The black markings are not as black and distinct as the original ones above. I’m not yet sure whether it’s a paint/coating thing and/or possibly not finding/using optimal speed/power settings (I used the same setttings as for my 2.3W laser) for this laser. The process is still valid however… I need to do a couple of NWT test grids using the Cenoz laser to see if I can get a better result.
For others who may be wondering… with so little clearance behind those lower holes, I made flanged bushings to allow mounting from the large upper holes. The bushings go behind the X-carriage plate and 5mm hardware to fasten…
So for $79 this seams like a no brainer addition to the machine arsenal, however it is out of stock and I’m skeptical it will reappear at that price (next cheapest option appears to be significantly higher even on aliexpress).
I have looked at open source plans for something similar but they do not seem as elegantly simple as this. Anyone have a link for a diy equivalent or should I try to lay one out, it looks like it’s only v-slot and three plates to hold the wheels & motors plus belt clip / tensioners?
My other thought is to hack a laser mount for zen-xy v2 (I am drawn to core-xy mechanisms.)
Not terribly impressed with the included laser module, I’ve been playing with different laser modules on our $79 machine. Here I’m using a little Banggood 2.3W laser to do a test tile and image… lasered and before paint removal
The included laser module kinda works but leaves a lot to be desired so I chopped off the funky connector and soldered on (with 63/37 leaded, of course… ) a 3-wire pigtail and now it’s pretty simple to swap out a lot of different laser modules. Just keep up with which of the black wires match up to the red/black/yellow (+12V/Gnd/PWM) wires of the old laser before you chop off the connector
Nice! Keep up the good work. I’ve replaced the original laser module with a little Banggood 2.3W laser and am getting a bit nicer results with it… it is fun, isn’t it?
1000 mm/min, 100% power, 300 dpi, Atkinson… it’s sooty, before paint removal. I keep a small personal fan gently blowing over the worksurface to clear the smoke/soot away from the lens to avoid fouling…
After doing the ceramic tile last evening, I decided to try transparent glass again… same flat-white paint and speed/power setting as for tile. After lasering…
Been playing with my laser for a few days and I have to say that light burn test pattern is just amazing. Really lets you dial things in to get the contrast right in one or two tries. Might have to try something like that with the routers.
Oh and this thread has been the major motivation to get the laser dialed in again, so thank you for not frolicking (too often ).
Now grblHAL can be installed on the skr pro i wish i could get more time to play with it. But spare time is just a belove dream now i have 2 children… @vicious1 did you tested it yet ?
When last we left off… from some previous work I’d done, you can get a different effect on glass simply with the paint you choose to coat the glass with before lasering… flat-white paint (with high TiO2 content) gives BLACK marking while dark paint/backing gives a “frosted”/ablated marking (note the lizards…).
So, later I did a "frosted’/ablated image using just a dark backing (tempera paint or matt-black works as well) to ablate the image on transparent glass… same 2.3W laser, same speed/power settings as for ceramic, resized image to fit scrap piece of glass. Here I’ve simply placed the glass on a clean piece of cereal-box cardboard (chipboard) and lasered through the glass with a negative image, focused on the chipboard surface…
Noticed that engraver’s back in stock - but it’s now $138.
Seemed like a good deal at $79. Curious if you think it’s worth considering at the new price.
Ryan, I’ve played around with dot-width correction a bit… a couple of lasers ago.
For those who may not know, LightBurn’s dot-width correction setting is an adjustment for a line’s true length, which when lasered is extended by 1/2 the laser’s “dot diameter” on each end. It is especially useful for dithered images which are made up of many extremely short line segments. The effect of no correction on a dithered image is a darker burn and some loss of detail while adding dot width correction lightens the image and brings out more detail…
Since I’m playing with very low-power lasers right now (2.3W), the dot-size isn’t terribly large… and I feel the dot-width correction isn’t really necessary. Should I start playing with my higher-powered lasers again, it would probably be worth trying to dial the dot-width correction factor in, for best detail. And, of course, quality of focus also plays its part… with better focus yielding smaller effective dot size. My problem is I don’t stay on any one machine long enough to dial it in…
Over on the LightBurn forum (similar thread), @LsrSal mentioned the possibly putting together a BOM for a clone of this simple but sturdy machine… and adding a better laser and firmware.
It would be an easy build for most on this forum and might be done for $100 or so? IMO this would be a fun little starter/dedicated laser machine… and far more capable than you might first believe.