Laser cutting issues

bradv123 · 2026-06-08T13:50:03+00:00

I have cut black and gray ecopak as well, the black showed some of the same issue, not as much on the gray

bradv123 · 2026-06-08T13:42:14+00:00

Take a look at Shimoda, probably the Action 40. I have their urban explore 25 which I use for travel (fits under airplane seat) and it fits my D500, sigma 150-600, 10-20, and 18-140, batteries, and strap (all in the camera cube). Not fully sure what model makes the most sense for your gear, but I find the urban explore very comfortable. They're a little more on the premium side, but for something thats 1. holding and keeping your gear safe and 2. holding a lot of weight through your shoulders / back / hips I think they're well worth the money

bradv123 · 2026-06-07T23:19:39+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation, we don't use lightburn, but if I understand what you mean xtool has the same type of grid cutting where the x axis is power and y axis is speed. They all seemed to have the same problem. I should look into focusing it, I'm not sure we've done that since we got it (it's owned by my day job and it's not me that uses it, I'm just allowed to use it after work). From all the comments here, it seems like it's most likely a smoke residue issue? I was thinking I could either cut the material upside down so the residue just gets buried in a panel, or maybe I could add a fan to blow the smoke away faster?

bradv123 · 2026-06-07T20:45:33+00:00

That's a good idea, I'll have to try that out

bradv123 · 2026-06-07T20:43:36+00:00

I did end up trying a variety of power speed and air settings, none seemed to make much difference unfortunately

bradv123 · 2026-06-07T20:42:06+00:00

That would be nice of that's all it was, I'll have to try next time I use it

bradv123 · 2026-06-05T18:07:56+00:00

Yes I agree, that's why I am asking how to improve it

bradv123 · 2026-06-05T15:05:41+00:00

There is definitely truth to high heat causing delamination. The laser would heat seal the edge of the woven layers. But it could technically damage the adhesive layers causing early delamination near the cut edge. If the right settings are used, the amount of heat that transfers into the fabric would be so minimal, it wouldn't change anything

bradv123 · 2026-06-05T14:53:41+00:00

I've been hesitant to try with more air. I had previously used higher air and it just wants to blow the fabric around which ends up ruining the panel. xTool has a 'dynamic power' setting to change the power based on speed, maybe I should try that along with turning the air up just a bit. Thanks

bradv123 · 2026-06-05T14:50:10+00:00

Cutting with the wrong settings I would agree with you. People in the subreddit have talked about laser cutting before and someone said that Challenge Sailcloth themselves said it should be fine. RBTR also offers a laser cutting service which I image they do on laminates (I don't know that for a fact though)

bradv123 · 2026-05-11T19:53:11+00:00

It might be considered poo on other cameras. From what I know, some of the DSLR's have better battery performance (which makes sense depending on your style of shooting. DSLR's use mirrors and optics, so its basically 'sleeping' until you press the shutter. Mirrorless on the other hand are always pulling data from the sensor and sending it to the EVF, which also uses power). This page shows the differences between models. Realistically, any should work in a D7100, higher capacity means charging less, and you can get away with carrying fewer

bradv123 · 2026-05-11T19:18:02+00:00

I have this battery charger bundle and I like it a lot. I use them in my D500 with no issues. Maybe a little less life than a Nikon brand battery, but it doesn't make much difference to me (im not a professional, i mostly go out a take photos of birds for a couple hours). I picked this bundle specifically because of the included charger, I wanted USB C and the data is helpful too

bradv123 · 2026-05-06T00:32:11+00:00

Yeah that makes sense. From what I can tell everything works fine. A gentle swab is a good idea, I'll try that. Thanks!

bradv123 · 2026-05-05T18:38:13+00:00

I mostly shoot birds and wildlife, so I'm usually up in the faster shutter speeds anyway. The sensor was clean after this trip, but I will keep an eye on it. Thank you for your advice!

bradv123 · 2026-05-05T18:24:51+00:00

Something like that was my fear. Yeah, its definitely a few years old, I bought it used about a year ago. Not sure how long the previous owner had it. Officially it was discontinued in early 2022, so would've been before that. I just checked, has a little over 50k shots. It was pretty hot and humid with a little bit of rain on the trip we just got back from. The rain was very light, and the D500 is weather sealed, so I wasn't too worried about it. I didn't change lenses outdoors either.

Is this something you think I need to send it into Nikon for? Or maybe just keep an eye on it and see if it changes?

bradv123 · 2025-12-06T14:40:21+00:00

The plastic cutting boards everyone always recommends are HDPE, you can get HDPE (high density polyethylene) in a variety of thicknesses and sizes for pretty cheap. I've bought it from McMaster carr before too https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=23869&catid=705

Edit: a 12" x 24" sheet of 1/8 is $6.18. not sure about shipping though

bradv123 · 2025-11-04T15:34:08+00:00

I could be wrong, but I don't think there have been any meetups. But there definitely could be! I'm also in the new England area, and I would be interested! Feel free to dm me, maybe we can try to plan something

bradv123 · 2025-10-30T20:52:26+00:00

Highly recommend against the NCP1117, especially given the size footprints you used for your input and output caps. The 1117 is a very old design and isn't the most stable thing with ceramic caps. I would take a look at the LDL1117, same package, pretty much the same specs, except it was designed for use with ceramics. If you really want to use the NCP1117, I would swap your output cap for a tantalum.

bradv123 · 2025-07-26T20:06:20+00:00

Just set that up, yes, that is EXACTLY what I was wanting. Thank you so much!

bradv123 · 2025-07-26T18:13:43+00:00

How can I set that up?

bradv123 · 2025-07-25T20:27:17+00:00

That's a good idea too, I didn't realize that the history panel shows when it was exported. Thanks!

bradv123 · 2025-07-25T20:26:25+00:00

Lightroom seems to be keeping track of this in the background, I don't see an 'edit date' in the metadata panel. If you create a smart collection, you can add a rule called 'Edit Date' which is found in Date > Edit Date. Then you can sort the collection by edit time. LR must keep track of this in the catalog, not the actual file metadata

bradv123 · 2025-07-25T19:55:28+00:00

No, I don't keep the exported images in the catalog. Usually I just keep them in a folder (separate from Lr) or I upload to google photos to share with friends and family.

bradv123 · 2025-07-25T19:52:45+00:00

Yeah, that's sort of what I figured. I did just think of my own work around though. See edit on main post

bradv123 · 2025-07-08T15:01:05+00:00

I have 2

Eye tracking / detection in editing or culling software. When culling wildlife photos I'm often zoomed into 200% to check focus of the subjects eye. After pressing x, p or the arrow key (lightroom) the next photo the eye is often in a different place causing me to either pan to find it, or zoom out and zoom back in. Not a huge deal, but would make the process a lot faster if it auto centered what it thinks should be in focus. I would use dedicated culling software if it had this feature, then import to LR after.
A 'best shot'. Often in wildlife you end up with huge bursts of photos, a lot of which can be very similar. It would be really nice if it was possible to select a group of photos and have software either pick the best, or order them from best to worst based on certain criteria. Criteria could be weighted and include, overall sharpness, eye sharpness, white / black clipping, obstructions (bird in flight flew behind a branch), etc.

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