Greetings all! I don’t know what happened to my brain but in spite of uploading a number of fiber laser videos to YouTube I never made a corresponding blog entry about any of them. We have been doing so many different projects and of course Cameron has been very busy at work as the lunar mission approaches its most exciting stage so we’ve been busy and unintentionally quiet.

First, to anyone considering a fiber laser, be prepared for the learning curve. I think it’s tied with the CNC router for its degree of nuance and the number of factors you need to take into consideration when designing a project. You’ll see that we are very much neophytes with this laser as you watch the succession of the videos below. From the very start of this blog I said we would share our successes and failures and there are fails a-plenty.

There is a YouTuber out there who took the time to mercilessly criticize, scold, and chastise us for our bumbling ignorance BUT, he also told us what to do to improve our results which you’ll see in the next video. Fair warning, it’s still a test in patience.

We truly should not have been cutting metal without the enclosure which was on a six week delay. Cameron says I’m impatient (true) but you know how it is when you get a new toy!

We have learned that color marking is a very uncertain endeavor. Each grade of stainless steel (there are 28 that I’ve been able to find/identify) is composed of different alloy mixes in differing percentages. If you’re interested, head to www.marlinwire.com for a blast of stainless steel knowledge.

I digress. Each of these alloy mixes changes the color you’ll get using the exact same settings. Most often, the grade of stainless steel you’re hoping to mark is unknown to you. We bought these stainless steel bottle openers on Amazon to practice…zero idea what grade it is or what other alloys it’s composed of, so the colors you see in the video above are not at all the colors we got on the bottle openers while using identical settings because they are apparently different blends of metals. Sigh.

I have read that 304 and 316 are most commonly used for pots and pans; they’re commonly listed/expressed as 18/8 or 18/10 respectively. They’re austenitic stainless steel which makes your cookware resistant to corrosion and rust. Their numbers in the grades refer to the percentage of chromium and nickel in the steel. 316 is the higher grade and is more resistant to corrosion than 304-a useful tidbit when you’re shopping for cookware. Now you’re full of party trivia! (Joke)

We finally did get the acrylic enclosure for the fiber laser.

One of the challenges every maker faces is space. Cameron has rearranged his shop, relocated big saws, the planer, and other woodworking tools to various spots, and as you’d guess, we had to find space for the fiber laser. We’ve also gotten into epoxy resin a little deeper and never had enough storage to begin with so in addition to some rearranging Cameron also installed additional cabinetry. Open wall space is scarce. Here is an updated shop tour.

Making is messy. Being in a creative flow state can be messy and chaotic. It’s all part of being a maker, so we ebb and flow between chaos and order.

This is a long one. Thank you for looking in on us; we hope you find yourself with some spare time as the year comes to a close and that you’ll spend it doing something that engages you, surprises you, and feels restorative.

Dana & Cameron