MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

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MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby MEANTREE » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:23 pm

OK. Those of you who were at the last meeting know that I am going to try to get this little laser business off the ground in the next year. Yesterday I was able to do some of my samples. A few of the more complex ones are being reworked to achieve the level of awesomeness I require so they will be forthcoming. Here are the ones that were ready for finishing. Some of these will require further work for finished products, but this is all that the laser was required for. In most of these pictures I have included the ZS patch for size reference. It is amazing how detailed this thing can get. For all of the metal work the laser simply removes the outer coating. Be that anodizing, Parkerizing or bluing. Yes there may be some concern for corrosion, but if you maintain a thin coat of oil, as you should, there will not arise any issues. I will keep you informed on the longevity testing. The only metal that was actually marked upon was the knife blade. There is a spray on coating that is then allowed to dry and the laser basically prints onto it. I will be conducting some adherence testing for that as well.

This is a Ruger 10/22 stock of DropZedFred’s (I used his because I do not have anything that is solid wood).
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Here is Lorified’s AR lower with her trademark feather.
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Another of Lorified’s AR lower.
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Here is my own AR lower with my symbol I created.
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And a closer look at my AR lower.
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Here is an AR magazine with DropZedFred’s business name on it.
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Another angle of the same magazine.
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This is my cheap ass way of doing something affordable and nice for the wife for our anniversary…of course I will still be blowing $100 on dinner as well, but hey I am fat and I like to eat!!!!
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This is the right hand side of my Glock Slide.
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Another view of the Glock Slide.
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A detailed view of the Glock slide. Now imagine…..both sides are exactly the same. It came out very cool.
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Here is the knife blade.
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A little closer.
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Now you can really see the pixilation. The camera was less than two inches from the blade to get that view. When you have this thing at arm’s length you cannot see any pixilation at all.
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This was to be inlaid into my rifle stock. There were a few things that concerned me. One, the stock has a curvature to be overcome and to do this I would have to burn deeply into the stock and then fill the rest out with polyurethane. Then sand it to match the contour of the stock. Kind of lame. In the next photo you can see what comes from using cheap ply wood vs. a good close grain solid piece. To overcome these two issues I will be locating some micro laminate veneer wood (yes it is made available so thin you can run it through a printer!!!) which will bend and allow me to automatically match the contour of the stock and barely have to remove any material from the stock. Should come out looking marvelous. Give me a few weeks.
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A very close view of the ram skull.
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So there you have it. I am hoping to generate enough interest to get this on the road and I will of course be providing a very competitive price point for any projects ZS’ers would like to have done.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby Lenny » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:46 pm

Damn Meantree! Thats is good to go man! I am super impressed! Very cool!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby hatterofmaddness » Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:24 pm

Wow, those turned out badass. I like how the glock slide turned out, very intimidating. Let me know when you get that thing, will have to get some designs together.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby ZMace » Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:29 pm

Very nice, I love the design on your AR lower.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DropZedFred » Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:48 pm

It is totally awesome to see IRL. Lorified's stock is unbelievable - she's stoked (should have made it a B-Day gift! :lol: ).
The magazine was a test, they others will be "XxxxxArmorer.com" for customers guns (this ensures it is visible when inserted).
The 10-22 stock is too cool. It needs a stiff nylon brush (to remove the paper towel lint visible in the photo) and some white, water based stain to bring the detail to life.

The pixilation on the knife blade wasn't noticeable until he pointed it out (and blew up the photo). I believe it is because the laser is out performing the scanners capabilities (in dpi). MEANTREE feel free to correct....

MEANTREE wrote:This is the right hand side of my Glock Slide.
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This is truely a thing of beauty - the way it is burned in the factory coating (Tenifer coated with a nitrate solution) provides an optical illusion. If you look dead on, it disappears. As the viewing angle increases (say 20*), if becomes more visible until it appears almost white, then blends in again. Very sweet...
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby BethDeath » Wed Jun 17, 2009 6:05 pm

Wow, those look awesome!!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DemonLlama » Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:44 pm

How much would stuff like that cost for people like us to have done? If I ever actually start building an AR I would be very interested in something similar to the pictured one. Not a feather but you know what I mean. The Glock looks badass too but if it were a carry gun would holstering and unholstering a lot make the design wear/damage the finish?
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby MEANTREE » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:03 pm

DemonLlama, I have not yet worked out the numbers for designs and time scales yet. I am still looking into the prospect of something like this being a break even scenario. As for the Glock, the laser actually removes some of the coating of the slide. Therefore if it were to be worn away with repeated scuffing or scratched the design would be affected. I would say that being on the flat of the slide it is less likely to be marred by holstering but anything is possible. Just think of it this way, if the coating of the slide can be affected by any activity, the activity can affect the design.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DemonLlama » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:42 pm

Cool. You should let me know when you have some numbers worked out. It'd be great to have something engraved by just taking it to you instead of sending it off to some company.

