Laser vs Router Engraving

[mefiu]

Two questions:
1.

a work area of around 2 meters by 80cm

What for do you need a router so big?
2.
What kind of differences between laser and classic router do you afraid? Quality? Lack of details?
From what distance your panels will be looked at?

mefiu

[Atomic_Sheep]

1.) Based on what I've sketched out so far, some pieces are quite large I'm thinking specifically, parts of the shell. I did think about getting a smaller router, just big enough to comfortably cut out the largest panel peices and go to professionals to get the bigger pieces cut out but yer I'm not sure. Still need to do a lot more work to get a better and more realistic idea about the sort of work area that is right for me as well as the right price.

2.) I'm worried about quality and lack of details. I'm just generally quite anal and mediocre parts will just frustrate me even if I never see it. Knowing that the parts aren't well made will be enough for me not to be able to sleep soundly.

[mefiu]

some pieces are quite large I'm thinking specifically, parts of the shell

What large parts of a cockpit, even a shell, need to be LASER engraved?

I'm worried about quality and lack of details. Knowing that the parts aren't well made will be enough for me not to be able to sleep soundly.

OK, I got the point now.
If you are that bold and can't stand even the slightest drop of quality, don't bother buying laser.
Go buy ready kits & parts from one of the existing vendors.
Or buy a large classic mill (way more cheaper than laser), cut the large parts yourself and go get them engraved by a 3rd party.
If we are still speaking only about cockpit building, it's impossible, even in a zyllion light years, you're gonna balance the cost of a large laser to the cost of ready parts you would buy from sim parts vendors.

[Atomic_Sheep]

I think we are on different wavelengths here. I want a big router to be able to cut big pieces as well as small. I was just wondering what other members were experiencing in terms of quality between laser engraving and router engraving. I would never buy a laser engraver that has a work area that big. I was just wondering whether there is a noticable quality difference between laser engraving and router engraving to determine which way to go i.e. to just focus on getting the best possible and the largest router machine I could get based on my budget and just use that for both cutting the pieces and engraving or whether I could possibly get both a router and a laser engraver or get a small accurate router, basically, just trying to figure out the best solution for me. By the sounds of it, a router engraver will be more than enough for what I want to achieve but by the same token, I've realised that it's going to cost me a lot more than what I had in mind. And no, I'm not as anal as I think I lead you to believe , wouldn't care if something was a few atoms out just want it to look nice up close and of course that is a very subjective thing. I'm not talking about crazy machining here on a massive scale or insane precision. The end result which I will achieve and with which I'll be happy with is probably not as perfect as some of the other guys are able to and want to get their projects to.

It's just that on CNC zone, there aren't very many examples of the quality of the work that the home built routers can achieve, specifically to the precision that is required in some of the panel engraving.

I have acces to both a cnc and a laser unit so here is a little explanation.

I'm using both laser engraving en cnc engraving. CNC engraving also gives very good results. However it takes much more time to do it very fine. A laser does the same job in 30 seconds and the quality is better.

Out of curiosity, would you know the sort of accuracy (accuracy rating?) that the CNC router that did the flap gauge engraving would be? I'm guessing its a professional machine? Maybe a model name if it's not a secret?

[Wendy]

The flapgauge was engraved using a Colinbus Profiler CNC with a Kress router and without an engraving head (did'nt have one at that time). I think the accuracy is about 0,05 mm.

Regards, Wendy

[mefiu]

there aren't very many examples of the quality of the work that the home built routers can achieve?

My posts with links are moderated out, so I'll try this way around:
Take a look here what I was able to achieve with my home made MDF router:
forum.pl-vacc.org/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=27437&p=305072&hilit=kokpit+mefia#p305072
Now you can see some imperfections here (lack in paint cover, cut mishapes), but this is my first panel, I'm still learning my machine
and I know what was the cause of these problems and how to avoid them in future.
I'm happy like a baby with the quality/price ratio, because the cost of the machine was under 1000$ (including full electronics and Kress 1050 spindle).

Now: if you can afford laser - buy one. No question about it.
The quality you'll achieve will amaze you.
On the other hand, if your budget is limited, then buy/make a classic router, and enjoy your cockpit building as I do

[Atomic_Sheep]

The flapgauge was engraved using a Colinbus Profiler CNC with a Kress router and without an engraving head (did'nt have one at that time). I think the accuracy is about 0,05 mm.

Regards, Wendy

Ok thanks, will have a read about that router, hopefully it will clear up a few unknowns in my mind.

[Atomic_Sheep]

Take a look here what I was able to achieve with my home made MDF router:
forum.pl-vacc.org/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=27437&p=305072&hilit=kokpit+mefia#p305072

Hmm, that's definitely very good. I think I can say that I would basically be happy with that result.

Ok, thanks guys, a few things are a little bit clearer now. I think I have a better idea of what has to be done.

EDIT: Woops, forgot to chuck that into the other post.

[Hessel Oosten]

CNC

See Attachments

Hessel

Edit: Forgot to write that the difference in whiteness is due to the experimental differences in finding optimal engraving depth and not to errors.

[Atomic_Sheep]

That's the work of a router and not a laser right?