Category Archives: inkscape

Cheap Front Panels with Dibond Aluminium

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

The production capability available to the individual hacker today is really quite incredible. Even a low-end laser engraver can etch your PCBs, and it doesn’t take a top of the line 3D printer to knock out a nice looking enclosure. With the wide availability of these (relatively) cheap machines, the home builder can churn out a very impressive one-off device on a fairly meager budget. Even low volume production isn’t entirely out of the question. But there’s still one element to a professional looking device that remains frustratingly difficult: a good looking front panel.

Now if your laser is strong …read more

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Posted in hardware, inkscape, parts, printing, production hacks | Leave a comment

Review: LinkSprite Mini CNC

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Fernando Gomes

It’s a great time to be a hobbyist. No matter how you feel about the Arduino/Raspberry Pi effect, the influx of general enthusiasm and demand it has created translates to better availability of components, a broader community, and loads of freely available knowledge. When people have access to knowledge and ideas, great things can happen. Tools that were once restricted to industrial use become open source, and the price of entry-level versions goes into a nosedive.

As we’ve seen over the last several years, the price of cheap 3D printers keeps falling while the bar of quality keeps rising. It’s …read more

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Posted in hobby machine, inkscape, laser engraver, linksprite, PCB milling, reviews | Leave a comment

Drop-in Controller for eBay K40 Laser Engraver Gets Results

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

[Paul de Groot] wrote in to let us know about a drop-in controller replacement he designed for those economical K40 laser engravers that are everywhere on eBay. With the replacement controller, greatly improved engraving results are possible along with a simplified toolchain. Trade in the proprietary software and that clunky security dongle for Inkscape and a couple of plugins! [Paul] felt that the work he accomplished was too good to keep to himself, and is considering a small production run.

Laser engravers are in many ways not particularly complex devices; a motion controller moves the head in x and y, …read more

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Posted in inkscape, K40, laser controller, laser cutter, laser engraver, laser hacks, open source | Leave a comment