How I Design for Laser Cutting // My CAD Workflow

[@Ed_Downunder]

Nice to see people interested in community not just the money. Thank you for your time and effort.

[@FurtherFabrication]

You're welcome mate!

[@tomben9609]

You really get that Weta Workshop vibes, high technicality and craftsmanship, you're talented it's beautiful

[@sambeard4428]

And the NZ accent ofcourse

[@UnexpectedMaker]

That was wild - and what a beautiful end result! Thanks for sharing your process and for making the design files available!

[@tahirhashmi2533]

I gave up autocad long long time ago. But the only thing that still interests me is the 3D. I have nearly forgotten all the commands. Surprisingly, I jumped up to youtube finding hot to design laser cut, but on the back of my head was the idea of a JAPANESE model and VOILA. This is inspired me so much I have no words. Been sitting idle with so much creative ideas. I am going to do this now. will jump to the software and all the details. Thank you so much brother. Really loved the video and all the details.

[@carolwargin8160]

Wow I was mesmerized watching you design. Thank You, its beautiful.

[@joshuadelisle]

I've literally just designed a lantern for laser cutting from steel. Ryno looks very similar to SketchUp which is what I use. You've done a great job and love your machine too. Well done.

[@romiolover6852]

You really deserve a huge like for that beautiful work.

[@dannogriggs4603]

This is one of my favorite project downloads, very nice work!

[@Dezanova]

Only just discovered your channel, so good. My new binge watch. Might be my new favorite KZbin channel

Great job. I always start my design process in SolidWorks. Set up the right material thickness from the beginning, but makes the holes slightly oversized. Then I use Deepnest for nesting and then Lightburn communicates with the laser. Thanks for charing.

[@waverlyphillips2849]

Beautiful design and work.

[@3164U]

I think one of the coolest parts of your channel is how you provide the files for free. I think I might make this one.

[@smol-honk]

Thank you so much for putting the files online for free!

[@evarituslau7237]

Gotta love what you've making from scratch !

[@keithressler5400]

Really beautiful creation Rob -- I know I was at least one person who asked about your design process last video and I appreciate some of the insights like the beam "kerf" you design for and the way you account for tolerances in the model. I'm an electrical engineer and don't generally use 3d design software in my day job but since I've gotten into the 3D stuff, I've taught myself Fusion 360 (to answer your question) and am looking forward to taking baby steps toward a design like this. In case you're keeping tabs since your last video, my 9mm belt from Powge is still stuck in customs so I bought some from a private seller in a 3d printer community I'm involved with...it should be on its way across the states. In the mean time I designed a table and cabinets for the Y-400 and got started on that -- I can't wait to build the laser. Cheers.

[@FurtherFabrication]

thanks Keith, glad to hear your getting some progress on the belt and the Y400 build! Fusion360 is a pretty great all rounder, good choice

[@dalisushange1071]

Really appreciate you bro. I'm starting a new laser cutting business, and I need all the I help I can get. Your videos are a blessing

[@Hennysgarage]

I am thoroughly impressed with what you did there, and the cheap/free files you included in your website. Once I saw that, I went back to youtube so I didn’t forget to subscribe. Cheers

[@Dogoodramos]

I use and have used: fusion, inventor, solidwords, pro E and auto cad. For my day jobs. I think inventor, solid words and inventor will be good for this. This is awesome. Im going to try this thanks!

[@danmurphy5660]

Love to see the way you do things. Alibre has been my goto for a long time now. Thanks for the vids man

[@sannytuban9240]

Awesome! I can see that you are so passionate in doing your piece. All the best to you!

[@pentillycrafts]

That was amazing, never seen anything made from scratch before thankyou

[@Jim.U_Kerberos]

I have not yet gone to the laser cutting, but are investigating this as second step from 3d printing, my workflow uses freeCAD, Blender, Inkscape and Gimp for personal production, But at work I'm in autodesk autocad and revit mostly with 3D. Thanks for greit inspiring videos with build and design around laser cutters. Best regards from Sweden. PS so far this has been best series I gone throught deciding if to invest in laser cutter build

[@cliffgeter1105]

Enjoyed watching your workflow...I used Intergraph MicroStation for many years...Thanks for the cut file...

[@lone9787]

You are incredible. It's really nice see what a brilliant and creative brain can do with a habilit person.

