This is a bit of a thread hijack, but how do I go from 1:1 scale drawing of fins on a piece of paper to smoking plywood fin in my hand using the TTS-55? I ask because I've never used either a 3D printer or a cutter of any kind (not even a Cricut), and I'm kind of intimidated by the workflow.
No worries.
A cutter is a good place to start.
Here's how I do it now:
1) Create the fins in Openrocket. I use the "freeform" fin tool and measure by hand, or import the photo of the fins with a ruler for reference into MS Paint, set the measurement units to inches, and trace the edges using the line tool. You can also import the photo directly into Lightburn and trace the outline there, although I prefer to use Openrocket first for consistency's sake.
Or (and this is the much preferred method) just look up the existing Rocksim file on the internet and import it.
2) Use the scale tool in Openrocket to make them the correct size. (Tip: use the attached chart as a scaling reference. For instance, going from a BT-50 rocket to a BT-60 rocket is a scale factor of 1.68, according to the chart. So you'd scale the fin to 168% using the scaling tool).
3) Tweak the fins as needed (I like to get them to the nearest round 1/8" or so)
4) Export the fins to a .pdf using the Export tool in Openrocket
5) Open (NOT import) the .pdf in Lightburn. Lightburn automagically recognizes the line shapes in the .pdf as laser cuts.
6) Delete the scale ruler.
7) Select both the fin and fin tab (if you have one) and make it a single piece using the combining tool in Lightburn
8) Send it to the laser.
The only extra step is, especially with a new laser or when cutting new material, to do a cut test. Lightburn has a built-in tool that will generate all kinds of tests; in general I like to do the one with "passes vs speed". On my low-powered laser, 5mm/s at 100% power for 15 passes gives the cleanest edges with the least amount of charring / burn-through.
