This is why Niel Patrick Harris is an awesome person. Chilling with a guy from a great RU-vid channel, but not like Mr. Beast levels of exposure, just because he is into things like this. You know he can just pay someone to do this stuff or buy it, but here he is like any one of the rest of us doing it himself because he's genuinely interested in the process and such. For a guy that has accomplished so much to still maintains such a grounded personality is much rarer than most realize in my experience. Neil is just a good person, and I definitely respect him more for that and his continued desire to chase and learn about his interests than any of the achievements that made him a household name.
This was one of the weirdest experiences I have had on RU-vid. And that's saying something, three days ago I saw a dismembered torso(tummy tuck byproduct some desensitized plastic surgeon was playing with) in RU-vid shorts. Honestly more shocked to see Neil pop up than a torse in a random video on RU-vid.
I met NPH on the set of how I met your mother. He was sick as a dog that day and still the nicest and most wholesome person. I saw someone say he should start a RU-vid series on his crafting journey and I have to agree that it would be fun to see more of that side if him.
Hey Joel, Old Adobe Alum here. You missed an important tool, when going through the “feeds, speeds, power, and addressability*” to get the most balanced result, for every test line you need to do a reverse out (a black box with the printing left unetched and everything else within the box etched.) when the positive printing and the negative printing look equal in weight you are working at the effective resolution of the device. This is most apparent when printing small type. Rule of thumb *addressability gets rid of the jaggies resolution determines how small you can print without the type thinning out or becoming too fat. Great job. High five, and hug your kids.
One thing you can do to get crisper edges with the cermark spray: Laser the outline in addition to rasterizing the letters. That way the outline is nice and sharp
Dude that's.. Really Neil! This is chill! I'd watch you two hobby all day! Also talking to Neil about lasers.. After his role in Starship Troopers, I'd think he'd know a bit about lasers!
Hey Joel, for engraving stainless steel with my cheap diode china laser, I simply use whiteboard marker or a sharpie instead of expensive marking spray. Spray rubber for car rims also works. Did not test it with brass yet but works fine with steel.
Came here to say you couldn't give me those horrible things hahahahaha Mind you I come from a professional sign and graphic design background so I'd reject a lot of hobby level stuff ;-D
i agree but i cant stop imagining that after this he took joel to a brothel and let him brand his first hooker with a glow forge ((harold and kumar refference)
That looks pretty cool , and I had no idea about the spray to help the laser etch either. But he should use thicker plates of brass. I'm sure those being the first were probably just trials, but they look really flimsy and rough. Especially when in the frames that look so nice.
As a suggestion for cutting the thin sheets of brass... Have you ever tried using one of those old-fashioned "Guillotine Trimmers" (usually used to cut paper) I've found they cut cleaner lines, as long as your sheet material is thin enough.
I do laser cutting and engraving for a living. I've found that for functional applications, cermark doesn't bond strong enough with brass or aluminum. If the part is going to be handled constantly, it ends up rubbing off.
Fiber lasers are much better for marking brass, as you don’t need the spray on coating. In addition, fiber lasers can make colours on brass, such as white, yellow, purple, orange, blue, brown and black.
I know on some materials you can use dry-moly spray, laser it, and then clean the excess off. It is a bit hit n miss like with anything laser, but there are articles on it.
someone won the 3d maker channel everything by being nph friend and wins all possible life extras by having him join you on this great stuff. we can never catch you now
Cermark on Brass is great, and this is a great explanation. But it's NOT ETCHING. Etching is removing the surface by some means that is not mechanical. Normally chemical, but the term is extended to laser etching, which is what you do with lightweight lasers on wood, or serious fiber lasers on metal. The Cermark process (which can also be done with cheaper materials than Cermark brand) does not remove the surface. It bakes (or probably more correctly sinters) the ceramic material onto the surface.
I laser brass with our fiber laser :) The Cermark spray really doesn’t have longevity, you will find that it rubs off fairly quickly, vs the fiber laser where you are actually removing material.
O man, Neil should so make those display paintings of them, have the eyes follow you and maybe turn evil in between! Would be awesome for guests, to give them a shock!
I remember when NPH tweeted having questions about 3d printing. The 3d printing community sent him on over to Joel to be his guide of all things 3d printing, and lasers.
I've run into issues using hot water to wash the excess spray off after lasering. I ruined some custom cut steel plates with hot water. I don't know of a way to remove the cermark magic after it happens. Stick with cold water.
At risk of throwing shade, which is not my intent. All I could see in the end, were the witness marks on the brass plates where the shears were used. Im hoping that NPH considers these a proof of concept and redoes these using properly cut and polished plates of a thicker gauge. These look ok from a distance, but at eye level, I feel they subtract from the otherwise impressive frames.
Neil, for those digital frames, would be cool if you use a small color LCD display like those used in car stereos. so u can change the name when u wanted, change the background and Font colors and formats, with a touch display in the name tag, u could control the actions of said frame above.
Does anyone else feel weird when their favorite celebrities do anything other than be famous? It was weird enough for me to find out NPH dabbled with magic, but now he has HOBBIES? I love it when I find out the ppl I respect and admire are also huge nerds like me!
No way you can get a real resolution of a lot more than 150 LPI with this laser. The focused laser is in a realm of 0.15 to 0 25mm diametre. So in fact what you do is overlapping burns. Decreasing the LPI and the speed can lead to crisper engravings.
@@3DPrintingNerd If you want to get deeper into it, check for Russ Sadler videos on laser photoengraving. It is CO2 laser related but the basics like dot sizes and speeds apply to diode lasers as well. I learned a lot from him!
