Thanks Dave. Your original suggestion was well appreciated -- as were everyone else's. Mike, Turning the drawing prior to cutting was also purposed on the LightBurn forum, which is the program I run on my laser. I tried it once in the past, and just tried it again based on your recommendation. I got mixed results again. The cut lines do appear to be a bit sharper, but the lines are also canted. I tried 45* then rotated to 30*. Below are the "raw unpainted" results at 30*. Note the vertical grout lines skew to one side, meaning they all shifted to the side and no longer line up to the center of the brick above it. And weird too, the door is now canted a few degrees to the left, and note the lower left line -- is not straight ????!!! So herein lies the probable cause - Poor Man's Laser. I am sure a higher end, more spendy laser with higher settings and precision can overcome this, but that's beyond my budget at the moment. For now, I'll work in the bounds of my equipment and see if I can pull off a respectable build despite modest equipment.
Something else I just noticed in your last pictures. The top of Doors, Windows and other openings always lines up with a mortar joint. A typical commercial single door is 7'-0" x 3'-0" The rough opening is almost always 7'-4" tall x 3'-4" wide, to accommodate the door frame which is 2 inches on either side and a 4 inch header above the door. In construction there is usually a one piece Lentil (one piece concrete block) that measures 7-5/8 tall x 4'-8"(sometimes longer) to span the opening above the door. Likewise the windows usually have a Lentil that spans the opening or sometimes a 1/4" thick steel plate that is hidden in the mortar joint to support the block above the opening. The window sizes vary as do the dock openings but they almost always have the top at a mortar joint. If a window or opening dose not fall into the 8" Increment size range its the block along the bottom edge that is cut to fit. David
Thanks for trying this, that's fascinating and confirms the theory. As a fellow poor man's laser owner I'm with you on the sentiment - we simply work with what we've got. I bought mine not knowing if I'd even have much use for a laser so no need to spend an exorbitant amount of cash up front. I feel we're still at the beginning stages of the diode laser technology path (early budget 3D printers vs today's are night and day) I'm sure the lasers will go the same way as they inch toward that 30W goal with the diodes. But for now I'm happy learning and cranking out neat things on it. Can't wait to see how this build progresses! -Mike
Dang it Dave, now I’m gonna have to pull a permit for this job…. I agree too, that’s something I try and do is line up the door as best I can with one block or another. In this case, I am lining up the lower edge of the wall with a line horizontal line so it doesn’t look like I have half a brick at the bottom. And that adds to the challenge. The door may be off a half a mill or so off, but I compared it to another kit door, and it seemed to be OK. Funny, how real construction theory and considerations falls into the process of building a Z-scale building. I just hope I have enough pocket change to pay off the local inspector. So instead of dealing with super close up, high resolution pictures, I took a few additional pictures of the previous sample that was painted gray at eight more equitable distance to what would be seen with the naked eye. I think these pictures give a better representation for everyone.
Permit! Wait You Don't have a Permit? No Problem that just means you free to use your Artistic License and that you do not have to follow any of those pesky government rules or standards associated with having a Permit. Its Looking better and better with each revision. Keep up the good work
Well, I decided to push through with the walls that I have, and let the chips fall where they may regarding how accurate they look or not. I’m rather pleased with them at this point, considering the number of attempts I’ve made. Sometimes you just gotta cut bait and fish. Also struggled on being able to match the paint color as the picture is good, but not super defined. So I had to use a little bit of knowledge of the New Mexico area, and use my recollection on what I had seen on other buildings. Although some businesses did run the traditional red bricks, there were also some that were running more of an orange-ish colored brick similar to Spanish tile. And wouldn’t you know it? I got lucky at Michael’s and stumbled across an acrylic paint by CRAFT SMART called Spanish Tile. One comment about this paint is it really is nice and flows very well for an acrylic. One comment about the production of these walls as well is that you’ll notice I did not incorporate assembly tabs into them. That was partially an oversight on my part and partially laziness too, and the desire NOT to go back and cut more walls. I’ll proceed forward with these, and simply use careful assembly techniques.
So, what is happening looks like XY Mechanism Hysteresis. What that means when the X axis stops at a position, the head slightly overshoots, and the Y axis twists a bit. You might be able to fix the problem by either slowing down the speed and power accordingly, and/or tighten the belt tension.
Well noted RAY. I snugged the belt down, and that made a world of difference. And then, just like you said, slow the speed and power down. Although, I still think I have some fine tuning to do with this laser. Now an interesting thing came about, as someone from the LIGHTBURN forum sent me an image file of a brick wall they quickly sketched up for me. What I found is that the image file actually cuts better than my own created file inside of the LIGHTBURN program. So that adds another challenge the fun.
