Laser Cutting Styrene Structures - Starting Small for Future Projects

[@Dr.K_N.Scaler]

Great tool added to your arsenal! I'm glad you took a break from the other projects to break in the laser cutter. Keep up the good work!

[@NScaleDystopia]

Thanks! Looking forward to watching your channel take off!

[@joaquim8498]

Really nice tool!. The result is spectacular. Want to see a lot of buildings finished in your layout. It will be spectacular! Nice video edition job as always. Thanks to share!

[@NScaleDystopia]

Things are in motion to start building structures!

[@Tony_scale]

Really missed your scenery, it's really enjoy to see things like that from you again!

[@NScaleDystopia]

It's been a long time to get to this point.. I'm happy I'll be able to start building some structures.

[@kenshores9900]

Great video! Thanks. Rail on!

[@magicwoodjewelry]

Looks great 💥 Detail 👌

[@MAT4T]

What a nice result!!

[@olivierdamiron7279]

Brilliant!!! The realism you achieved with this simple piece is just stunning. Thanks for sharing this. I have an early laser cutter that needs to make itself useful again, I recently got into N Scale trains, I want to do a little testing with this!

[@NScaleDystopia]

If you're planning on cutting styrene - open a window!

[@StevesTrains]

That project turned out great! Nice job!

[@NScaleDystopia]

Thanks! Again, I truly appreciate your introduction and review of the laser cutter.

[@FlintStone-c3s]

Laser for scoring,snapping lines, brilliant.

[@CGngauge]

Yep... for my next layout.. Laser and 3D printer will be purchased for the same reason you did... The time it takes!! Although you still have to create all the drawings for the laser to use.. (Plus, planning on a city scape.. so that will require a lot more buildings than my current one. But as it's my first layout, I'm enjoying the process of the scratch building.) great tips and something for me to think about. Craig.

[@NScaleDystopia]

I'm impatient and anything that helps speed up the creative process is welcome!

[@DiegoRodriguez-nl6kr]

This work is another level! Maybe I'll try this with the láser printer of a friend 🤔

[@BPCustomCreations]

sooooo tempting to buy one myself!

[@NScaleDystopia]

It was VERY affordable... #nopressure

[@kevinb9327]

👍 it has to be rewarding!

[@NScaleDystopia]

It was a relief!

[@yootoob7048]

I've been considering laser vs knife cutter. Your experience has been helpful. The most serious concern that I have is that burning polystyrene puts off some very toxic gases which are harmful to both man and beast. How are you filtering the exhaust from your laser cutter?

[@NScaleDystopia]

I can confirm that the the gasses are pretty wicked. I have the cutter beside a window that I could power vent, but I would prefer to do the cutting outside.

[@yootoob7048]

@@NScaleDystopia Keen the fumes away from kids and pets.

[@alexstratford278]

I'd suggest looking into cardboard, and acrylic for the lasercutter, as both of those may be easier to cut. However what you have now also looks amazing

[@NScaleDystopia]

Thanks!

[@neobaggins3718]

Diode lasers can’t cut clear acrylic. They can sometimes engrave opaque acrylic. You’re thinking of much more costly CO2 or fiber laser machines. About 10x the cost.

[@WeltenbauerClub]

Very nice. It looks great

[@DeStoreholmskeBaner]

Looks like you are using Lightburn. In that software, there is a setting to skip overlapping lines, so you’ll only cut adjacent object lines once. Believe it’s under the optimization settings

[@NScaleDystopia]

This is a really helpful comment

[@jsmxwll]

Get an air assist for your laser cutter. Air assist will significantly reduce the scorching and some of the warping. I've cut a fair bit of styrene, though it isn't my primary medium, and a good air assist makes a night and day difference when it comes to scorching, a bit less for warping. Hope that helps.

[@NScaleDystopia]

Thank you very much. I appreciate this advice!

[@vincenthuying98]

Great idea to just let the laser score the styrene. Definitely will put it on the ‘hard drive.’ Love the simplicity of the building you’ve produced. And indeed, it takes some time to design the different drawings and files for the laser, before the cutting action can be confirmed. Nevertheless, the results in styrene really look stunning. The only question is, is styrene indeed a suitable material for the laser. I know acrylic sheets are and some brand name plastic sheets (can’t find the names right now). PVC and ABS aren’t suitable, because the laser action will produce hazardous fumes. Will look it up though. Cheerio

[@NScaleDystopia]

I can confirm that Styrene creates some nasty, toxic fumes.

[@crushingvanessa3277]

My cuz just bought a laser cutter machine. Same thing, we had to test the speed and laser for cutting. Kind of works ok, was hoping it would etch surface detail but it makes to many passes and on recessed areas leaving gouges. The draw program for some reason won't let you make rectangles or circles. Makes them square and elliptical.

[@NScaleDystopia]

I design my cutting patterns in another program - it overcomes a lot of the limitations.

[@crushingvanessa3277]

@@NScaleDystopia Strange thing is, he used it to make burns onto plywood made from jpgs he saved and it worked fine. The paint program is some trial period one. The shapes I made for it were vector drawings and looked good on the , so not sure why the program changed it. I figure there must be something in the settings. But it still doesn't makes sense to me.

