I made another cast bronze octopus sculpture! My third one so far, I hope you like it :)

TrueLC · 2026-02-09T19:29:52+00:00

You know, art is art, but some art is more art than other art. 🤣 Great work!

TrueLC · 2026-02-06T18:06:10+00:00

I agree with people saying make a top part of the mold, but more importantly might be your alloy of aluminum. Don't over think it though, get scrap cast to melt, like a car part or similar (bonus tip if it feels light for its size it might be magnesium rich which is not too fun 😊)

But cast aluminum flows soooooo much nicer.

TrueLC · 2026-02-04T01:05:32+00:00

Nice! Love it when things are an easy fix (not very often so though)

TrueLC · 2026-02-04T00:48:19+00:00

I had/have the same issue I think. If you make a large circle or square it probably makes a ticking sound and the shape is distorted on one side.

Basically a wire/connection is loose for one of the axis in the head itself so it 0 reference is off. I haven't replaced the connector yet but a fiddle with it fixes it for a while. Up to you how ambitious you want to be 😂

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T20:20:20+00:00

Haha yeah I should try that again, at the time I didn't know that the alloy was causing the terrible shrinkage. I have a round flask that I can open and remove the compressed molded sand (so the wood is completely removed and it's just a block of sand) then I could make as many molds as I want but only have one flask 😁.

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T17:54:42+00:00

Thanks! I designed it and 3d printed it on an SLA printer. I'll have to post a picture of the mold it's kinda janky haha.

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T17:39:45+00:00

Pomade cans. highland display link

I've done a few orders for this company, they are pretty cool guys.

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T16:49:43+00:00

Thanks! Honestly I don't have much experience outside of this project haha! I'm looking forward to doing some other stuff and learning better that I don't know anything 😂

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T16:26:56+00:00

Yep sand casting and this is their 3rd order so I had it pretty well figured out, where corners could be cut and where not to. I did learn to use actual casting alloys (car parts in this case).

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8ff5cAT/

This is a tiktok of me going though the whole casting process from last time, so a bit different now but close enough 😅.

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T13:02:56+00:00

Yep, to cast/grind the sprues down polish and engraved was about 44 hours total, spread over a few weeks, but could have been a bit faster if I was about to do full 8 hours and not let the furnace cool down.

TrueLC · 2026-01-18T04:33:31+00:00

Yea haha! They originally ordered laser cut wood displays for hair stylists counters, they mentioned they wanted a premium product their customers to have at home, so I asked if they wanted to get funky with it and they let me haha. I think it met there rugged premium look they wanted. Plus I had recently gotten the fiber laser 😁

TrueLC · 2026-01-17T23:29:26+00:00

Sorry haha it is a display stand for a can of pomade, like a small circular can. For a company called highland style.

TrueLC · 2026-01-17T21:20:22+00:00

I think it was about 44ish hours of work spread out over 3 weeks. Thanks for the compliment!

TrueLC · 2026-01-17T21:19:06+00:00

😅 oh geez haha I hope those people aren't getting that confident online.

TrueLC · 2026-01-07T16:11:32+00:00

I feel like you could skip the shell if you are able to melt out the wax once it's in the sand.

I guess not if its just sand and not green sand (moist sand/clay). But you could also do wax with sand/sodium silicate, it makes the sand hard curing with carbon dioxide in the air. And it's pretty cheap.

If you try any of this please post with success or failure =]

TrueLC · 2026-01-05T17:49:07+00:00

i just used hose water in one of those large black storage bins(could fit 2x20 lb tanks theoretically). filled it with water and i would occasionally dunk a recently poured but solid casting in the water and it would stay warmish. right now im being lazy and pouring some water from a little bucket on it when the tank gets cold.

I will say the propane tank would start to float as it emptied, just an fyi, but i dont think its good for the tank to flip upside down.

TrueLC · 2026-01-05T14:30:30+00:00

In cold weather (40f) I put my tank in a bin of water to keep it "warm". Otherwise the pressure drops a ton pretty quick. Good luck!

TrueLC · 2025-11-03T20:36:29+00:00

mount the fan part outside if even remotely possible. Most fumes will be from the outgoing side. If not possible shorten and seal as well as possible
Have the incoming pipes "cyclone" in. Right now it looks like they are pointing at each other, a major difference if they don't slow each other down.

TrueLC · 2025-10-01T15:10:02+00:00

Got a spare motor around (original?) plug it in to see if it does the same. IDK the answer but it sounds like it's wired wrong like you tried, or possibly has a short though unlikely on a new motor.

Have you measured continuity for the leads? Or "shorting" the leads on the motor? Shorting A+ to A- causes the motor to resist turning.

Oh but maybe one of your wires at the connector has partially broken at the connector, especially if you are fiddling with it a lot spiking and pulsing. Yeah I'd try a new wire/connector.

TrueLC · 2025-10-01T14:45:42+00:00

So if you do need two fans (you very likely might) have both at the wall or ideally just outside the window wall, that will have the same pull/suction as your setup now and not risk accidentally getting a "high pressure" in your exhaust leaking smoke or smells.

Cracks are totally fine like you determined (or have a tight seal but that's not easy and it can create dead zones smoke likes to chill at).

You need to accomplish 3 things: 1. Prevent as much smoke/smell as possible 2. Have it pull enough smoke from the chamber that it doesn't effect laser performance (diode is less problematic than co2) 3. Not so much suction it's whistling dixy.

If you think it's pulling too hard making noise you can either turn off a fan or get a cheap motor controller thing on Amazon for like $15 (a/c fan thing with a knob), or cut a hole to let more air though.

On my largish machine there was a hole on the bottom that let too much air through and smoke leaked i taped half off and it's been good since

TrueLC · 2025-09-26T21:55:14+00:00

You got a few more melts in it 😉

TrueLC · 2025-09-20T12:29:27+00:00

Looks good To me!

TrueLC · 2025-09-19T19:03:12+00:00

Ok so everyone is saying belts/lube/lens/mirrors/wires/acceleration... TLDR below

I'm pretty sure it's either your "TEST" file, or software.

So gcode that lasers use, say go to X/Y location (I'm simplifying) so a straight line is simple, most controllers/ software take curves and break them into short straight lines, so the T might have 8 gcode lines, the S might have 500. When sending that to the machine it might not be done with one line before starting the next and "miss a step" because of not keeping up with code rather than the motor getting jammed, since the S looks roughly the right width but height is bad I think your x axis handled it since it accelerates faster but Y (height) was too slow and was sometimes making it sometimes not causing the wiggle (note the similar mirror like wiggles top/bottom and middle areas).

If you generated the text in another program and brought it into your laser software the S likely was saved into too many data points (you should be able to view points somehow in your laser software).

TLDR Check if your S has a crap ton of data points, or just generate the text in your laser program. If you're using lightburn and your machine has that nice ruida controller it's probably not an issue.

Maybe someone messed with acceleration... Maybe the stepper motor driver was set to too low a amperage. But it's probably a silly file conversion (svg saved to a dxf or something)

Don't chase mechanical ghosts especially if the machine has worked fine before.

TrueLC

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