If you look closely you see it is not a clear line. The end of the laserhead is still a bit moving. I decided to make a new laserhead mount. I will remove the Z-axis with this fixed block. In the near future I’m going to make a Z-axis moveable table.
I will update this post when I got more information.
How are you mounting the tube ? I cant see it on the pictures.
And…could it be possible to skip the mirrors and alignment…and just mount the whole tube vertical on the MPCNC ? (i have no idea how co2 lasers work)
How much did the lasertube cost ? and does it should it last before needing replacement ?
I was just thinking since Glowforge and similar $3-4-5000 lasercutters carry the lasertubes on the moving gantry, if maybe having it mounted vertical would work too, but what you are saying does makes sense.
Very nice build, I particularly like your enclosure.
This is something I plan to do with my MPCNC so I will follow your thread closely and I really hope you will keep us updated!
Given my (little) experience with the MPCNC, I think that one of the first things you should do is to make the chassis stiffer. It can be done quite easily with a few wood blocks, nothing very complicated. It is particularly clear that the whole machine wobbles when I zoom on the pictures of the tests you posted.
Rigidify your chassis, and lower the X-Y jerk setting and the accelerations for your first tests (if not already done). These are easy improvements that will, in my opinion, solve most of your problems.
Could you post some pics of your mirrors system, I would be very interested to see?
First of all thnx! And yes I know that the MPCNC isn’t that stable but it was also the laserhead that got a bit wobbly. The end was fully stretched.
I build a new laserheadblock and going to replace it Wednesday with this:
And I while I was un-mounting the Z-axes I found out that it also was a bit lose. I’ve fasten some of the bearings and that solved the problem.
I will make some more pictures from the mirros and will draw a little picture.
I’ve also made a electronic wire diagram for the laserpower supply and the Arduino. The powersupply for the laser don’t allow you to give it 12V. So you can’t use the M106 and M107 but you need to use the 5v output so I took the M42 P4 setting.
The difference
The demo setting for the powersupply was:
And the with the arduino:
@Renegadez , I did buy the laser tube and powersupply with mirrors and the lens on ebay. But I bought a Reci Laser because I did some reading and it should be the best… not really that sure but I had to give it a try
*Edit: I don’t know why my pictures are getting rotated, sorry for that…
I mounted the mirrors at the back at the laser, on the moving arm and made a new laserhead holder.
Then I did some aligning. Remove the mirrors and place the back plate back in the holder. Cover the mirror hole with a piece of tape. Shortly fire the laser and look if it aim straight.
WARNING! Cutting plexiglass will produce chlorine gas when combined with the natural moisture in the air creates a form of hydrochloric acid. Be WARNED!
I have mounted ventilation to the outside! Test run 4
If I have time this weekend I will do some more runs and testing stuff.
But engraving isn’t easy, I still need to do a lot of tweaking.
But there is a beginning. Soon I will share the laserhead mount need to make a few adjustments, print and test it again.
Only takes 42 hours to print and a role fillament (800 grams) The new design is a bit smaller maybe 600 grams and 32 hours printing.
For prints of this size I would use a bigger nozzle, not only for time, but for strength too, a 0.6mm nozzle will output 4x amount of plastic compared to a 0.4mm nozzle, translated it means a 0.6mm nozzle with 0.36 layerheight would print the 32hr print in 8 hrs, with a small reduction of detail but a much stronger part.
Is this a 1064nm laser? Was that aluminum you cut? I’m curious how thick of aluminum and steel you could cut cleanly with this. I’ve been doing a little research on DIY CNC laser cutters but there doesn’t appear to be much out there besides engraving
@mikalcarbine ,
I didn’t bought this laser for cutting aluminum or steel. If you want to do that you need a different lens and a different place. My build is in a wooden box, you can imagine what will happen