Looks really good! I think those colors really make it pull together. Interesting note about the brick file someone had sent you. Wondering if one version is doubling lines vs all engrave lines being single pass. In other words, if the pattern was created by taking a rectangle, then duplicating it to set the pattern, I believe each brick "border" would technically contain two lines that the laser might double etch? One for the brick's own border, plus the border of the adjacent brick. I haven't tested lightburn to see if it's smart enough to not do that. Maybe it is? 2nd thought on the experiment you did with the angle burns, I vaguely remember reading, or watching a youtube video, that you might be able to rotate the lens to re-orient the dot so you wouldn't need to mess with the artwork. That would be slick if that actually works. The lightburn forum definitely has the expertise on those types of questions as do we with rray right here. I'd like to give this a try with my laser for an n scale depot I have in mind. Cheers -Mike
Lance, The color looks real good from here! Walls looking good as well. Thanks for the product review, I wondered if that brand was any good. Scott
On my laser's driver, lines that are 2 point font or larger are treated as a Raster sequence of burned dots, and finer are treated as a vector, so those start at one position and end at another position and do 1 single burn. It's like the difference between a dot matrix printer vs a ink pen plotter, with plotter or vector drawings making the cleanest lines.
Welllll, can a perfectionist ever be happy? Nahhhhhhh…….. So I went back to the “laser board” as I was just not content with the bricks on the front wall yet again!!! This time, I flattened and stretched the bricks out a little bit and I believe it produced a better, more realistic appearing wall for Z-scale. On the left was the previous entry into what I said would be the final go forward product. However, now on the right is what I believe is the most accurate in appearance. Going forward with this. And I promise no more postings about the brickwork. Moving forward with the interior and other details.
Thanks, Scott, and notice as well the vertical grout lines tend to thin out as well through the lengthening of the bricks. Maybe it’s an allusion, but I’ll take it!!!!
OK, since this is a build thread, here’s a few more pics of “the build”. All the pics below may look a bit redundant, but there is a method to the madness. I wanted to share with everyone the set up of the walls. This may be a bit overkill, but I wanted to ensure that if I was going to outfit this café with an interior and it had multiple windows that could be peered into, that it reflect as realistic an interior as possible in Z-scale. I have inserted hand cut pieces of .15MM clear styrene sheet to represent the windows. Plus, you’ll notice in this picture additional wall panels, which are the interior walls of the café. Notice these are reverse cut in order to fit on the inside of the exterior walls. They will hide the edges of the clear styrene that was used for the windows, since the fit isn’t exact. A better representation of the interior wall panels and how they’ll fit over the inside portion of the walls. I have laser cut these using tan card stock. Loose fit on the walls. Since this café was noted to have a western theme in the interior, I used Testors spray tan on the interior wall panels. I chose the tan instead of a stark white, because I thought it would have a little bit more softness to it once the interior is lit. NEXT IS THE FLOOR/BASE I had to take some artistic license here, and guess what the actual surrounding sidewalk may have looked like. I used the same material I’m using for the walls and employed my laser cutter to make the necessary cuts, including the break lines for the sidewalk itself. The entry point for running the electrical wiring for lighting was missed, so I simply punched it with a small drill-bit. I positioned it in the corner since this café will have a center dining room area, and the light will drop down from the ceiling. The base was given one shot of Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, which does well to represent cured concrete. The texture of the laser board becomes evident when the fine surface spray primer is sprayed on it, and it certainly gives the base a realistic concrete look. Pay attention to the intricacies in the lower right hand corner of the base. There is a low relief wall there that will need to be installed. Defer back to the pictures of the actual café and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Now begins the installation process of the walls to the base. Note on this particular effort, I did not cut tabs into the walls or the base. So that makes fit up a bit more precarious, as you have to ensure everything lines up as the glue dries. If I recut this kit again, I will add tabs to all necessary points. I will let the below pictures speak for themselves. One thing to note the fit amount at the back corners is not exact. It shows the gap for the two walls join. I will probably dry brush that area with paint just to fill it in a little and give it a more realistic look. It is what it is. BUILD NOTE: I’d also point out that there will also be some touchup paint work needed here and there but that will be done as the final process. FRONT WALL I am rather pleased with the way the front wall is turning out. The entry door came out rather nice I think. And a final pic for this segment, is the front wall loose fitted to the other walls. I’m leaving it uninstalled for a while as I work on the interior, which will be the next installment - so don’t touch that dial…….
Lance, I think it looks very nice! Btw, I would refrain from tabs, personally I think they don’t look good on outer walls. Better use some bracing inside, imho. I usually glue evergreen strip or leftover strips from the wooden / laserboard fret in the corners. I do wonder if the base is thick enough to prevent warping…? But pavement looks great, concrete look indeed. Matt
Lance, Beautiful work! Yes the front entry door came out great, nice details! Like your approach for the glass! How about tabs on the bottom of the walls and slots in the floor? It will help with alignment but not be visible. I wish I was building in the era your restaurant was in. Scott
