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Laser Mount

Discussion in 'Laser Cutters' started by blindflight, May 19, 2016.

  1. blindflight

    blindflight Well-Known
    Staff Member Builder Resident Builder

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    blindflight published a new build:

    Read more about this build...
     
  2. Mark Carew

    Mark Carew OpenBuilds Team
    Staff Member Moderator Builder Resident Builder

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    Very nice! thank you for this awesome share :thumbsup:
     
  3. Jurgen

    Jurgen New
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    Hi.

    I am planning to use my C-Beam machine as a Laser cutter and I will most likely adopt your design ;-)
    I will receive my Laser next week or so.

    For the Laser equipment I can highly recommend J Tech / Products | J Tech Photonics, Inc. .
    ( Jay Johnson from J-Tech was the reason I am getting a Laser in the first place!! )

    He also mentioned to be very careful with using any cheap powers supplies!!!
    Quote (Jay):
    -------------------------------
    Yes we filter the input to the laser driver, but the cheap Chinese computer power supplies have no protection and put out over 20,000 volts (low current) at startup.
    There is a 15% chance using these supplies that the spike is large enough and fast enough to go through both the soft start filter and the three high speed Zener diodes that are in the laser driver and the one in the laser itself.
    While we have a lot of suppression techniques built into the laser driver, those supplies put out incredible voltage spikes and even the best protection can fail.
    It is best to use the wall supply provided or a trusted 12V supply like ones used in professional CNC machines
    ---------------------------------
    This could be very expensive to NOT to follow his advice.

    By the way which controller are you using?
    I am using CNC-Pro V2 for the C-Beam running GRBL 0.9i
    I still have to check how to use it for the Laser...

    Which software are you using?
    I am looking for LaserWeb 2
    GitHub - openhardwarecoza/LaserWeb2: Yip its time to start working on its successor already!

    Thanks for sharing and best regards from Namibia
    Jurgen
     
  4. blindflight

    blindflight Well-Known
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    Morning Jurgen,
    I will be using the CNC Pro V2 (CNC xPRO V2 Controller Stepper Driver) from Open Builds and the GRBL. This seems its the way to go. As far as other software, there are programs out there. There is the "Inkscape Laser Plugin" for the 2.8W laser with our 2.5amp driver which is on J-Tech's site (Inkscape Laser Plug-In | J Tech Photonics, Inc.). Also, "Laser Etch B/W Image Engraving SW License (Laser Etch B/W Image Engraving SW License | J Tech Photonics, Inc.) and Pic Laser (PicLaser Photo Engraving SW License | J Tech Photonics, Inc.). These are available at jtechphotonics.com. I have not used these programs as I am new to the laser side of things.
    BLINDFLIGHT
     
  5. Jurgen

    Jurgen New
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    Hi.
    I just wanted to report my on "laser - project" progress
    I am using a CNC xPro V2 but I am now running the latest GRBL "edge" ( V1.0C)
    This one has some additional settings and works fine as far as I can see.
    Have a look here.
    GitHub - grbl/grbl at edge

    I also received a 3.8W Laser from J Tech (J Tech Photonics, Inc. ) .

    As cooling can never to be too much, I designed my C-Beam laser-mount to be
    1. fully enclosed to enforce the air flow exactly where is should be (i hope)
    2. mounted the laser on an old pentium? CPU heat sink
    3. and installed a 12V/80mm fan on top
    maybe an overkill ;-)

    I also added a simple mount for the "laser driver", have a look at the stl file
    and the fusion 360
    Unsupported Browser ~ A360

    I only drew the heat-sink so I do not have a separate file.
    The heat-sink size is ~52 x ~52mm (flat side) x 27mm(fins). This was a standard i486 cooler Iguess
    I just drilled the wholes for the Laser and the mounting on the go and tapped them with M3 threads.

    The Laser mount is also here:
    Unsupported Browser ~ A360

    In case you wonder why all the wholes are at the bottom:
    I thought that I could maybe mount some laser-shield here.

    There are also 2 wholes inside ( left and right of the laser).
    The wholes are not straight down but at an angle!
    The top diameter is around 5mm and at the bottom it is only 1mm.
    Maybe this could be used to mount some 5mm LEDs and they should then mark where the laser-focus should be.
    At least that was the idea - which I have not tested yet!

    By the way, the whole laser mount prints (upside down) without any support!
    That is why I chamfered most edges at a 45 degree angle - also to make a smoother air flow.
    ... and all the filet edges should make for a smoother printing - NO sharp turns for the printer ;-)

    cheers ;-)


    IMG_0628.JPG IMG_0633.JPG IMG_0629.JPG IMG_0628.JPG IMG_0633.JPG IMG_0629.JPG Laser_for_C-Beam.png IMG_0630.JPG IMG_0631.JPG IMG_0632.JPG IMG_0633.JPG IMG_0634.JPG IMG_0635.JPG IMG_0636.JPG IMG_0637.JPG IMG_0638.JPG
     

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    eddiejr and Moag like this.

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