DIY Laser Etched KPL Custom Buttons

[larryllix]

Gender sensor

Cool, but I like to read on the can. I wonder if there is options?

 

I was thinking of a cloud service. Send a simple photo of anybody, from the back, (think.. seat webcam = live)  that exposes a certain amount of skin tone and send the photo off to a cloud service with "Operators now standing by!" Then after their  viewing the photo and making  their decision, they send an ISY  REST response URL to my IP address  telling my ISY  the gender!

 

We have to be careful being  politically correct and not insensitive  in our picking of 0 and 1 to specify which gender is which,  though.

 

What think?

[larryllix]

Hey everybody!

 

Finally weekend is here and made some great progress... Somenody asked me a question if you can engrave switch paddles - and the answer is yes. it actually fits on the tray. See attached pictures.

 

I need to came up with some sort of template to hold paddle in place to make aligning it with the engraver tray easier, rubber band and the binder clips work but since I have switches next to each other I need to be consistent as far as aligning goes. I was thinking about using 0.5 inch plywood and using a dremel or router routing a shape of the paddle and then drilling the holes for the buttons on the back. I don't have a router or dremel, I will go to HD next weekend and hopefully I can find something....

 

Other option that I was thinking is getting 3D scan of the paddle and 3D printing some sort of tray for it. But I don't have 3D printer.

 

If somebody has any suggestion or  ideas please let me know.

 

 

Just my two cents re icons. Either way you have to be careful not violate any copyrights. It takes time to make the icons even the simple ones. If there are paid option you should purchase the icons - somebody put a lot of effort and energy in making them. If you have access to design software you can easily make few of them. You can always look for inspiration on line.

Need a small platform to raise the engraved part of the switchlink paddle so you can engrave it on the inside, and fill the groove with crayon etc. You would have to flip the words left for right though. hmmmmm... only KPLs have backlights though.

 

 

This would protect the engraved parts from finger wear and  also

 

 

   ...are you ready for it......? <see program below>

 

 

 If

     copyright police are 'Here'

 

Then

    set  KPL button LEDs 'Off'

 

Else

   ----

[elitetheatres]

Not to drag this too far into thread.abuse, but.... (Note:one "t")

 

If I am going to install a hydraulic operator to put the seat up and down, I would need some sort of detector, to remain a true HA purist.

 

That brings up the question. Does anybody have a sensor that can detector the difference between genders? Photos?

 

 

OK...that's enough... my bad on this thread!

 

 

I looked at those engravers and have a few comments.

 

$84...wow! really cheap! ...and I wanted one. hmmmm... new women's fingernail tattoos? "Hold still Honey!"

 

25-50 business days for shipping? Wow! three months? Yuk!

 

Laser is available in 500mW and 1000mW. This looks like the 1000mW may be much more useful and faster but there may be an importing consideration and part of the reason for the 500mW unit.

 

Laser pens over 500mW may have to be licensed and stopped at the border if caught. My son had one in a laser pen and it could burst black balloons from across a room, no problem. When pointed at a stop sign about 0.5km away it looked like an arc welder in the dark. We could see it light up a tower 10-12km away. Scary things!

 

 

Ordered mine from GearBest and paid like $15 for expedited shipping to Canada from China and DHL got it here in under 6 days!! Wow. So far it's a sweet little device.

[MWareman]

Got a notice from DHL. My etcher arrives tomorrow! Some blank buttons arrived today, and my liquimask and color fill arrived a few days ago. Almost ready to experiment!

[marcin]

I can not see your creations. Please keep us posted.... Remember alway wear safety glasses...

[MWareman]

I'm probably just going to do text on the buttons. My wife thinks the icons look 'fussy'.

 

Hopefully, it arrives tomorrow in one piece!

[Xathros]

My etcher, laser tape and color fill are all scheduled for delivery today but I probably won't have time to play with it until the weekend.

 

-Xathros

[larryllix]

Ordered mine from GearBest and paid like $15 for expedited shipping to Canada from China and DHL got it here in under 6 days!! Wow. So far it's a sweet little device.

I had a go 'round with DHL years ago. They are doing the same as many (FedEx etc..) are now.

 

They deliver the product, and then a month later you get bills for taxes (fair enough) and $30-$50 for bond fees on top.

[mango]

Yes, DHL will sting you.

[marcin]

1) Remove the protective film from the button

2) Before applying green tape make sure there is no dust on the buttons, apply green laser tape to the button

3) Using a pencil eraser (or squeegee) remove any air bubbles

4) Press green laser tape far end corner to your cutting or hobby board. Using xacto knife gently lift the clear protection film from the green laser tape.