[@Fordham0815]

A wonderful design. Thank you for sharing. Can't wait to have a look at your website

[@musoangelo]

Wow. That's absolutely beautiful.

[@IronMessenger]

That is an amazing lamp and very good cad design as well. Thanks for sharing!! I need to step up my CAD game for sure... it's a limitation for these types of projects.

[@rebeccareulet131]

This is beautiful. You are very talented. Thanks for the file. I’m waiting for my first laser cutter to come in.

[@kiresdl]

Great video colegue! I also use Rhino in my laser cutting workflow because mainly 3 reasons: First, it let me interact between architects, designers and engineers. (read their standard files). Second, it has features that other CAD software doesn't have. And it let me work more easily and "freely" between 2D and 3D.

[@zoerockett8341]

Awesome stuff Rob so interesting to see your workflow

[@FurtherFabrication]

Thanks Zoe

[@greener121]

very cool design and approach, love it!

[@alvaroconejo452]

Who would give this video a thumbs down. Just doesn't make any sense. Amazing vid. Thanks for sharing!!!

[@remi0321]

nice. A lot of job for a cool design. really nice to share it for free !

[@FurtherFabrication]

Thanks. no problem!

[@antoniskartalas8230]

one of the best videos out there!!!

[@elroyjacobs8126]

Wow, really happy that I found this channel.

[@thewatsonian8111]

Great video. Really appreciate the free files to try ourselves.

[@AB-ms2xy]

Awesome video and awesome lamp.

[@Darphi01]

Great job Rob. I'll give this one a try when I eventually finish my laser cutter build. From the plans I purchased from you of course 👍

[@ronstaton3622]

This is fantastic. Well done!

[@victorherr101]

I usually design everything in Illustrator but it gets really hard when 3d parts aren't at squared angles, when I want to do something more advanced I use a Catia license I have from my university but the parametric constraints are very time consuming. Awesome job you did! beautiful end result too.

[@firman.akhmad]

Awesome job Rob, now I have a lot idea to use my CAD skill to do business other than drafting only. Thanks !!

[@alexon2010]

Really a very beautiful job... I'm a Product Designer programmer... I've been designing my CNC Router for industrial use for some time.... but that anyone can buy and assemble.... it's getting cool... .then I also want to manufacture my own laser cutter.... I want to set up a company for courses and use of machines that produce drawings in general, either 2D or 3D that is just a printed material for a physical drawing. Congratulations on your work, I'll follow you around here....

[@TheAdfromM]

Thanks Rob for another very interesting tutorial and motivation video. I have to start firing some thing with my K40 laser..

[@yootoob7048]

That turned out great. I've been modeling in SketchUp for five years and am now learning Blender.

[@FurtherFabrication]

Thanks, I've only just started Blendering too! with that new UI it's much easier to get a grip on now

[@etchmfg]

Great design - I've attempted to learn CAD a couple times and am still struggling with terminology and processes, hope to "get there" sooner than later!

[@FurtherFabrication]

It's totally worth when you get there, don't give up!

[@rmces84]

That lantern looks awesome.

[@EricBernal]

Amazing video. I wish I could learn how to do the tabs and slots like you do.

[@3DJapan]

I'm not a big CAD guy but I do use MoI3D for CAD stuff. For regular 3D I use the obvious choice LightWave 3D. For sculpting it's the other obvious choice, 3D-Coat.

[@MrAndrew242424]

"pretending to draw" hehe love your design bro!! love it!!

[@dg6278]

Very impressive. Looks beautiful. I’m going to give it a try. Thank you for putting that out there for people to try.

[@manjunathadk6848]

This man is really awesome in explaining ....thank you so much brother....

[@xankru5270]

So good I found you. Will definitely buy from you in future.

[@fireandice96]

I'm all new to this. Thank you so much for your videos!!!

