Meltdown over wall at ylab laser cutter session

The end of 2019’s first January cold snap brought out a whole lot of members and new visitors to our What’s This Laser Cutter Stuff All About? open house. Ylab’s Richard gave an extensive presentation on the materials you can use and the types of engraving you can make.

The highlight was some of his work with plastics and plexiglass, building up components in layers to make a complex manifold, and threading the plastic to hold screws and other fittings.

The meltdown happens when you bond together the plastic walls and layers to form a manifold. Instead of glue, you use the appropriate solvent for the plastic. The two surfaces melt a tiny bit and bond when pressed together. He’s tested the resulting piece to 60 PSI. He’s used the same techniques for water and air devices.

Best of all, participants in next week’s laser cutting class (sold out!) will learn to do it for themselves.