I'm playing around with the idea of building a laser engraver from an old flatbed pen plotter and er, a laser. I was thinking of biffing a ~300mW 22x red LD into it originally, but on further research I think that might only be capable of engraving fluff and if I'm lucky, foam. So maybe I'll go for a CO2 - at this stage though I'm just thinking about getting the plotter sorted.
Anybody else thought of this or have any experiences? Successful (or failed!) attempts?
The basic principle seems sound enough to me, wire the pen down/up to laser on/off. Mount the laser directly to where the pen would go (if it's a diode) or use mirrors (if it's CO2). Set the speed and power to something suitable for the material. Lift the gantry out of the casing a bit to make some more clearance and there you go.
It's just the details that get ye..
Anybody else thought of this or have any experiences? Successful (or failed!) attempts?
The basic principle seems sound enough to me, wire the pen down/up to laser on/off. Mount the laser directly to where the pen would go (if it's a diode) or use mirrors (if it's CO2). Set the speed and power to something suitable for the material. Lift the gantry out of the casing a bit to make some more clearance and there you go.
It's just the details that get ye..
