The Squirrel has had laser cut parts for a while but the motorstick was made using legacy equipment until last Sunday (Sept 16, 2012). The old system worked so well that it wasn’t believed that the laser would be better. The legacy machine is ready for maintenance so I decided to give laser a try.

After a few experiments I discovered that the laser worked much better than I expected. The parts are a bit straighter and accurate. I believe they are stronger. I was even able to use some softer wood which seemed too weak when cut on the legacy machine.

I had to add break-off tabs since the motor sticks were falling into the machine. The rest of the Squirrel uses 1/16″ slats to prevent parts from falling so with the part thickness it comes to 1/8″ from the cutting grid. So laser doesn’t have to be refocused when switching between Squirrel parts and the 1/8″ motorsticks.