Laser Cutting a Plywood P38 Lightning Aircraft

One of my favorite models on CNCKing.com that I’ve designed is the P38 Lightning Aircraft, it’s a simple model to put together and it looks great at all angles – hats off to the original designers of this real awesome aircraft!

I decided to take a picture of what I see when the model is being cut with my Trotec Speedy 400 flexx – in this case I used the CO2 laser, all 100 watts worth!

You can see the masking taking-in all the smoke in strides – I have a 2 HP extractor on this machine with gas kit and a vacuum table which all work together wonderfully. My board was a bit warped to I slowed down the laser a bit so that there was more than enough power going through to cut all the way through the 5 mm thick plywood.

After the pieces are all cut, I took them off the bed of the laser and removed the masking, there is a bit of soot on some of these parts because I wanted to get an idea of how much smoke is being left on the underside if I didn’t use masking. It’s minimal at best especially when these parts can be used inside where they won’t be noticed.

The model was put together all in one shot, clamps are a woodworker’s best friend (after the wood stove in the Canadian winter months) and a few hours later, the finished model is looking good!

Of course, I made a video of the cutting and assembly process, watch it below – it isn’t realtime as I want these to be quick and to the point. You can find this model and a bunch more at CNCKing.com – this model is available in both CNC laser and CNC router optimized versions. Enjoy!