Brushs Laser Cutting and 3d Printing workbench

[Osgood]

Just a few metres from my driveway is two large pits from an unfortunate accident with a couple of these after the war.

I think that might have been 6th Jan 45, Phil?

S/N 42-97082 MISSION MISTRESS lost an engine on take-off and crashed right next to where you are in the woods and caught fire.
Of the nine man crew, four managed to get out.
4 minutes later the bomb load exploded which is presumably what caused the two craters.
Half of a 1,000lb bomb case landed beside a ground crew engineer a mile away on the airfield, and sometime later a .50cal machine gun was recovered from a haystack 2 1/2 miles away at High Rougham - from its serial number it was found to have come from MISSION MISTRESS,
The aircraft remains were not recovered until after the war - struggling to find any more info on the recovery but by the look of the post-crash photo there was not much left other than the engines.

Info from Pictorial History of the 94th BG(H) by Clifford Hall and Amercian Air Museum website (Roger Freeman archive).

 

[BrushType4]

I think that might have been 6th Jan 45, Phil?

S/N 42-97082 MISSION MISTRESS lost an engine on take-off and crashed right next to where you are in the woods and caught fire.
Four of the crew managed to get out.
4 minutes later the bomb load exploded which is presumably what caused the two craters.
Sometime later a .50cal machine gun was recovered from a haystack 2 1/2 miles away at High Rougham - from its serial number it was found to have come from MISSION MISTRESS, half of a 1,000lb bomb case landed beside a ground crew engineer a mile away on the airfield.
The aircraft remains were not recovered until after the war - struggling to find any more info on the recovery but by the look of the post-crash photo there was not much left other than the engines.

Info from Pictorial History of the 94th BG(H) by Clifford Hall.

I shall look tomorrow as I walk my dogs past the site everyday. I think there is some info about it.

 

[BrushType4]

A quick Google and it seems the two pits near me have been confused with this accident 80th anniversary of tragic mid-air crash near RAF Honington during the Second World War

 

[BrushType4]

Graham is here drilling the 100mm holes through the walls for the extraction.

Due to costs we are now venting to air instead of particle capture.

It also a lot quieter and with several bits of equipment operating noise starts to become a problem.



Not much time later, two of the lasers were pushed into position and test cuts made. Thankfully minimal setup required after the move.

Looks like we are still on target to be back fully operational by the end of the month.

 

[Osgood]

Well really - the sugar beet factory is bad enough when the wind is wrong

 

[Tom Insole]

I think I have a little Trotec envy... I miss playing with a laser cutter, it's funny I didn't realise how much I depended upon being able to cut stuff on one. Idmitidly I have access to a mill and lathe now but cutting larger material is my shortfall. (and with making my own Ultimaker clone, it's suddenly going to be a lot of very slow clever measurements and planning instead of letting the CAD do the work! haha

 

[BrushType4]

I think I have a little Trotec envy... I miss playing with a laser cutter, it's funny I didn't realise how much I depended upon being able to cut stuff on one. Idmitidly I have access to a mill and lathe now but cutting larger material is my shortfall. (and with making my own Ultimaker clone, it's suddenly going to be a lot of very slow clever measurements and planning instead of letting the CAD do the work! haha

Tom, you can rent time on these by the hour if you’re local enough. You can play to your hearts content.

 

[Tom Insole]

Tom, you can rent time on these by the hour if you’re local enough. You can play to your hearts content.

You’re down in Bury St. Edmunds right? If so I’m down the road in Cambridge. I may have to take you up on the offer when I get a little spare time, material and pennies!

 

[BrushType4]

Finally all setup after our move.

Now down to some overdue projects.

One of these needed some windows and I took a few pictures for the customer as he wanted a few work in progress pictures.



Laser cut from laser board. It’s actually a backing sheet used to keep water vapour out of American kitchens. As such this is an imported product from America which I shipped over a load nearly three years ago. Since then many have gone down a similar route and this product is now more widely available in the UK via craft suppliers. I’ve full size sheets which is handy and I’ve got a lifetimes supply so I’ll probably be selling it off at some point in the future.



I know windows are fiddly so I put double sided tape on the back of the laserboard at the time of laser cutting. This makes building them up a doddle and keeps the glazing free of glue.

Simply peel off the tape and stick.



So with the parts cut out you should paint the window at this stage. I haven’t as I wanted to show you the process.



So with the frames stuck together. The glazing is just dropped in on the back side. The double sided tape will hold it. No glue and if you’re careful no finger marks either!

This window looks about right so job done for now. The rest of the building to do.

 

[BrushType4]

I’ve been experimenting with posters. I’ve a vast resource of thousands of posters and enamel advertising that I’ve the copyright owner’s permission to reproduce.

The laser has a camera on it and is able to cut around preprinted media. So I’ve printed a few posters on a home printer. The quality isn’t quite as I’d like it so I’ll get done professionally.


Ive used postage labels so this it sticky backed.



So just peel and stick on your layout.

The enamels particularly will look glossy with a better quality print.

 

[eldavo]

Printing on photo paper at best quality might do the trick if the original digital image is good enough.

Cheers
Dave

 

[BrushType4]

Printing on photo paper at best quality might do the trick if the original digital image is good enough.

Cheers
Dave

Photo paper will be too thick and too glossy. In model form we don’t actually want glossy and good satin finish scales well. A good quality print and the ink will be glossy/satin enough.

As for the images, I’m struggling to find a portable file type that preserves the original quality. PDF etc compress the image too much. I’ll see what the printing firm suggests. Probably anything greater than 300dpi is overkill anyway.

 

[AndyH]

Looks great. PDF doesn’t have to if you are using Press-Ready PDF (PDF/ X). This should preserve detail and quality.

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

Phil,
Could you save the files as a jpeg?
Tim

 

[Suffolk Dave]

These signs are looking nice and a few of thoughts have come to mind. Firstly, what sort of quality is your original art work? You'd want to avoid lowish file sizes of low resolution. Next, if your printer gives you options chose a fine quality setting and turn off fast printing. And again, if your software allows save the files as TIFFs as these are not compressed some other files types.

In addition, it could be worth exploring photo quality papers. I take your point about some being over glossy for modelling needs but there are matt and satin ones out there too. For example, Epson produce a matt photo paper that looks a little like ordinary photocopier paper, it's used by guys who download and print building kits.

Nice looking workshop BTW...

 

[BrushType4]

Thanks Dave. we’re based in Bury St Edmunds and open for visitors if you’re passing. That’s an open invitation to all Western Thunders.

I’ll have a look at other papers. I’ve got a layer of laser compatible double sided sheet to add to the paper so that was my concern with heavier papers. The Epsom you mention sounds promising.

 

[BrushType4]

A waiting room / shelter that has been waiting on the to do list for a while.

A little bit of Midsomer Norton but a useful building for any country station.

 

[BrushType4]

Optional poster and notice board pack also available.



Also we have a Standard GWR wooden platform and halt. Similar examples would have been built by all the railway companies across the country to serve halts and light railways.


Modular design for short and long platforms.

 

[BrushType4]

4mm OO gauge version of our 7mm Station Shelter. We’re really pleased we could pull this off.

 

[BrushType4]

A bit of a teaser, for those local to me you may recognise this monster that will be coming off the lasers soon.

In 4mm scale it’s 2metres long. Two platforms and both back and from sides to do it’s over 8 meters of buildings.

A suggestion of doing in 7mm was muted and while fantastic, I’m not sure where we would keep it!

More updates soon.