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Hi, Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns dot com. I especially like stars for Christmas ornaments
because they symbolize the sign given for the birth the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem, the
star of Bethlehem. I really wanted to make one for this Christmas
Ornament Woodturning Challenge. I racked my brain for how exactly would I do a star. In
the end, I collaborated with my son who has access to a laser printer machine, if you
will. Together we made, although mostly him, his name is Daryl, we made a star. I had hoped
to incorporate some woodturning into it. But, in the end, it's just too cool; it will stand
on its own. This is a star cut out of 1/8 inch Baltic
birch plywood with a laser. I'll show you how we did it.
The first step is to create a drawing. My son, Daryl, used CorelDraw that has a print
driver interface for the laser. He drew a star with a spiral between the outer and inner
stars. A hairline indicates a cut; anything else is sculpted shading.
With the drawing complete, he started the printing very similarly to printing to paper.
The difference is a few more parameters to specify power, speed, and frequency.
Then over to the laser. We're using a 60 watt Epilog laser. We did a few small items to
dial in the focus then kicked off the "print" job. The red dot you're seeing is a pointer
for where the laser is. There's a fair amount of smoke. A jet of compressed air keeps the
flame away and disperses the smoke. There is a risk of fire so we could not leave the
laser unattended. It's fascinating to see the laser whip around making the cuts.
It helps to use a pair of tweezers to pull out the wood. There's not much of a saw kerf.
This design has a lot of options depending on how you hang it.
I found the laser fascinating. As a mechanical engineer, my son is very good with his software
tools. He and I are excited about a wealth of future projects we can create on this laser.
We'll integrate some with woodturning. Meanwhile, I have a beautiful star to symbolize
the true meaning of Christmas. Be sure to like this video and subscribe to
my website and YouTube channel. Please wear your face shield when turning. Until next
time, this is Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns dot com.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.