with you, I'll try to stay in the comment loop 👍
Matt, the video titled “Ortur Laser 3 - Make Your Own Adjustable Risers & Always Square Cutting Board “ by RuffLifeInc on RUclips might just be what the doctor has prescribed your laser’s precision requirements.
Make the cutting board, laser in the outline grid and any other grids lines with mm settings. After this make the risers and you off burning wood, or ‘laser beam sawing’.
Enjoyed the video immensely.
Thanks for suggesting the connection Bill... I'll endeavor to check into that video😎
@@NextLevelCarpentry They have other innovative ideas and improvements designed & implemented. Like bases for routers, air assist improvements, bench dogs & extendable feet. Look over their collection of videos uploaded.
A very inquisitive & future thinking on improving the laser community for all.
Cool video, Matt. Looks like you lasered the nails on both of your index fingers!
Great video as per the usual Matt. Your jigs demonstrate your genius more than any other aspect of your work. I really like that jig you made for cutting the thumbnail on the louver slats. It reminds me of a time I made like, a 3/8ths inch thick trim piece that had a thumbnail profile but the chatter was nuts (because I did not have it sufficiently held down like your jig does). Bravo. I stayed to the end of the end of the end like I always do. I'm just disappointed I did not see Chip (hehehehe). BTW, I'm also scratching my head thinking about how I or anyone could go about building this without a laser. How could you get repeatable and accurate cuts in the side pieces so that the louvers slats fit just right? I dunno. Thanks again Matt.
A clever template and a plunge router are quite capable of producing mortises for louvers although the only slat option is for a full-bullnose profile of the same radius as the bit used. There's a couple YT videos showing the process and I think, with a bit of re-thinking, a clever/elegant jig is very possible. As I tried to explain in the recent Patron-only video, I was very close to ditching the lasered louver plan and reverting to a more typical and familiar router & template process which has been the status quo for a LOOONG time.
Thanks a lot, Matt! :( Now I have to explain to the wife why I need to buy a laser. Grrrr! That is some terrific work though. I'm sure she will understand!
I can't believe how anel you are just like my father and I are !
For a woodshop, a CNC is the tool that can pay for itself doing real work.
First of all, those louvered blinds are just beautiful. Cheap plastic knock offs can not compare, yet they've replaced wooden ones 99%. Can laser technology bring back the traditional wooden ones? I hope so. There's enough plastic in the world already. Interesting use of laser, I pretty much considered it a sign maker's tool until now.
Thanks for watching and commenting on this one. I think the drift from wood to plastic in shutters has more to do with material costs than machine capabilities which 'laser technology' won't resurrect. I hope to find other practical/non- sign maker applications for the P2 laser in the future but, if I'm being honest, it's hard to see it as much more than a solution looking for a problem at this point.
" A solution looking for a problem" - well said. Honestly, I think I could have built a jig to router out the mortises for the louvers in about the same time it took you to set up the laser with jigs. But that's not the point, and your video is a good demonstration of what else laser technology can do for woodworking. We just need a bigger problem!
@@gavinfeargrieve4874 I like your perspective on this! I'm pretty sure I could have come up with a router jig for these louvers in less time than climbing the steep learning curve required to burn the mortises with the laser too but feel it was an investment of my time rather than a plain expenditure for the insight it gave me for approaching 'bigger problems' that are sure to arise over time.
OK, now you just make me want another tool in the shop. Great way to bring a relatively new tool into the shop processes. I will say I used my CNC router to do the same thing last summer. Both my CNC and your laser are about same price. Both have unique capabilities but I think they would compliment each other in many projects. Wonder how I can justify a new tool for Christmas? Second problem is were do I put it.
It would be a tough call to choose between CNC router and this laser as both have strengths and weaknesses. The laser has finer 'resolution' because the beam's 'kerf' is minuscule but leaves a burnt edge. I think a CNC would dovetail better (pun intended) with profitable/productive woodwork but the laser has the potential to 'frost the cake'. All things being equal I think it would be a tough call to choose between a laser and a lathe but it's great to explore options and learn new things.
@@NextLevelCarpentry My CNC router has a laser option for it, also there is a u-tuber that has taken the same CNC I have and made it a CNC plasma cutter.
The ability to program a CNC and have it carry out complex fabrication demands is a game changer for sure. I found it does require considerable commitment to undertake the paradigm shift into the new technology and its capabilities but it can pay off for the determination to become proficient with it
Gee if you put a pic on Etsy you may never have to leave your garage making those - wow, just wow! I could see people lining up to buy a louver panel to hang in their kitchen. Then again where is the fun in that!
