Morgan Dreadlocke

Etching glass with a laser. The task was put before me to place the Groups logo on an empty whiskey bottle. I had recently acquired a small inexpensive diode laser of 12 watts and was time to experiment. 1st attempt on glass was a failure, the beam passed thru the glass and etched the surface below the glass. Next attempt was at 100% power and a slower feed rate. This produced the weird effect of the etch being on the bottom side of the glass instead of the face surface. Research on youtube lead me to the paint trick. A light coat of flat black paint gives the beam something to react against. The paint is then washed off with cheap solvent leaving the etch where ya wanted it. I found the focus to be NOT critical at all, probably 3/8" difference between the high and low areas. Crown royal bottle was done with 90% power, 10 lines per mm and 1000 mm per minute feed. 'Bout 10 minutes run time. Software was the free Laser Grbl program downloaded from the net.

I tip my hat to those Crafters who create their wares with traditional techniques and materials. This thread is intended for us willing to use modern tech in their work and share tidbits of knowledge on how to whip beastly little CNC machines to our will. Feel free to post up a project pic, then tell us how ya did it.

Felix Natalis Christi

Yes. About 1 candles worth of light flickering up and down both sides of the led strip. Not enough to read by but makes you visible to others. Doesn't seem to draw in the bugs either.

Heres the innards of a solar walkway light minus the white diffuser around the leds- . You can also see the sun damage to the top solar panel.

Wife had a '66 Buick with the 340 wildcat motor. We called it the "Great White Landshark" cause it ate up other cars. Now have a Kia Suv that we call "The Beast" cause it weighs 5000lbs. Had many four letter names for a not long owned Buell 500. On the odd side our group has a costume named "Guido the Kneecapper". It's basically the horned helmet, chain maile and bearded axe from Frazetta's Death Dealer.

Really need a weekend to let my brain collapse. Not gonna happen till 2nd weekend in November.

TY lass. T'was drawd up by one of our groups members bout 5 year ago. Had just bought the little cnc router when the Travilin' Yard was announced. Took a while to figger out the software, learnin' curve is a might steep LOL. Yes Master Stynky, I be puttin' up a few how to articles when our groups busy season tapers off. Got 2 weekends at the city zoo, a Scottish festival and 2 sets 'o Highland games to survive☠️

OH yes!

Should there be a next project, I'm in. $4.99 for a block at Michaels crafts, a few days fighting with software and a grubby hunk of canvass-

Hidden Lake was a rather smallish affair (imho), maybe as many as 200 on the site at any one time. The paying public showed up reasonably attired. The only other place we've had good interaction with the crowd is at the Celtic Festival/Highland Games. Throw heavy stuff on one day, pirate the next, LOL. I growed up in Long Beach (long ago) but have never been to their Fest. Now semi retired it may be a possibility.

Back in '22-'23 I's attended the "Hidden Lake Pirate Festival" near Buckeye Az. Hidden Lake tis a small manmade fishin' / party resort just west of Phoenix/Goodyear area. 2 groups had encampments. Small amount 'o vendors, couple 'o food trucks and musical entertainment. Clan Darksail did several black powder demos. Was a very relaxing event in the cool of January. Stole a pic from Darksail's site, tis yers truly just before the skies opened up on Saturday night '22. Didn't see any adverts for '24. Hope the event didn't die, decent happenings are rare in Southern Az.

Have Ye tried wild black rice? Turns pork or anything else cooked with it a dark bluish black.

/\D ream come true? Bein' 100% retired. Now at 50%, it's hard to let go... < Contemplating going to the gym where it's 30 degrees cooler, the Highland games approach. \/ Anyone headin' to Bisbee next month?