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FrozenGate by Avery

DIY Laser Cutter Project






Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Hehe, I could probably use like 0805 LED's and glue them right to the edge of the plexi, and run a thin wire around the edge :D

Also tried engraving some glass, was a pain to get a picture of:

DSCF5420.jpg
 
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Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Things said:
Hehe, I could probably use like 0805 LED's and glue them right to the edge of the plexi, and run a thin wire around the edge :D

Also tried engraving some glass, was a pain to get a picture of:
Click to expand...

Pane*
 
Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Like these ones ?

50 pcs SMD SMT 0805 Super bright Purple LED lamp Bulb | eBay

Must pay attention with the soldering with them, they die quickly (i killed 2 of them trying to swap them from a PCB :P :D)

Anyway, cause they are small, if you reach to solder enough of them in serie all around the border, probably then you can power the thing with direct main power through a resistor, or at least with a capacitive PSU ;)

EDIT: i mean, as example, 12 each border, 36 leds in total, with a typical FV of 3.2V, gives you 115V all in series ... if you are in a zone with 120V, a rectifier bridge and a 680 ohm 2W resistor (on the main side), plus, say, a 22 ohm 2W resistor on the led side, just as safety, must be enough for power all the serie ...
 
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Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Hehe, would need about 60 of them in series for direct mains :)

Could be a neat way to do it though, since you could just run some epoxy around the outside which would make it safe to touch, and durable, and it'd still just look like 1 piece of plastic.
 
Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Naah, as said, if you are in a 120V like USA typical places, 32 leds are enough, these ones have 3.2V typical FV ... in case of 220/240V zones, a capacitor in serie can be helpful, like, from main, a 33 ohm 3W resistor, in serie with a capacitor of at least 470nF 400V polyester, then a rectifier bridge and another resistor in serie with the leds, calculated for keep them around 8mA ... then also depend from the size of your wall sign, more leds can be used if 220V is available ...

Heheh ... just thought this ... more leds, more leds, and you can end with a wall sign bright like a street lamp, LOL ...

Also ... SMD resistors can be used in a certain quantity for "divide" the power on all them ... like, glueing the leds at the right distance one from the other, and using the SMD resistors for connect one to the other ... evil idea from a mad scentist :P :crackup:
 
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Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Dan! This is a win! I want one!
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You ought to sell these. I'd surely be in for it.
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-Tyler
 
Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Unfortunately shipping anywhere other than Aus would kill it :(

Got some cable chain yesterday and installed it today:

DSCF5424.jpg


It's a bit large for what I need, but it's all they had. Room for expansion I guess. I intend on being able to turn this into a 3D printer also, so extra room for cables is good.

 
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Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Been playing around with acrylic, and seeing how to get a nice, clean edge. Turns out you need full power and extremely slow speeds, as well as very little air assist.

These were all done at different speeds and different amounts of air assist flow, the top one looks pretty damn good (Ignore the mouth, that part is stupidly thin), but the machine was only going at 1mm.s to achieve that!

DSCF5428.jpg


Annoyingly it means I'll probably have an urge to upgrade the laser :p
 
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Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

Well, seeing as I wasn't able to find someone that could CNC machine my bearing and nut blocks by this weekend, I decided to try lasercut some myself using some LCD backlight diffuser material, and I'm quite pleased with the result. I'm intending on buying some proper acrylic tomorrow and cutting some real ones, these are just prototypes. Hopefully then I can get going on the bed this weekend :)

DSCF5439.jpg
 
Re: My (16 month :D ) holiday project - DIY Laser Cutter

If i can say a thing ... good work with the plastic, and if you cut 2 extra layers for each support, with a hole a little small, you can put them on the 2 sides of the support ... advantages, are the rigidity (thicker, then more ridgid), and they keep in position the nut and ball bearing also better (suggest also 3 screws for the nut too), and at the end also more robust and durables ... disadvantages, more thickness, but this depend from the space that you have available ...

By the way, have you already considered how to make the "rest bed" for the pieces ? ... i see you are using a wood panel ... does it not end burned, when you cut ?
 
Yeah, I was thinking about an overlapping piece on top. I will see how much acrylic I get, as it is fairly expensive :)

As for the bed, that is what these mounts are for. I'll be making 2 steel frames - 1 outer one to connect to those nut mounts I made above and also the linear bearings to guide them. The 2nd frame will be small enough to go up inside the XY cutting gantry, so I can get the workbed closer to the nozzle. The cutting bed itself will eventually be made from "eggcrate" aluminium :)

Dan
 
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Heh, i imagined that these mounts was for that "Z axis" bed movement, cause your X and Y axis seem already mechanically complete ... about the material, someone use slates (or whatever you call them, are "beds" made with saw-profiled plates, like these ones) ... but that is a professional, and highly expensive system, used for high power cutters (for minimize the contact points and heat drawing too), and not needed for just engraving ...

I heard someone used a "square pattern" or also "hexagonal pattern" thick net plate, but that also is not too easy to find, here at least ... what exactly is an "eggcrate" aluminium ? ...
 
It's like the square pattern stuff you posted, but made of thin aluminium instead. It is used for things like heater/air conditioning vents:

Sell-Aluminium-Egg-Crate-Core.jpg


Dan
 
Well, bought some 5mm acrylic today and cut out my bed blocks :D

DSCF5442.jpg


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Took ages to get my bodge bed level enough to cut them reliably, as they consist of over 36 individual pieces. I also discovered very quickly the laser doesn't like water temps over baout 20C, so I had to connect up my 1/10HP water chiller, which I set to 5C. Unfortunately it's not quite powerful enough to keep up, but I was running at 100% power basically constantly.

I also have a heap of little hexagonal and round blanks to play with :D

Annoyingly I've lost my packet of bearings, so I couldn't assemble them all for a pic.

Hopefully means I can start on the Z bed on the weekend. Expecting the arrival of 2 more stepper drivers, a water radiator and a current meter for the CO2 laser tomorrow.

EDIT: Assembled a few more, unfortunately I seem to only have 6 bearings instead of the 8 I need, so need to try find a bearing place around here & get 2 more :(

DSCF5445.jpg


DSCF5446.jpg


That's what's epic about CNC machines .. it's not even complete and already it's making parts for itself :D

Dan
 
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