Model Railway Forum

Was just recently toying with the idea of a laser cutter to use to make buildings etc.
Something not terribly expensive, like a Creality 10W Falcon maybe ?
My question is I know it can cut, and engrave, but can you do lines to a set depth (for instance for making a side of a building with relief for mortar lines and window/door frames etc ?
I can just about work a 3d printer, so imagine a laser cutter is not to much harder to operate and program ?

Not my area of expertise but I have bought laser cut buildings before with a brick pattern so it's fair to presume that they can etch as well as cut. It maybe model specific though. My only issue is that brick patterns can appear too uniform and imho lack texture.

I believe it's perfectly possible to engrave rather than cut on a laser cutter... The trick will be working out the power settings to get it to behave.

I'd suggest taking a long read of the manuals for the cutter and/or the control software which controls it... It's going to be a learning experience, i sure!

Yes, that looks to be the case guys.
I am just working out if its worth it, as there are a good few nice laser cut buildings already on ebay, I could get at least 20 of those before I start approaching the cost of the laser printer...

The only downside to some is they use 3mm ply throughout .... when things like terrace yard walls etc would look a lot closer to scale with 1.5mm for walls.

Too Tall wrote: ↑Mon Nov 11, 2024 3:06 pm Yes, that looks to be the case guys.
I am just working out if its worth it, as there are a good few nice laser cut buildings already on ebay, I could get at least 20 of those before I start approaching the cost of the laser printer...

The only downside to some is they use 3mm ply throughout .... when things like terrace yard walls etc would look a lot closer to scale with 1.5mm for walls.

A few years back at the Doncaster show there was a trader who was cutting out with a laser and doing assembly demos which at first I thought was on very thin ply but it turned out to be a fairly thin but stiff card.

I cannot for the life of me remember the traders name but I am sure a Google search or a trawl through a few railway magazines might come up with something.

Richard

Just as a follow up to the previous post, I think the card material I saw was called Laserboard and there are a few general modelling suppliers who stock it. It can vary in thickness from about 0.4mm to 0.9mm and maybe even thicker. The demo I saw at Doncaster used materials that were about 1mm or less.

Here is one trader that uses laser board as well as plywood

https://www.scalemodelscenery.co.uk/

Richard