Martian

After extensive research I have come to the conclusion that converting an Anet a8 to a laser cutter at least for me is a non starter. First the 3d printer is designed for just that 3d printing although it can be made to work it will not produce a very usable cutter/engraver the work area is to small the height is unnecessary and a nuisance also the laser once burning starts stays on.whilst these things are not insurmountable I felt it a waste of time to cap it all the Anet control board with Marlin firmware could not be made to work with my chosen burning software Lightburn ,not that there is a huge number available. So I have opted to strip the Anet for what I can reuse ,stepper motors power supply motor wiring etc. I purchased a GRBL board from Amazon ( Jeff was pleased) it came with some bits which are useful, I had already bought a 7.5watt laser an NJE unit that came with adapter and wiring. Test with the bits I am going to use proved more than capable and the GRBL board hooked straight up to Lightburn and a quickly drawn outline was easily tracked and burnt well into ply. Now the electronics are working i searched out a design for the frame and found 1 on thingiverse parts are printing now and extrusion etc have been ordered. The frame will be about 24inches by 15 inches which will allow for cutting into a 1/8th 24x12 ply sheet with 2 or 3 passes . I should point out a frame and motors plus v wheels can be bought as a kit from e-bay supposedly from the UK but I had no way of knowing how long it would take to arrive nor how good it would be.i could probably get the cost down by long winded shopping around or buying from China as yet i haven't added it up. If anybody is interested i will post the progress ,more to come. Happy flying ,P.S all this so i can carry on with my Tigercat ?

proper job boy ?

It is so heart warming to know that this thread has had a positive benefit . My latest PSA test showed a slight increase to 5.7 nothing to be alarmed about but getting up in the night between 3 and 5 times is a bind coupled with the slowing flow rate and discomfort necessitating a 5min sit before going back to bed. PC nurse wants me in for a flow test and then possible TURPS not keen on that just have to weigh up the pros and cons when the time comes.

Some absolutely fantastic models on here ,well done all ?

Same here David whilst productive work is going on I leave it a mess and leave all tools and bits of wood in case they are needed I have always worked like that no matter what I'm doing

Yes I remember Hilda Baker to be honest its quicker to whip the sd card out than connect via USB then I can't be bothered to reset the camera time just lazy I guess. It was touch and go Ron at one point I felt like creating a smash scene but I calmed down. Sometimes it just best to step back for a rethink. So the bench is cleared cleaned and vacuumed now my 3d printer is being butchered ?

Chris you are doing a fabulous job of the Dog

Currently I'm at the complete disaster stage with the nacelles . in order to set up the retracts I have to keep butchering what I had done before also I have no alternative than fit the lipos in the front portion of the nacelles more butchery so I feel the only way forward is to have a break and redraw nacelles with all the mods I have learnt meanwhile I am going to give the Anet 3d printer conversion to laser cutter the time instead . pic of the nightmare that is my workbench (all tidy now )

Nice neat and clever job Phil

Half the fun is searching for things then ordering more because you cant find them until the thing you ordered arrives ?

Hello again my workbench is a heck of a mess and it will stay that way until this current phase is complete , so about to fit second retract /a pic showing the wingtip presented to the mid wing . the first wing half I built in two sections that was the way to make hard work of it so the second half was built as a whole with the wing joint tube in place and plastic gift cards separating the the inner connecting ribs to keep the glue away then panelled the front edge of the wing when all nice and dry I used a fine tooth hacksaw blade to separate the two sections that was much easier ? . I have decided to use blue foam for the rear of the nacelles to save weight and save planking so in those blue chunks I have to find the rear nacelle I will get the crude shape then start carving and finally sand away to my hearts content (what ever floats your boat )

Hi Chris thanks for the comment. I have gone to far to do as you have suggested never the less if I build the wings again as a lighter version I am proposing to build the nacelles first . can you give me a link to your Ta 154 .

It's been awhile but I have been making progress. The fuselage was fairly straight forward but the wing good grief , the plans are excellent with outline and shape but reducing the plans down for a 1/10 scale is more than problematic there is an abundance of ribs not necessarily a problem but it could cope with less and the nacelles are over built for this size . I tracked down a flightline Tigercat which is the same scale so I sourced oleos and wheels from there ( MotionRC) I really wanted scale gear but am unable to get near a miller and lathe I already had a pair of electric metal retracts So I turned the legs down to fit the retracts . It has been difficult to place the retracts in the right place in the nacelle but I have finally managed the first one the other should be straight forward. The nacelle position in the wheel requires two ribs to be butchered once the second nacelle is done I will align and glue both into wing and glue both wing halves together. My thoughts are at the moment to continue with the wing even though I,m not happy it all feels like bodging. I may use the experience to build a new wing building lighter and less brick house like nacelles ,it seems the best way is to build the nacelles then the wing halves and place the two ribs in a better place not easy to explain . Oh I also decided to get the plastic replacement parts for the flightline Tigercat happily the gear doors will fit plus other bits which will save a bit of faffing. pics below

Sorry Mark I missed your comment appreciate your knowledge thank you

Thank you very much flyingfinn . I am going to use my Anet 8 3d printer stripped down as the basis for the cutter .

So FlyinFlynn are you saying dump Marlin and use GRBL instead ?

Any of you clever people thought about or have converted their 3D printer to a laser cutter/engraver ?

I,m so pleased I started this thread and thrilled it has made a difference good health and happiness to all you guys and continue to spread the word

Basil that is pretty horrendous to hear I can only hope you get a positive outcome from future treatment.

Just a thought if anyone would like a copy of the pdf files let me know

yes Bob the 103" I realised was far to ambitious and would have taken it to the large model type and all that entails I believe they come out between 40 to 50 pounds in weight and the cost the mind boggles

did look at those Ron not 100% sure they wouldn't be to big and they are to pricey for me but they do look good

David this is an exquisite build a real treasure . re the decals there is a chap that does vinyl decals for Richard Wills and they are very good and cost effective if hyou like I will dig out his and e-mail addy

Thanks guys for taking the trouble to look in and post a comment it was much easier to view the views so to speak before. anyway some pic of the wing all four sections in various stages central sections to be matched up and trimmed before joining outer sections beyond the nacelles are joined with ali and phenolic tube if anyone needs or wants more details just ask away. I have to repeat Don Smith plans are tough going and experimenting is needed as progression takes place. If I build this cat again I would make a good set of wing jigs to make life easier. the fuselage is straight forward but it would be easier if you had a set of retracts that you wanted to use .Seirra build a set to order but that is for the 103 inch wing I was prepared to make my own with engineering help from my daughters partner but lockdown scuppered that so I looked around for an alternative and found Flightline do a 63inch span Tigercat and RC Motion carry the spares problem solved ,they are not true to scale but should look ok. More soon