Edit: 100th post!!!..........and there was much rejoicing.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DrGonzo » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:07 am

Wow, the imprints on the metal look even better than what I had envisioned. I have a feeling you'll be coming home from chapter meetings with an armload of members' gunstocks and knives from now on! I think it's a very creative, home based business idea that fills a particular niche. I think there is enough interest even locally to keep you busy on your spare time to make it a profitable (or at the very least break-even) enterprise. I'd be curious to see:

-The scale/texture patterns you showed us on a knife blade and something curved, like a gunstock. Even if the image were distorted and stretched, It would look pretty cool. You could get pretty creative with that, even using snake and gator skin patterns. How cool would an OD green stock with a gator scale pattern be? Yeah!

-Something cylindrical, like a Mag-Lite

-Plastic, glass filled nylon, kydex, whatever (fill in with white paint/epoxy for contrast)

-Some of designs singed into fabric (leather? tactical nylon?)

Cool stuff, keep us posted on your tests and projects.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DropZedFred » Fri Jun 19, 2009 11:43 am

DrGonzo wrote:...omething cylindrical, like a Mag-Lite

They have a roller adapter for Mag-Lites, wine bottles and such... Very cool.
Not sure if that's in his master plan or not.
I'm all about etching my Mag-Lites, I've lost a couple...
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby MEANTREE » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:04 pm

Dr. Gonzo. I do plan on getting the rotary attachment to do cylindrical objects. As for dragon scales and snake skin I am already playing with methods to try and achieve a good looking reptile scale effect. As for just a two dimensional image effect.....that would be very easy to do. I already have some good samples for the next meeting and I will hopefully have more pictures in a few weeks.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby ninja-elbow » Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:47 pm

Awesome job. The GLOCK is so subtle, I like that. :D
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby nimdabew » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:01 pm

Damn meantree, those look really nice! I wish I knew you were going to do something like this and I would have waited for a bit to get my umbrella on my lower. BTW, if anyone is chomping at the bit to get their lower done, I know a place that will do this exact same thing but will charge 25 bucks per design. I walked in and half an hour later after many test runs, I had my umbrella on my AR. Awesome
Thanks Anianna!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby Seanwins » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:22 pm

nimdabew wrote:Damn meantree, those look really nice! I wish I knew you were going to do something like this and I would have waited for a bit to get my umbrella on my lower. BTW, if anyone is chomping at the bit to get their lower done, I know a place that will do this exact same thing but will charge 25 bucks per design. I walked in and half an hour later after many test runs, I had my umbrella on my AR. Awesome



I think I will wait for Meantree...
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby gordon_freeman » Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:49 pm

That looks really awesome!

Now, i just need to think of a design to put on my lower, lol. I have the same problem with tattoos: I really want one, but i can't seem to find or create a design or image that is just right for me.
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby ninja-elbow » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:17 pm

gordon_freeman wrote:That looks really awesome!

Now, i just need to think of a design to put on my lower, lol. I have the same problem with tattoos: I really want one, but i can't seem to find or create a design or image that is just right for me.


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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby gordon_freeman » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:40 pm

ninja-elbow wrote:
gordon_freeman wrote:That looks really awesome!

Now, i just need to think of a design to put on my lower, lol. I have the same problem with tattoos: I really want one, but i can't seem to find or create a design or image that is just right for me.


*Gabe's tattoo advice*
F- it! Pick something you like and rock it. Go big too. Better to regret something you did do than something you didn't do.
*end Gabe's tattoo advice - and Gabe is not a rock star*


LOL

Razor wire around my arm? Tribal design? :lol:
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby ZedMikey » Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:38 pm

Oh, don't get me started on tattoos! I'm getting my sleeve started on the 4th and 5th!!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DropZedFred » Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:04 pm

Another round of laser etched goodness last night - MEANTREE dropped by with the rifle stock, inletted for a rams head in veneer. Just wow...
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby nimdabew » Thu Jul 02, 2009 2:13 pm

So you have this laser already? I thought, well I don't know what I thought. I want the Umbrella corp logo on the frames of my pistols please!
Thanks Anianna!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby DropZedFred » Thu Jul 02, 2009 3:07 pm

He's still test driving it at the dealership. Put some heavy mileage on it too!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby nimdabew » Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:38 pm

DropZedFred wrote:He's still test driving it at the dealership. Put some heavy mileage on it too!


I hope he gets it if he can afford it. I stopped going to my laser etcher person at 25 bucks a pop because I saw this thread. Is it a CO2 laser or something else? It looks like a CO2 laser...
Thanks Anianna!
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Re: MEANTREE's stupid waste of money idea. (Lots of pictures.)

Postby nimdabew » Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:07 pm

So did ya get it?
Thanks Anianna!
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