[@domesday1535]

Solidworks is my cad software of choice but I also dabble in fusion 360. Really cool to see the artistic side of your workflow. I'm currently building a laser that takes most of its inspiration from your y-1200 design, thanks for going through the effort to make that documentation and put it up for sale

[@FurtherFabrication]

Glad to hear you found it helpful! Nice, do you find there's a lot of differences between a Solidworks vs Fusion360 workflow? In my 'limited' experience they seem quite similar in their sketch driven modelling approach

[@domesday1535]

@@FurtherFabrication They are deceivingly similar. Building a part is almost identical if you don't delve into mechanical analysis but the biggest difference is working with assemblies of more than one part. Solidworks uses mates instead of joints which you can have many of between the same two parts. Typically each one only limits a single degree of freedom so joining two parts rigidly could take up to 6 mates. I'm not completely convinced solidworks does it better but that's what I'm most fluent in so I like it. Solidworks also doesn't use a timeline, each new feature e.g. chamfer becomes a drop down item on the object list on the left as long as you don't bump into either of those things you might make a part without even realizing which software you're using

[@FurtherFabrication]

That's such a good point about mates vs joints. Given the price difference it's unlikely I'll get into Solidworks, so it's great to get that insight from you

[@islamtv1987]

Hi thank you very much for free project its great help god blessed you good luck for your business, I wish you big success in your life

[@pblackcrow]

I would love to see you do the komiko design in the Raven of the Inner Palace for a shoji lamp.

[@JTZemp]

Such a cool design! Thanks for the walkthrough of your workflow.

[@FurtherFabrication]

My pleasure!

[@JohnFlower-NZ]

This was a fascinating video to watch because I'm wanting to head in the same direction. I like the emphasis that having skill in a software package can be more important than which package. I liked seeing the overview of the whole process along with explanation for why things were done, or not done. Recently I've been developing a similar workflow (but my ability is much lower than what is shown in the video) using Blender > Inkscape > CorelDraw X5 > Eplilog Helix Laser. In my case I've made a few boxes from 3mm plywood for Wingspan (boardgame) to hold after market tokens (as a New Zealander it was a delight to find an American company supplying NZ birds). One of the rabbit holes I'm following is using Geometry Nodes (Blender's parametric workflow) to help with arbitrary dimension changes and to have a toggle between 2d art for export and 3d art for visualisation. Thank you for making this video.

[@JimVanderveen]

Beautiful design!

[@biodieseler1]

These are great videos, more please!

[@stalama1]

Wow! Beautiful stuff. Thanks!

[@CountOfMontyCrypto]

Well explained vid regarding workflow.

[@elfvinson4598]

Thank you for the insight into you design process and the pattern.

[@usafa1987]

Very nice vid! I’m a Fusion360 person but I loved seeing Rhino in action. Looked very fluid.

[@FurtherFabrication]

That's the one things that holds me back in Fusion atm compared to Rhino, I haven't spent enough time really hammering in a proper workflow to get the same kind of speed

[@BG-hg7cp]

Don't have a laser yet but do have a cnc wondering how this would work out with it. May give it a try soon. Thanks for the free designs. Subbed

[@mazrimchj]

Nice videos. Just got myself an engraver and whilst proficient in photoshop/illustrator, i've not used CAD before. I've got a lot of learning to do.

[@AlwaysCensored-xp1be]

Inkscape and laser cutter.

[@chrisciraldo4935]

Really nice design you make look easy but I’m so lost on it kudos to showing us your work

[@bitsurfer0101]

What kind of finish did you use? I'm just curious where you put the battery for the tiny lights in your lantern.

[@ShopDad]

Beautiful design. Many nice extra touches. Fusion 360 dabbler here.

[@juliangoulding]

Nice bro. Enjoyed this one heaps.

[@FurtherFabrication]

cheers man!

[@eddychandra8698]

Thanks Always success for you . Your kindness to share this file free

[@studio70audio]

Thanks for share the project. Petrópolis/Rio de Janeiro/Brazil.

[@MCRobinMC]

Nice video.I Learned a lot and thanks for sharing your knowledge 👍🏽

[@love2cad]

Fantastic design!! Thank you for sharing!! Cheers!

[@Faisal_Afr]

I just finished this build, it looks really nice (my first real build with the laser cutter). What did you coat the wood with at the end?

[@peter_vandermeulen]

I learned on Sketchup, but years ago switched to Fusion 360, and still use the education license (I am a teacher, and occasionally teach some design. Mostly I justify it by creating models I use in my classroom). I use blender to touch up models and add more organic features, but haven't climbed the learning curve to model from scratch in blender.

