A little writeup on some experiments with metal etching: [www.reprap.org] -Matt https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,46745#msg-46745 Fri, 17 Apr 2026 12:20:38 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49500#msg-49500 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49500#msg-49500 VDX Look what I made! Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:58:31 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49443#msg-49443 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49443#msg-49443 www.youtube.com] uses black paint as an etch-resist for cutting steel. If the wavelength of your laser is IR, you may also be able to use an aerosol "clear coat" since many clear polymers are actually black in IR wavelengths... At any rate I really like the idea of combining laser and etching to allow cutting of metals.]]> MattMoses Look what I made! Sun, 20 Jun 2010 01:02:42 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49277#msg-49277 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49277#msg-49277
For etching metal i'm thinking coating the surface with a black finish and 'engrave' the structures to etch with my 5Watt-diodelaserheads - this should be the easiest way and an 'engraving' tray of 0.1mm width is accurate enough for most practical uses (the actual finest cut is 0.02mm with my fiberlaser, but could be optimized until 0.005mm)]]> VDX Look what I made! Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:26:55 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49266#msg-49266 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49266#msg-49266
But anyway, to answer your question: The aluminum structure did not work very well. It is much too stiff and has a very low deflection. The max (theoretical) deflection is only +/- 0.017 inch (0.44 mm). An aluminum structure could in theory work quite well, but the aspect ratio (length / thickness) of the flexural members would have to be much greater than it was in the original test structure.

The cardboard structure is too flexible. It is a bit stiffer than a Slinky, but pretty useless as a linear positioning stage. Also the cardboard de-laminates after a few cycles.

The plastic version is sort of a happy medium. The flexural members are flexible enough to allow a high deflection, yet stiff enough to keep off-axis bending under control. Importantly, the spacing between flexural elements is increased in the plastic version, which increases off-axis stiffness while leaving "on-axis" stiffness relatively unchanged. However, the plastic version is still way too floppy for use in a real application.

With enough optimization and experimentation, I think a compliant mechanism could work "for real", say as part of a printer's z-axis. But given the other options that are out there right now I am not sure if it would be worth the effort.]]> MattMoses Look what I made! Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:49:04 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49065#msg-49065 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,49065#msg-49065 mycroftxxx Look what I made! Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:13:20 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,46745#msg-46745 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?166,46745,46745#msg-46745
[www.reprap.org]

-Matt]]> MattMoses Look what I made! Mon, 31 May 2010 01:46:08 -0400