5) Place button onto the template check alignment \ placement

6) Engrave away….

7) Remove button from the laser engraver and apply the paint

Make sure to evenly spread the paint throughout all the engraved area

9) If you are making a button with two colors wait for the first color to dry mask off any area with first color and apply second color

10) Once paint is dry gently remove laser tape. You may have to remove additional tape using a Xacto knife as pictured below

11) Finished product

 

This post concludes a step by step tutorial. I hope that the instructions provided were clear and everyone will have fun doing their own buttons. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know and I will do my best to help you out. One more thing… don’t forget to post your creations…. wear your safety glasses when you using a laser.

 

[MWareman]

On my way home with the engraver (I forgot that I had it shipped to work - so it arrived yesterday, but I only got it today).

 

The experiment begins tonight! Thanks for all your tutorials.

 

Michael.

[MWareman]

Unboxed - and connected. Software installed - and - it's carving the template as I speak!  On the third pass.

 

I wonder how many passes it will take to go all the way thru...

[marcin]

4 or 5 depending on your cardstock. But if it won't go thru completely you can use hoppy knive to finish cutting.

[Xathros]

Unboxed - and connected. Software installed - and - it's carving the template as I speak!  On the third pass.

 

I wonder how many passes it will take to go all the way thru...

What platform are you running this on?  I haven't set mine up yet.  I have VM's for XP, 7 and 10.  Just wondering what would be the best choice.

 

-Xathros

[MWareman]

I was a little suspicious of the driver the package installed, so I'm running it on an XP VM that I created for the purpose.

 

It's safe though (after analysis) - and claims to run on Windows 10 as well....

[Xathros]

I was a little suspicious of the driver the package installed, so I'm running it on an XP VM that I created for the purpose.

 

It's safe though (after analysis) - and claims to run on Windows 10 as well....

Excellent.  I'll give it shot on Win 10 and post my results.

 

Thanks.

 

-Xathros

[MWareman]

So far, I have not been successful getting the driver to install on Win10.... so I'm still using the XP VM.

 

Put the Liquimask on a button (after removing the plastic protector) and etched my first button (text only). I have not removed the mask yet, because it seems I don't have access to any qtips to apply the color fill. That will be rectified tomorrow... It's tough to tell how well it came out yet though..

 

Michael.

[Xathros]

I just set up on Win 10 VM with no problem.  Just double clicked the driver and it installed.  Plugged in the etcher and launched the software.  I just completed a test burn with one of the provided images (The rose) for the girlfriend.

 

-Xathros

[TheFallenAngel]

So, any of you guys who also got the Escher have anything to report/share yet?

 

Cheers,

Alex

[MWareman]

I'm having difficulty getting the etcher to evenly etch. Some areas are deeper than others. I thought this was to do with uneven coating of mask (I was using Liquimask) - but @Xathros sent me some laser tape to try - and I'm having the same problem. (THANK YOU Xathros!! I very much appreciate it).

 

I've been busy with other projects recently, so have not been able to do more burns yet. My feeling now is I need a fan to clear smoke as the burn is happening - I think the smoke is affecting the laser intensity. Not sure yet... I was 'wafting' it for my tests, but I'm not sure it was enough.

[Guitartexan01]

Wafting. Now there's a word we don't use enough. Nicely done.

 

 

GT

[Xathros]

@MWareman,

 

No problem!  Happy to share.  The variations I've seen so far are only a problem when doing a light burn.  When going deeper, it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue.

 

@TheFallenAngel,

 

I did an etch on a set of Apple ear buds (the backside of the mic/button thing) and the storage case.  Both went pretty well.  I didn't go deep enough on the storage case and see some variations in the burn but a but more burn time would have fixed that.  

 

I will be ordering some KPL buttons to work on soon.

 

-Xathros

[dakall]

My first attempts. However, I do like the look of the silk screening on the original buttons better. The engraving could be a little soother for my tastes; maybe next go around I'll dial down from full power. Only strange thing was that it would print out the mirror image. I ended up having to flip the images before sending to machine. I don't know if it was mentioned before but I also learned to make the images 300 dpi so that they turn out much less pixelated. 

[arw01]

After your experimenting, have any of you considered burning some buttons for those of us who haven't taken the laser engraver plunge yet?

Or has anyone tried a commercial machine like you see wood etchings done?  How about a 1/16" pointed cnc spiral bit to engrave the buttons?

[Scottmichaelj]

So this thread was hot back in June but kind of cooled off. Anyone have anything new to add or share? How did your buttons turn out? Was it worth doing or is it too much trouble? I would love to hear some feedback.