Owner`s manual

line, select it and the line, and choose Shape/Operations/Trim. Then remove the square and the 0.015‖
line to produce the uncut tag.
16. Vacuum forming: Molds and a vacuum-forming jig can be made quickly for 3-D heat-
molding thin materials such as thin polycarbonate and acetate.
Material Hold Down Plate
Material to be molded
Mold
Vacuum Plate
Vacuum
Cut the material hold down and vacuum plates out of acrylic. The mold can be out of acrylic but will
depend on what‘s being molded. You may have to remove the berms on the acrylic cuts for a good
seal. I‘ve had luck using gray-scale images in the laser cutter and engraving out of focus by about 1‖.
This will make a smooth surface, but you can‘t get much fine detail. Cut small holes (0.008‖- 0.010‖)
in strategic places in your mold to pass the vacuum. Make sure to cut plenty of aligned bolt holes in all
plates and molding material to clamp the fixture together and seal for the vacuum. Cut a tap hole in the
vacuum plate and tap to avoid having to add a nut, but don‘t over-tighten. Once everything‘s clamped
and the vacuum is pump connected, use a heat gun to heat the top (the mold material) uniformly and
allow it to cool before unclamping.
17. Blind tap holes: For blind tap holes (holes that don‘t go all the way through the piece) in plastic
(Delrin in this example), use concentric vector circle cuts, starting with the outside diameter as in the
table above, decreasing the radius by .010‖ at each step, down to .010‖ minimum. In other words, for a
#2-56 tap hole in Delrin, 0.033‖, 0.0200‖, and 0.010‖ radius cuts at 50 percent power at 2.5 speed will
yield a ~1/16‖ deep hole per pass. Allow to cool, then tap, using a bottoming tap. Alternative: For a
blind 4-40 tap hole, engrave at P=50, S=14 for 0.186‖ deep in acrylic.
18. Splines for hobby radio-controlled (R/C) servo shafts, for example:
These splines appear to be 24-tooth with varying diameters. Use a 24-tooth gear as a close geometry.
―24-tooth
gear‖ diam.
Blind-Hole Spline Through-Hole Spline
2x ―24-tooth gear‖
radius
2x screw radius
0.015‖ void