Of Inlays and Offsetting

Getting in a little bit deeper with Inkscape and laser cutter this week! Over the weekend I got to considering potential future projects I might be doing, and while thinking about those I also wondered how you could efficiently combine two (or more) different (coloured) materials.

And here we get to inlaying and offsetting. Due to the slight amount of material getting cut/burned when using the laser cutter, you can't do a split object and call it day. They will fit into each other, but the fit won't be precise. By offsetting, you can create shapes that fit into each other perfectly.

I first started out with basic square shapes and cardboard. First test I clearly didn't get it. I did just what I first described. Two poorly fitting shapes. The next try was already better and I managed to actually get a decent fit.

With the line thickness of 0,01 the offset with 0,2 mm was good. Woohoo!
Next I proceeded to test it out with plexiglass. The material behaves a bit differently, and at first I did a test with three different offsets. One at 0,1 mm, second at 0,2 mm and third at 0,4 mm. The third one was actually the precise fit so I jotted that down on my notebook for future use.

Finally I started to try this with more irregular shapes, aka letters. First try was actually sort of a success as far as fit went, but it's also important to remember there is a difference between millimeters and centimeters.

It's pretty obvious today is Monday. Many failed attempts, and several where I didn't even successfully get to the actual cutting phase because I just couldn't get Inkscape to do what I wanted. But in the end I prevailed!

Witness the perfectly fitting blue/red example on the middle! (and the completely green one to the left, but that's a bit drab.)
If I had failed a few more times I could've built an optometrist test board.

- Antti

Finnish after the break!


Elikkäs tänään pääsin Inkscapen ja laserleikkurin opettelussa harjoittelemaan leikattujen kappaleiden yhteensovittamista (inlay) ja leikattavien kappaleiden kokovaihtelua ja miten asetetaan oikeat säädöt ja koot ohjelmassa, jotta leikkurin leikkaamat palat loksahtavat kohdalleen.

Kirjaimellisesti säätämistä. Ihan liikaa. Meinasi kärsivällisyys loppua puolessa välissä päivää, kun tuntui ettei mikään meinaa onnistua. Mutta lopulta sain kuin sainkin onnistumaan hyvät ja tiiviit liitokset. Kirjoitin vielä ihan kohtalaiset muistiinpanot aiheesta, joten pitäisi jäädä mieleenkin tästä. Tulee varmaan harjoiteltua lähiakoina lisää joka tapauksessa :)

Yhtenä suunnitteillaolevana projektina olisi tehdä "maisemataulu" erivärisistä kerrostetusti leikatuista plekseistä. Saa nähdä mitä sen kanssa käy, jos hermo meinasi välillä mennä yhden kirjaimenkin kanssa...

- Antti