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FrozenGate by Avery

$90 Laser Engraver Kit?

Cool :)
What's the cutting engraving plate like? Just a piece of acrylic you set your object on?
I say go for designing a driver for other diodes. I know when I get one I won't be keeping that little 405. I will probably have one of the forum machinist make a better heat sink and mount as well.

I guess the Chinese finally found a use for all the diodeless disk drives they have :D
 





That actually looks pretty cool. Any chance you could post a video of it working? EDIT: Nevermind. I just saw they have some videos posted from a slightly different model. http://www.banggood.com/300mW-Mini-...-Picture-Logo-CNC-Laser-Printer-p-958368.html

rhd said:
And it's pretty cool :)

It's monochrome, and it's not super fast, but it's very very fun to use. No assembly instructions, so it really was a "DIY" experience, but once the device was assembled, it just worked. Period. No real hiccups. The software is pretty good, and took literally 30 seconds to figure out.

attachment.php
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Good news / bad news.

The bad news is that I drove this thing all night long, and the output power is now no longer capable of doing decent prints. I'm not entirely sure what the culprit is, but considering that this is entirely powered by my laptop usb ports, it might be an easy fix. It might not. The diode may be damaged.

The good news, it's that it turns out that I already have the driver designed and working, I just didn't realize it!

When I made my 445-enable RC helicopter, it was the exact same challenge, ie, use a low current channel to trigger an independently powered laser driver. I still have some parts and PCBs, so I'll give that a shot.
 
Is there any way you could get the diode to be contsantly on with the software then disconect the module, turn it sideways and LPM it?
unless its not worth the hassle...

EDIT: scratch what i said above, we posted at the same time! sounds like no trouble fixing whatever has been damaged for you rhd!
 
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Would it be too difficult to run it from an external source, while still usinf the USB for the signal input?
 
RYDorDIE278 said:
Is there any way you could get the diode to be contsantly on with the software then disconect the module, turn it sideways and LPM it?
unless its not worth the hassle...

EDIT: scratch what i said above, we posted at the same time! sounds like no trouble fixing whatever has been damaged for you rhd!
Click to expand...

Nope, not hard at all. The software has a button to just turn on the laser (necessary for focusing). Unfortunately, I'm already sold on reflowing a new board and setting up a 9mm 446 ;)

crazyspaz said:
Would it be too difficult to run it from an external source, while still usinf the USB for the signal input?
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Nope, that's exactly what I'm going to do (but with a more powerful diode and driver). Will report back. It'll take me an hour or so to put together.
 
Too bad the arent grayscale...although I am more interested in cutting balsa and thin plastics so I suppose it doesn't really matter. And for 90$, theres really nothing to complain about.
 
I have it running with a 2W 445 now.

What I find strange is that it draws lines with individual points, rather than turning the laser on and moving it without turning off the laser until hitting the end of the line.

Is that normal for a laser CNC ?
 
What do you mean? Is it just a slow step/sec rate, or what? I dont know what you mean by "draws lines with individual points," but yes, normal CNC's move in move from one end point to the other in a line, not a bunch of stops in between (if thats what you mean).
 
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crazyspaz said:
What do you mean? Is it just a slow step/sec rate, or what? I dont know what you mean by "draws lines with individual points," but yes, normal CNC's move in move from one end point to the other in a line, not a bunch of stops in between (if thats what you mean).
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Picture a line. Instead of turning the laser on and moving down the line, it splits the line into dots, and pulses then moves then pulses then moves, etc.

EDIT: It's a lot more fun with a 2W diode. Here's a quick video.

http://youtu.be/VGu1HdQ0Wj0


You can actually almost get away with no heatsinking given the fact that the duty cycle is actually very minimal with the laser being OFF so often. The fan I've added is more than enough cooling. It doesn't even get warm, even with a 2W 445.
 
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yea thats not how normal CNC's work. Thats actually rather annoying, especially if you want smooth, straight lines. Good for making solder paste stencils out of kapton/mylar, I guess, but maybe not so much for actual cutting.
 
crazyspaz said:
yea thats not how normal CNC's work. Thats actually rather annoying, especially if you want smooth, straight lines. Good for making solder paste stencils out of kapton/mylar, I guess, but maybe not so much for actual cutting.
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I wonder if it only works that way when using an image as the input. I haven't tried the GCODE yet. Does anyone have some GCODE for a basic line that they could send me?
 
The big CO2 CNC units here in Clear Lake start at about 1KW to pierce then drop to about 750 Watts and cut the steel with a continuous motion. Pulsing is only done for etching.
HMike
 
Correction:

On image mode, it does individual pulses. On GCODE (actually, it calls it "NC"), it does nice fluid movement.

Anyone have a suggestion for a free, Windows based program that generates NC / GCODE from images?
 
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