Physics Trophy: Cutting Speed and 3D Update

The update to the 3D assembly animation showcasing the Physics Trophy I built years ago is now done and uploaded.

So the next step for this project is finding out how long it takes to cut on an 80 Watt Trotec Speedy 400! The sheet size I use which is 385 x 690 mm is much smaller than the bed size of this later which is 990 x 600 mm but as most people have smaller machines, the cutting time would actually be faster than the one outlined below within a production environment as you got to account on material wastage and using three boards (in and out of the machine) instead of what could be made into two for this specific Trotec Laser machine model.

The material thickness I’ve got programmed into the job software is 6mm plywood and the orange frame you see in the screenshots is not included in the calculations, it’s just something I use internally for board optimization references only.

It’s a little hard to see but the first sheet is 6:23 minutes, second 2:31 minutes and the last 12:22 minutes for a total of 21  minutes and 16 seconds – I’m sure that would drop to under 15 minutes if everything was optimized to fit on just two boards but it gives you a pretty good rundown depending on your set laser cutting costs of how much this project would cost in a production setting.

You can find out more about the Speedy 400 by visiting laserengravingmachines.com.au and get the laser cutting project files for this Physics Trophy at CNCKing.com under Trotec Laser Cutter / Awards.

3D Printed Owl

As a side note, the cool 3D printing project by Grant, the 3D stelliform owl, is now available in STL format in addition to collada! Three cheers for the owl!