LIMITED TrainCat Re-Releases At The Etcher

[TrainCat2]

boB,
 That's going to be a nice setup.
  I've found that a 2 1/2" GaAs focal lens cuts plywood the best and has a .007 kerf.

Rodney, I may be reaching out to you to pick your brain.

Wish I’d have picked up some PRE Lines East signal bridges….

I found another small stashes of Lines East, Lines West and others. PM me Dave and let me know what you want and I’ll put it together.

[rodsup9000]

Rodney, I may be reaching out to you to pick your brain.

Looking forward to helping if I can.
If you have any free time, download "Lightburn" now and add your license key when you get it, and start playing around with it. There are lots of videos on using it.  For most of the stuff I do, I draw in Sketchup and export a DXF file, then import that into Lightburn. I can't do color layers (one for etching, one for cutting) in Sketchup, so I make registration marks in the corner that my laser homes and make them as 2 different plates. Then when I import them into Lightburn, I make them different colors.

[TrainCat2]

I’ll be using Adobe Illustrator as usual. I have the software and the key already and have been watching the videos directly from LightBurn. Really need to figure out how to offset the cut the width of the laser beam so I am cutting out what I designed. Slots get cut in the inside and exterior lines on the outside.

Bob

[rodsup9000]

  Being that I know my kerf is .007", I always just figure it in as I draw.
  Being that your tube is 135 watts where mine is only 100 watts, yours will have a slightly larger kerf (more watts means larger beam.  larger beam = larger kerf)).  If you get and use the 2 1/2" GaAs focus lens, I can almost bet your kerf will be around .007" to .008"
  Seams to me that there is a kerf offset in Lightburn somewhere but don't remember how to do it. It might of been RD Works that had it.

[rodsup9000]

 Well I found a video for setting up kerf offset.

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[reinhardtjh]

Just as a related topic, a TrainCat PRR N6b 2-WIndow Offset cupola cabin car kit just sold on Ebay for $76.  It had started at $16.50

Link (which will expire in a few months, of course) https://www.ebay.com/itm/256787378670

[SkipGear]

Had the chance to build one of the NYC Bay window cabins for a friend a few years ago. Great build, need to get to work on the second one. Glad to see you back in action.

[oldscout]

What ever happen to traincat? In. This thread it looked like there was a lot of in interest
t . I would like to find.  the maxi car details.

[u18b]

Yep.
I always regretted not signing up for one of the Atlantic Coast Line M-5 caboose kits.

Wish I could get one now.
 
https://hawkinsrails.net/preservation/nctm/stock/scl613.jpg

[Mark5]

What ever happen to traincat? In. This thread it looked like there was a lot of in interest
t . I would like to find.  the maxi car details.

Last time I tried to interact here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55655.msg809846#msg809846

He hasn't logged in since Jan 4, 2025 - hope he's OK.

Mark

[peteski]

Last time I tried to interact here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=55655.msg809846#msg809846

He hasn't logged in since Jan 4, 2025 - hope he's OK.

Mark

Yeah, it's been a while since he was active here.  When he was still active last time he was even in the process of building a nice N scale layout.  I also hope that he is ok.