Extraordinary content as always!! I recently purchased a laser and have struggled with the alignmen problem. I will definitely use your insights and techniques in the future. Well done! Side question Have you seen/thought about Shaper Origin for your projects? The same design software for laser projects works for this tool as well, eliminating the need for many routing templates (it can also make very precise and complex templates).
Thanks Steve... I've seen Shaper Origin and sidestepped offers to try one out but who knows what the future holds. Tackling the learning curve for the P2 laser and the software required to generate program files and set up and run the machine was a fairly daunting process which I imagine would be similar for the Origin. My goal is to adopt/adapt new digital technologies without losing sight of my hand-on/analog roots which can be a bit tricky to navigate.
Very very nice. One question: what is the product you are using for the router lift? Thanks.
Thanks! Here's that router lift:
www.hvalleytools.com/product/v9519-mlcs-powerlift-pro-router-lift-bluetooth/router-lifts
I love mine, BTW!
Hey Matt - love the content as always and need to add some CA glue to my new shop. Looks like the NLC code doesn't work though :( (I'm buying it anyway)
I don't know how I got along without CA in my shop and without Starbond CA in particular. Thanks for using the code for your shopping. You should get some discount offers at checkout if you start out with the link from this video, often 20% actually, but the ad fee/commission accrues to NLC regardless which I always appreciate!
FWIW you might want to consider making this caddy for that CA... both invaluable to my workflow:
ruclips.net/video/8KU1u_5xvV0/видео.html
@@NextLevelCarpentry that caddy is on my short list!! I made 4 of your journeyman sawhorses a year ago...
@@VAXHeadroom Cool!
Another awesome job Mr. Jackson!!! I have a question. I was in Ruidoso New Mexico about 15 years ago and was staying at a log cabin we had rented. It was a beautifully made cabin and had tons of awesome woodwork in it. The question I have is about the louvers that were in the cabin windows. They were made of wood like yours but these louvers could be opened and closed vertically by swiveling them left or right but they could also be opened or closed by sliding the complete louver set back and forth. I took numerous pictures wanting to try and duplicate them after I got home, but somehow lost the pictures from my phone. I'm wondering if anyone has ever seen anything like these or may know of a place I could buy some.... Thanks!!!!
That's a someone common window covering system although I've only seen them in fabric/plastic, not wood. It would be all about finding the right hardware and attaching wood slats to it although slats that are all wood would need pretty robust hardware. I'd bet that someone, somewhere makes just that kind of 'blinds' with plastic slats and wood veneer? Otherwise search 'plantation shutters' for more info.
Thanks,@@NextLevelCarpentry ! I have spent several hours of searching but didn't find anything. Maybe "plantation shutters" will be helpful. Again, thanks Matt!!!
Hi Matt, not for me, I build louvered windows with a template by the bunch in a hurry, I do own a small cutting láser courtesy of another woodworker and basically sits unused on a corner, how do you feel about this compared to more traditional methods? Is there any real use for them on a woodshop?
Sounds like we both have been successful and profitable without a laser so it's hard for me to argue that there's 'any real use for them' in a legit woodshop. If I'm being honest I doubt I would have spent $4K+ for this laser and spent countless hours learning how to use it but, that said, after going on this journey I'm starting to really enjoy having the P2 in the shop. The main benefit of having a laser for this project vs 'more traditional methods' is that I could make louver slats with the 'thumbnail profile' shown vs typical bullnose or angled edges. It would take a lot more examples like that to make such an expensive piece of equipment actually pay its own way to make it a responsible investment but that may change over time.
The transission blurs in the video makes a great video a bit hard to watch as it's more of a distraction than a good effect. Apart from that which is only my opinion thumbs up on another professional job
Your a cut above me.
Yikes please take off gloves while you’re using the table saw. So easy to catch in the blade.
If it's "so easy for you to catch the blade" while using a tablesaw WITH gloves, it's equally easy for you to suffer injury WITHOUT them. I suggest you re-think your workflow to keep your fingers out of harms way instead of insisting I react to your alarmist admonitions because my use of specific gloves during specific actions greatly reduces the risk of injury. Please take your crusade of uninformed caution to other Channels where practices that are truly dangerous go unchallenged by the uninformed.
@@NextLevelCarpentry fine lose a hand or finger
@@karadanvers6136 are you really such a nitwit? good grief!
@@karadanvers6136 No need to sulk. Use of gloves here is very well considered and explained in detail in another video. These gloves are close-fitting. If you get close enough to the blade to snag these gloves, you are way too close and would likely get injured anyway. It is never a good idea to blindly make a religion from something you see or hear.