Buildlog Title: Ivan's 2.X Laser Build, #1
Builder: evokanivo
Member Since: 2010-05-31
Thursday, July 19th 2012 - 1:24 PM
I plan to make two laser cutters. This one is to give me some experience before I make a second. It will be pretty much exactly the same as posted designs. It won't do DSP, so it'll just do cutting. I plan to use linux/emc2. Maybe later I'll upgrade to DSP. The second cutter will be larger and with DSP and probably higher wattage.
Right now I just have the frame assembled as I wait for the 2.x parts kit. Everything else has been purchased - I hope. I think some of the pre-assembly insertion nut counts are off in the diagram, but I won't know for sure until I'm done.
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Saturday, July 21st 2012 - 2:06 AM
Handle is from Home Depot - I saved a whole $6 bucks!
My motor and pulley shipment from the Makerslide store might not make it. Never seen a UPS notification like this before:
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- UPS Exception
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Wednesday, August 1st 2012 - 9:47 PM
I've got most the mechanical components assembled. It's all pretty standard, so I will just go over a few things. Now it's time to start wiring.
The bolt spacing on my carrier chains are not the same as the sheet metal hole spacing, so I had to drill an additional hole in each piece of aluminum. Changing the design to use slots seems like an improvement. I also had to knock out the mirror lens plate standoffs and use my own spacers to attach the carrier chain.
The cover window is polycarbonate/Makrolon. I think it filters light in a CO2 laser's IR range, but I couldn't find any transmittance graphs that went up to that wavelength. I will just do some burn tests and swap it if necessary.
The assembly drawing on the Wiki has one of the carrier chain ends free-floating. I just fastened it to a short piece of 2020. If you do the same, remember to buy square m3 t-slot nuts (HNTT5-3), since the carrier chain spacing is too small for the cheaper rectangular nuts (HNKK5-3).
I added flats to the threaded z-rods and Z and X motors. The Y-motor doesn't need it because it is using pressure clamps, and I had Misumi add set-screw flats to those rods. My setup for doing this was makeshift, but things turned out pretty well. I prevented the motor shaft from spinning by holding a pulley on the other side. Very useful having double-shaft motors!
The table surface is 16 ga steel perforated sheet with 1/8" holes staggered at 3/16", off ebay. I cut it to size on a table-saw with an abrasive disc and am pleased with the results. M3 machine screws hold the corners down. There is very little flex when I push down in the middle.
PS: My "train derailed"-UPS box made it to me after all, just a couple days late.
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Tuesday, September 4th 2012 - 11:24 PM
Just a quick update. I added all the electronics a few weeks ago (some rewiring is still necessary) and have just been waiting on the skins. I actually ran it a little bit even without the skins, but had to hold the exhaust intake near the cutting area since there were no skins to regulate the air flow direction. I haven't had any problems with EMI and am running directly off a parallel port. I've been using EMC + SheetCam TNG on Ubuntu, which is free and uncrippled (only on the Linux version).
I made some horizontal cuts while moving the Z axis to figure out the proper cutting height and to nail down the proper PPI for cutting 1/4" mdf.
The top panel is just going to have the current meter, machine power switch, and 3 smaller switches for air, water, and exhaust. I didn't want to wire these in until I cut the panels, so that will have to be redone. For now they're not controlled by the machine.
A mini-fridge is being used for water cooling. I put a panel across the front and then covered the inside with plastic to water-proof it. The tubes have quick-connect fittings to speed up swapping out the laser or pump.
Anyway, once I get the skins I will be a happy camper.
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I like the handle.