[@timf2279]

Wow has it been 8 months? The building looks great.

[@NScaleDystopia]

I had to check and confirm, but yes it's been 8 months...

[@Nera-whimwhams]

Does that styrene come in black? Diode lasers reflect off of clear and white materials, making them very difficult to cut, but it may cut fine if you try it in a darker color.

[@NScaleDystopia]

Apparently you can get black - and I will look into making the change. I have a great supply of white and this process - score and snap - is working well so far.

[@AriesTabletopModels]

Yet again watching your videos is such a treat. Obviously seeing you put some building together is amazing but I cant wait to see how you handle the bigger structures AND mesh those with the railroads. 12/10!!! Question about the laser cutter; were you ever able to get clean cuts rather than scoring? I was thinking of getting the same laser but having clean cuts through 1mm styrene would be perfeered over scoring lines.

[@NScaleDystopia]

Thanks - happily subbed to your channel! I haven't pushed the laser further to get the smooth cuts. The score/snap method suits me for now. I'll experiment as I go.

[@AriesTabletopModels]

@@NScaleDystopia Thank you so much! Id love to see an updates on those experiments. From what i've found, you are the only one who used the laser to cut styrene on video.

[@Zitropat]

I've seen some really tiny delicate intricate laser cutting on very thin white HIPS, like 0,2 / 0.5 mm thick, but I have no idea if every laser cutter can achieve that. Are you going to give the dystopian treatment to Toronto Union Station too? I learn a lot from your great skills. Thanks for sharing.

[@NScaleDystopia]

I will certainly add some dystopian details to the layout!

[@Albionviolinist]

Very informative and very nice work. How did you handle the corners of the buildings? The wall corners don't look mitered, but the brick line look continued on the corners, everything appears to line up. With a butt joint, you would have the end walls showing with no engraved brick/mortar lines. Really nice completed model. thanks.

[@NScaleDystopia]

I made sure the font of the building was faced with the etched brick - when you spin the building you can see it's not on all sides.

[@brenmayhugh]

I watched that same Steve’s Trains video and bought that same laser. Good to see that you can cut styrene with it effectively. Thanks for including your final settings for the scoring of the plastic! Which laser type did you ultimately choose?

[@NScaleDystopia]

Glad to see there are other impulse shoppers... I got the Aufero Laser 2, with the LU2-4-SF Short Focus Optically Compressed Laser Module.

[@RetroRoboland]

Really interesting video. I have a feeling your going to find a method/material to allow through cut, because… well you always seem to find a way. Coming along really well…

[@chrisscott8934]

Hi was just wondering how's your Toronto union station coming along

[@NScaleDystopia]

It coming along - other priorities have taken hold

[@jacob.munkhammar]

There are plastics (even types of styrene?) that are suitable for laser cutting. Also non-plastics, like board and card. It may be worth doing some research into this. (I have not started my router/cutter just yet, so I have no actual experience to share. Yet.)

[@NScaleDystopia]

I'm sure there are a variety of materials that would work really well. Styrene happens to be a material I like working with so I started experimenting with it first.

[@NodDisciple1]

Can you make this stuff in 1/265, 1/285, 6mm Scale? I play Battletech and these are the main scales used for terrain. There's also a super small train scale used for terrain, but I forget the letter. Sorry. :(

[@NScaleDystopia]

Z scale is 1:220 or 6.5mm. Yes - it's possible to make things at this scale, and there is a fraternity of modelers that do so, but that level of jeweler precision is beyond my aspirations. 😉

[@NodDisciple1]

@@NScaleDystopia K. :(

[@ChrisSgaraglino]

Why not use wood instead?

[@NScaleDystopia]

I'm more comfortable using styrene, but wood would also be good.

[@chrisprice7285]

Use mdf, chipboard or laser board.

[@TheyMakeItLikeThat]

Great job on the graffiti, bro! Let me know if you want me to take that off your list of 100 things 😜

[@NScaleDystopia]

A true gentleman.

[@TheyMakeItLikeThat]

@@NScaleDystopia I do what I can 😜

[@CuteBaby-Planet]

Doesn't cutting styrene with a laser produce a lot of toxic fumes in the environment? Have you cut wood like MDF to tell us if it produces more or less fumes than styrene? A big hug from Brazil!

[@NScaleDystopia]

Cutting styrene is certainly toxic and I wouldn't recommend it. I'm confident that natural materials such as wood or paper are overall better for you, it's just that styrene is my preferred modeling medium. Thanks!

[@derailroad]

have you looked at a cricut? i have one and have not yet tried it on styrene

[@NScaleDystopia]

I did not. This was very affordable and it can cut thin plywood and mat board so I decided it was the right choice for me

[@cuebj]

Hope you laser cut the styrene outside or with powerful ventilation and wore a high quality mask to filter out molecular chemicals, not just particles

[@NScaleDystopia]

Admittedly... I took no precautions for my health. Moving forward I have changed my ways.