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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Mini Laser CNC

Joined
May 4, 2009
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I just finished a little 2 axis laser etcher of sorts. It uses sleds from dvd drives and is controlled by an Arduino. I am by no means a good programmer so the code that controls it is more than likely horribily ineffecient, but i am happy that it works. So far ive made three different designs for it to draw, the FaceBook logo, the YouTube logo and the Aperture Science logo from the Portal games.

Diode: a140
Driver: LM317T ~1.25A
Lens: Aixiz 405nm AR

The Arduino is a Micro and the stepper motor drivers are EasyDrivers from sparkfun.

 
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Joined
Dec 17, 2012
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I really want to try something like this. Are these just cd trays with the sled as the moving part?
 
Joined
May 4, 2009
Messages
2,216
Points
83
I really want to try something like this. Are these just cd trays with the sled as the moving part?

Yup, i just drilled two holes into the sled in places that had the most material and then screwed in the small peice of particle board to make the decks. I had to use 6 washers underneath eack deck to make them level and to raise them up slightly to clear the wiring for the motor.
 
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Messages
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How do you hook up the steppers. There are 4 or 5 wires on them. Do the drivers have instructions? Also would you be able to email me the arduino code you wrote?
 
Joined
May 4, 2009
Messages
2,216
Points
83
The motors are bipolar so they only have 4 wires. All i had to do was use a multimeter to figure out which wires were paired up and them hook them up tp the drivers accordingly(the pads are marked for each of the two phases). After that all you have to do is apply 5v to its power input and use two signal wires to control it. Toggling the "step" input from low, high, low(single square wave) will tell the driver to take one step. The state of the second signal wire tells the driver in which direction to take the step, either high or low for either forward or reverse stepping.
Ill go ahead and put some comments in the code so its easier to follow.
 
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