Choosing the right laser

[Mark842]

Thank you to everyone contributing info on this. I'm looking to purchase something this year. Ran into a local Epilog rep a few days ago and he invited us to their shop to do some testing. We are hoping to go get some laser time on our leathers with him sometime next week. I'm more interested in engraving than cutting as we have clicker dies for most of our products already but I had never thought about using a laser to cut our own packaging. We have several products that are problematic when it comes to packaging and making our own could be the ticket!

[garyo1954]

9 hours ago, chrisash said:

Like the fine engraving , but the font design style is poor with the link between the r and Y

chrisash, good point. If/when (and you know I will) do it again, I'll likely use the initial G. Maybe circle G and bevel it. After using block fonts a thousand times it was  nice to see something different for Christmas. Script is, IMO, a more personalized touch. Nonetheless a block  font would  or just an initial would work better for this application.

Thanks!

[garyo1954]

3 hours ago, Mark842 said:

Thank you to everyone contributing info on this. I'm looking to purchase something this year. Ran into a local Epilog rep a few days ago and he invited us to their shop to do some testing. We are hoping to go get some laser time on our leathers with him sometime next week. I'm more interested in engraving than cutting as we have clicker dies for most of our products already but I had never thought about using a laser to cut our own packaging. We have several products that are problematic when it comes to packaging and making our own could be the ticket!

Great! If you haven't already, check out the Epilog site. A ton of information there with downloadable samples you'll be interested in.

[RockyAussie]

Sorry guys. I have been in this all weekend and with the fitting of all the T nuts in place and drilling the holes,sanding and polishing the acrylic edges,wiring in external switches, fitting the suction motor and more shelves along with taking pictures and videos of the testing I just ran out of time. For now here's a couple of pictures of where I am up to. Good news is that it all works and well and the video of the testing looks good. I just have to find some time to do the video editing and uploads now.

This first one shows where I am applying the foam around 3 sides to direct the air flow. The video will show that later.

Will get more of the building progress pictures through later this week along with the videos.

[dikman]

Brian, mate, you've definitely got some hidden geeky nerd in you!

[Rockoboy]

On ‎15‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 5:37 AM, dikman said:

you've definitely got some hidden geeky nerd in you!

Not so hidden, I reckon!

[RockyAussie]

On 15/01/2019 at 7:37 AM, dikman said:

Brian, mate, you've definitely got some hidden geeky nerd in you!

Yeah I been starting to worry bout that a bit . In my defence I have to say this really has been one of the simplest and fun projects that I have ever done.

  I've been trying to rush through a couple of improvements to free up the 3D printer for some other jobs that are waiting. Since getting the laser I have found I need it to be running nearly non stop and the original design is only intended for hobby use and should not be run at full power for longer than 20 minutes or so. This has to be done by allowing the laser to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before starting again. I am guilty of going past this time way too much. Keeping the laser running cool is a big thing in how long that diode will last. Another factor is air assisted cutting will make it cut more efficiently and quicker. Keeping the smoke off of the diode lens is another big point to remember ass well. For cutting thick leathers requires multiple passes or you gets a lot of burning /cindering on the edges. Being able to drop the laser down on these passes at say a1mm at a time is also a great advantage. I have been able to just do a few passes around without a drop down adjustment but I am sure that is a pretty inefficient way to go.  Following is my answer to these problems and is what I am working on at the moment. The first thing to improve was the diode cooling  and I noticed that the 2.5 Watt Eleksmakers fan can not really get any air to blow down the sides of the cooling fins and the centre of the holding block is solid . See pictures -  

I concluded a larger cooling fan on the top was needed and therefore why not encase the block in a shroud and force the air down over the fins and then funnel that air to get some air assistance at the same time. Your only trying to burn stuff down there anyway!!! Here is the shroud part with some recesses for nuts to locate the laser block into place.

I decided to make the funnel part connect with magnets and forgot to take a separate picture of the print so I will show some a bit later. The next thing is to design a Z lift mechanism that does not takes up any of the cutting area. The only Z lift I could get come with the cost of a lot of the cutting area. This next part stays with shroud and has the holes for the guide rails.

Next shows the fit is good

Bolts screwed in and they work great

This pic shows the main body of the Z lift which will replace the acrylic piece that presently holds the laser body. Note I have mounted the fan and also a temperature gauge to the shroud section. Also note the button section that moves up and down on the thread is a tight fit into the hole on the slider attached now to the shroud.

This back picture shows the button has a recess to receive a nut that allows the Z movement.

This one shows the magnet attaching funnel. This is needed to allow ease of focussing if needed. With the Z lift that should be fairly rare I think. This also shows that the 5 Watt laser fits in to the shroud as well and the big bunch of heat sink and electrical looking stuff on the right is actually for the 5 watt laser.I am doing 2 shrouds to allow for quick change over whenever that may be required.

Although I have designed this to have a Z lift motor at the top which will allow manual movement with it, I have for now also made another piece that can clip into the top for manual adjustment. I have not ordered in the 3 axis power board thing yet and I am still waiting for the Nema 17 motor to come in as well.

So far everything seems to be testing alright and I hope to do some in place testing later on this week.

Thanks to all of you who come in with experience and advise and help to contribute. Brian

 

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by RockyAussie
mistake

[dikman]

Brian, you have just proved, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are indeed a NERD!

Excellent job, I would think there is a market out there for such upgrade/mods, however given you also have a "day job" it's probably too much trouble to explore such an option. What's the LCD on the side for?

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, dikman said:

What's the LCD on the side for?

That is the temperature gauge. I got 4 of them out of China for about $3.00 each and they all look to be very accurate. I did a 15 minute test yesterday at full power in the standard without shroud mode and to my surprise it went from 30.7 degrees C up to 45.7 Degrees. I am hoping to see some results with the shroud and top fan sometime later this week. After I see how it all performs I will consider whether to make any up for sale I guess. Great thing about the printer is it keeps working while I carry on doing other work.

[JC2019]

On 2/3/2019 at 3:05 PM, RockyAussie said:

That is the temperature gauge. I got 4 of them out of China for about $3.00 each and they all look to be very accurate. I did a 15 minute test yesterday at full power in the standard without shroud mode and to my surprise it went from 30.7 degrees C up to 45.7 Degrees. I am hoping to see some results with the shroud and top fan sometime later this week. After I see how it all performs I will consider whether to make any up for sale I guess. Great thing about the printer is it keeps working while I carry on doing other work.

This is awesome. I will need to read the entire thread. Originally I was dead set on a k40 co2 laser but the chinese ones have a few safety concerns that I am still researching. I have an ender 3 and its a great little machine for the price. My next small purchase will likely be a low power laser.  

 

I am mainly interested in engraving

How well can these diode lasers engrave? Can it do gradients? Does it do it truly or with dithering?  Do you have recommendations for which one to get, they seem to range up to 10watts and cost a few hundred dollars. 

 

I plan to cut by hand so for now I think the diode lasers should fit my needs.

Edited May 24, 2019 by JC2019