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Thread: Cutting Pearl

  1. #1
    Registered User Marc Berman's Avatar
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    Default Cutting Pearl

    Hi,

    I saw this and thought of you folks. 3D Laser printer. I saw on a forum that it will cut shell.

    https://glowforge.com/
    Marc B.

  2. #2
    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    With the Glowforge you can not only cut the pearl but also the cavity for the inlay. Multiple other uses too, and it will fit in most small shops and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
    No financial interest here and I don't have one or plan to get one, but I do know someone who has one and it's working great for him.

  3. #3
    Registered User amowry's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    Interesting! In that forum they mentioned that they're using thin shell veneer-- I wonder if it could cut thicker shell as well.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    Quote Originally Posted by amowry View Post
    Interesting! In that forum they mentioned that they're using thin shell veneer-- I wonder if it could cut thicker shell as well.
    I don't know anything at all about such gizmos, but I'm wondering if the cutting depth is a certain figure, whether a second pass would cut twice as deep, and a third pass...etc Does anyone know?

  5. #5
    Registered User amowry's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    Quote Originally Posted by mikeyb2 View Post
    I don't know anything at all about such gizmos, but I'm wondering if the cutting depth is a certain figure, whether a second pass would cut twice as deep, and a third pass...etc Does anyone know?
    I have a lower power laser that I use for things not related to mandolins, and typically there’s a limit to the depth you can cut even with multiple passes because the light gets dispersed by the sides of the kerf. For example, I can easily cut 3mm plywood with one or two passes but I can’t cut 6 mm plywood no matter how many passes I use. I couldn’t speak to the issue of shell, though. I don’t think mine would cut shell at all. In general, I would expect CNC to be more precise for shell and cavities because the laser kerf thickness can vary according to focus, dust in the lens, etc.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    I had someone with access to a laser cutter try it on the same pearl I used for my name and it burned a valley in instead of making a fine line. The guy who owned it said it was because the pearl was reflective but I only know I kept doing it by hand. Maybe it just wasn't powerful enough. They were using it to make model train car parts.
    I wasn't there when they tried it but I bet the smell was horrific.

  7. #7

    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    Kerf width isn’t an issue, I think, with either the recess or the inlay, so it’s different than trying to cut the narrowest line. It’s one side against a waste area. Anyway, one area to explore is making an etch template with the laser and then chemical etching the inlay. Instead of using a photo resist. With some exceptions, wet etching is mostly isotropic, that is, the same speed in all directions, limiting edge profile. I’ve been making plasma etchers all these years to overcome these limits, but we’re talking really small stuff. Never put any pieces of shellfish in the systems.
    There are a lot of Chinese hobby laser cutters on the web, but I have no idea about which ones are any good.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    I clicked on Glowforge link just for a look and within an hour had an email from them. The Social Dilemma.

  9. #9
    Registered User amowry's Avatar
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    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    The kerf width itself isn't an issue, but repeatability in the kerf width would be-- in my limited experience with these hobby-type lasers is that it would be very difficult to maintain a kerf width within a thousandth of an inch, so you'd have to design in more slop than with an end mill. The kerf width is also different in the Y axis than the X axis.

  10. #10
    Adrian Minarovic
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    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    Cutting thicker pearl with laser is tricky business but I've seen some standard thickness inlays apparently done with lasers. I suppose they were done on higher level machines and perhaps it's the CO2 laser of these units that just cannot handle it because of the reflections and vawelength...
    Adrian

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    amowry 

  12. #11

    Default Re: Cutting Pearl

    I use a CO2 laser to cut a shell laminate for headstocks. It does thick shell but it heats the material up so much that they brown and chip. I most recently have been using my cnc for fretboard work. My headstock inlay is too thin for the cnc.
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