Re: Gavztheouch's Mk2 Laser
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 1:31 pm
Using a laser to monitor a laser. Cool. That reminds me of a joke. Paraphrased: My laser has it's own laser, and even its laser is cooler than your laser.
I'd be tempted to replace that Arduino with an op amp comparator to set the trip level voltage from the photocell. Of course, I don't have an Arduino in my parts bin, but I have lots of inexpensive op amps. Use what you have. And as Steve Ciarcia would say on the issue of what to implement in hardware and what to implement in software... "I program in SOLDER."
My first inclination would generally be to avoid designs where two motors could be out of sync and rack the gantry at a harmful angle, but given the advantages of the dual motor design, this looks like a very appropriate solution to me. The Hadron printer I'm building uses two Z stepper motors driving a threaded rod on each end. Fortunately, I don't think those motors are powerful enough to damage the stouter Hadron mechanics because the Hadron is small and the motors don't have the leverage that you have on a long laser gantry.
I'd be tempted to replace that Arduino with an op amp comparator to set the trip level voltage from the photocell. Of course, I don't have an Arduino in my parts bin, but I have lots of inexpensive op amps. Use what you have. And as Steve Ciarcia would say on the issue of what to implement in hardware and what to implement in software... "I program in SOLDER."
My first inclination would generally be to avoid designs where two motors could be out of sync and rack the gantry at a harmful angle, but given the advantages of the dual motor design, this looks like a very appropriate solution to me. The Hadron printer I'm building uses two Z stepper motors driving a threaded rod on each end. Fortunately, I don't think those motors are powerful enough to damage the stouter Hadron mechanics because the Hadron is small and the motors don't have the leverage that you have on a long laser gantry.