[@peter_vandermeulen]

In fusion, a 'sketch' is the set of curves on a plane, and these can be exported as DXF files, which is what I export and bring into the laser cutting software. No need to explode the 3d model, just have to make sure you get all the files.

[@FurtherFabrication]

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

[@Andonchoto]

Wooow! Bro, you are a a beast!

[@DanielH]

I love your work my friend

[@mubashirahmad9694]

Thank you for the video! Loved the process.

[@sebastianbecker9886]

awesome piece of work, i like it

[@FurtherFabrication]

Cheers mate!

[@uckfayooglegay9982]

I'd definitely be interested in a video on making instructions. As for CAD programs I'm currently learning OpenSCAD but might also try some more traditional programs.

[@cooperstownnyrealestate]

I don't like google either, they show me what they want and make me think its the whole world.

[@thequickndeadly5284]

Amazing work.. 👍👍

[@bradenwilson]

Awesome job! I’m also an industrial designer and spend my days in Rhino so really appreciate your workflow... I have a China Blue so was surprised to see you were exporting to rdworks too... End result was beautiful and didn’t have generic that laser cut look.

[@propsandpop]

Awesome overview of your work. 13 years game industry veteran here so I use Maya and Zbrush. Maya not super accurate like a CAD software, but I can work in MM so it does the job lol. Hope to learn Fusion 360 one of these days though since I have my own rapid prototyping business...too lazy sometimes lol.

[@MaNemsChris]

Quick quesh... How does he manage the kerf when cutting this type of complicated projects?

[@eberhardpfeifer1620]

maybe I haven´t heard and you told it what programm did you use for drawing?

[@razzakahmed316]

Amazing design. Which software use for this design

[@LOCKEYJ]

I started laser cutting about a week ago. I design in 2D using Adobe illustrator... but I can really see how 3D would help for more complex models. I’m still learning at the moment but I’m being strict about not downloading any designs or copying anything outright and just trying to design myself learning principles from videos like yours. I made a clamshell travel boardgame this week that I’m really pleased with. Plan is to eventually start selling original work.

[@FurtherFabrication]

Awesome, welcome to the Laser party!

[@LuisRaneroGT]

thank you for sharing this amazing work!

[@exheil]

And thank you for the comment on the offset and material thickness :) To your question, I end up using AutoCAD from a 2D view as I'm not proficient enough with the 3D portion. So a lot of mental gymnastics. Export that into SVG then K40 Whisperer.

[@FurtherFabrication]

no problem, I hope it made sense! oh cool, I've never used autoCAD, I've only used Illustrator for 2D vectors, are you considering learning a 3D CAD software?

[@exheil]

@@FurtherFabrication It made perfect sense and actually got me thinking why had I not done sooner. As for software, I've been debating if I'll start with AutoCAD 3D or explore Sketchup Layout given I'm more familiar with modelling there. Very nice lantern, btw!

[@samlenlap]

5:50 can you please make video about how to design or make a assembly instruction manual in rhino or in other program that will be really helpful

[@deonbroodryk4404]

yet another great video.

[@morrischang2]

It's really awesome job.

[@thefaithfullservantemmanue8227]

Your a beast bro I want to be like you when I grow up

[@Mechanuke]

Would you please tell us the name of that program? Im looking for a program for designing 3d objects out of laser cuts like what you did and how did yourself learn to work with that program . Also tell me any other programs with same ability. Thank you

[@gaetanclamart5963]

The result is as mindblowing as the process! Do u recommand Rhino 7 for modeling this kind of furniture? It looks very hard to use, i wanna know if it's worth the time commitment

[@MrLewieF]

Great video , thanks . I'm looking at getting started with laser cutting . Do you recommend an entry level machine ?

[@DrBrian0450]

very nicely done!

[@killerke11]

How did you like the water spray method? If I'm right you tried it based on 5:37 Personally I use fusion 360 for design or simply inkscape if I need something basic

[@FurtherFabrication]

oh no I totally forgot to try it! that wood just had some pre-finish on it. Nice, I'm a big fan of Fusion

[@killerke11]

@@FurtherFabrication Ah I see, usually I try to avoid using pre treated wood cuz I don't have a workshop and the smoke filter/vent has it's limits Tried the other autodesk products but by far fusion was the easiest for me with no prior education in the field

[@khaled90kld]

I wonder how long did it take u to make cad drawing specially design the joints?