Chris Reilly

Over the past 4-5 years, I’ve conducted research into CNC fabrication, application scripting, rapid prototyping, 3D scanning & modeling and video game modification, among other things. Some of this research comes from art projects involving the techniques above, some from more seriously focused academic projects. For now, the bulk of my peripheral technotes are hosted at rainbowlazer.com, while a more formal CNC research project is hosted at diylilcnc.org. Additional writings involving applications specific to printing, laser cutting and digital output services available at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago are published on the Axis of Output blog.

Below are some recent blog posts:

Plaque Buildup: Bronze Casting from Laser-Cut Forms @rainbowlazer.com

Here are some pictures and notes from a test of a bronze casting using forms produced on a laser-cutter. This is a casting of a plaque with text, produced first by engraving into a 1/2″ deep piece of acrylic using a laser cutter. The acrylic form is used to create a negative mold in casting [...]

CNC Routing Technique for Milling Interior Corners @rainbowlazer.com

Laser cutting is a great technique for quick fabrication, in part because of the very small point size of the laser beam. The minuscule kerf of a laser cut allows for very tight 90° angles on interior (and exterior cuts).  This makes it easy to laser-cut thin panels of material for joining, as oomout demonstrates [...]

3D Scan Editing in Rapidform @rainbowlazer.com

Here’s a sample workflow of editing & cleaning 3D scan data in Rapidform. This was scanned from a deer skull using a Handyscan 3D scanner.

Chris on "DIYLILCNC in Make Magazine" @DIYLILCNC.org

Looks like the DIYLILCNC got a small mention in the current issue of Make Magazine's desktop manufacturing issue. Check out Gareth Branwyn's 3D Fabbing State of the Art. Yay!

Chris on "Linux / EMC2" @DIYLILCNC.org

You definitely want a machine with an on-board parallel port. We've tried several other adapter options ourselves, with no success.

While there are usb-paralell adapters that can work for things like printers, the real-time control needed for EMC requires a real live parallel port.

Laser Engraving Steel Sheet Metal on a 60W Laser Cutter @Axis of Output

Mike did some tests last week to laser engrave sheet metal (steel). Our Universal X-660 laser cutter can engrave ferrous metals without any special coating, so we decided to give it a go. The results are interesting, especially for raster engravings. As you can see, the successful raster engraving looks great; the unsuccessful one, not so [...]

Varying Vector Cut Speeds on a 120W Laser Cutter @Axis of Output

Above is an example of varying speed settings with vector cuts and engravings on a 120W Co2 laser cutter. The ratios of power to speed are roughly the same on both groups of cuts, producing approximately the same depth; however one speed setting is much higher (30x) than the other, producing the wobbly lines on [...]