The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

The New Hotness

  • Tek Circuit Computer: Cursor Hairline Scraping

    Engraving a PETG sheet with a diamond drag engraver on the Sherline and filling the scratch produces a good-looking hairline, but there’s a tradeoff between having the protective sheet pull the paint out of the scratch and having the crayon scuff the unprotected surface. This time around, I scribbled the crayon through the protective film, let it cure for a few days, then scraped the surface to level the paint and see what happens.

    First, an unscraped cursor:

    Tek CC - Cursor red lacquer - plain - overview
    Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – plain – overview

    Peeling the transparent protective film:

    Tek CC - Cursor red lacquer - plain - partial peel
    Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – plain – partial peel

    The hairline is solidly filled:

    Tek CC - Cursor red lacquer - plain - peeled
    Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – plain – peeled

    Scribbling another cursor the same way, then scraping the protective film to flatten the shredded edges:

    Tek CC - Cursor red lacquer - scraped - overview
    Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – scraped – overview

    The hairline remains filled, but not as completely:

    Tek CC - Cursor red lacquer - scraped - partial peel
    Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – scraped – partial peel

    A closer look:

    Tek CC - Cursor red lacquer - scraped - peeled
    Tek CC – Cursor red lacquer – scraped – peeled

    Scraping the crayon off the film removes a substantial amount of paint from the hairline, but, on the upside, the protective film does exactly what it says on the box and the PETG surface remains pristine.

    Both hairlines are, at least eyeballometrically, Just Fine™ for their intended purpose.