Note: This design has been superceded by the 2.x Laser. There is a blog post on it, information on the wiki and a lot of discussion on the forum.
This was designed as a "self replicating" laser cutter engraver'. What this means, is all of the high tolerance complicated parts can be made on a laser cutter. So, once one laser cutter is done, it can help make others. All of the other parts can either be purchased or made with common home tools.
This is not a mamby pamby little diode laser than can slowly cut through a piece of thin black tape. This will cut real materials, quickly. If you want to know what it can cut, go to a Ponoko type site and check out their materials list.
This was designed to be a dirt cheap, but fully capable laser cutter. Many of the material choices were made to satisfy that goal. I am sure many people will know of better materials, but usually at a higher cost. Feel free to substitute them .Almost everything that is not an off the shelf item, can be made with a laser cutter or router. To kick start the first generation of 'self replicating lasers, I have some kits located here.
The buildlog is presented blog style (most recent entry first) if you want to go view it the other way click here... Take me to the beginning of the build
Suggest changes. A lot of the design comes from your input.
Link to buildlog.net. More people + more ideas = better laser
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Buildlog Title: Buildlog.net Open Source Laser
Builder: bdring
Member Since: 2009-11-22
Saturday, May 1st 2010 - 6:05 PM
When you get to the length I need for the Z lift belt, the sizes start going in 8"-10" steps. It is tough to find the size you need. I really want to try Econobelt because the price is almost a 1/3 of Stock Drive. The Z lift lead screws don't need to go at the ends of the table, so I am going to move them closer together. This might cause an issue with the X axis motor. I thought about moving the motor to the top side of gantry. This does not change much at all and gains some usable XY range.
I am going to try this method and show the results.
Comment from: lasersafe1 on Saturday, May 1st 2010 - 1:46 PM
There are extruding companies that will make a die based on your design. It would be a large up-front cost, but imagine if you were the only guy selling extrusions that were designed to carry the cheap skate bearings. I guess this is still not good, because it would be the stainless bearing riding on an aluminum extrusion. We still want a hard rubber wheel.
Saturday, May 1st 2010 - 1:24 PM
That is a good link. I'll post it somewhere. I also searched for the track that the Chinese lasers run on, but found nothing. There has to be an extrusion house in China making them.
The races on most bearings are hardened, so it would probably need to be ground. You can get decent bearings with no play pretty cheaply. I though a press on nylon v-wheel "tire" for a bearing might work.
Comment from: lasersafe1 on Saturday, May 1st 2010 - 1:16 PM
I bought a weight lifting machine from the thrift store and it had many bad pulleys. I bought some urethane razor scooter wheels that were $1 each at the dollar store and chucked them into a lathe* and turned it down to produce a negative groove for the lifting cables. It outperforms the original pulleys and is vitually silent. Now of course these wheels are too big for your application, but there might be something you can find that can be turned on a lathe.
*(note: it wasn't actually a lathe. I used my mill as the turner and had the cutter fixed in a vise)
If you're happy with metal, perhaps you can turn down the outer race of a standard skateboard bearing a 10 or 20 mils. Just enough of a groove to mate the v-rail. I would thing the outer race is at least 1/16" thick. Might be too much work.
Actually, the noise is not an issue once the cover is down. The tiny motor board fan and steppers are actually louder. The wheel are strong and ridged as hell.
The real issue is cost. They cost about $10 each. They are probably the most overpriced item on the design. I just bought some nylon V wheels from Stock Drive, but the bearings are very loose. They might work under tension, but I am skeptical. I might try on a separate piece later.
I have looked around for rubber, plastic or nylon wheels and not found anything. I'll owe some real favors to anyone who can find a decent rubber wheel and riding surface combo. I even toyed with a press on nylon part to a standard bearing.
Comment from: lasersafe1 on Saturday, May 1st 2010 - 2:48 AM
bdring wrote:
Comment From Buildlog Author
I might see about qty buys from the v bearing people to get the cost down on those expensive items.
I didn't want to be too critical, but I would suggest you might try something else for riding on the v-channel. I saw the video of your x axis driving fast and the noise seemed somthing horrific. Noise is one of the components of friction. My laser has the rubber wheels that ride in the groove and the movement is just a quiet "shoosh" from side to side. Perhaps you don't view it as a problem if your happy with your speeds and tolerances, but if there is a urethane or nylon wheel to try......
So the Universal laser uses rubber wheels, the Chinese lasers use rubber wheels... Might be a reason for it.
Saturday, May 1st 2010 - 12:08 AM
I got sent half way across the country on unexpected business yesterday and my extrusions for the new z lift appear to be one their way to Ohio. I live in Illinois about 10 miles from where they ship the parts, but the tracking number shows them slowing going towards Ohio?
I think I will temporarily use the old extrusions so I can make sure everything fits as planned and swap in the part later.
Here is the aftermath of my battle to get the old Z axis out. The floor had to be cut in half inside the enclosure to get it out. Good thing I have a great built in exhaust fan . .
Hopefully I will have all the parts by the weekend. I am sure I can keep myself busy cleaning up.
Comment from: willyinaus on Sunday, April 25th 2010 - 9:46 PM
My white light tent is a pillowcase and two coat hangers bent to keep it up
Sunday, April 25th 2010 - 4:24 PM
This is the table bracket I am going to try. This will bolt to the bottom of the table. It uses a T-Nut to ride on the threaded shaft. The T-Nut fits into a special pocket on the bracket. It has a little float to accommodate slight mis-aligned or non straight shafts. It is only held together with gravity. This allows very easy leveling of the table. If you need a corner to move up or down a little, you just lift the table and rotate the nut in 1/3 turn increments. .
Note: This black Acrylic is really hard to take a picture of. It is like taking a picture of a mirror. I need to get a white light tent.
Comment from: willyinaus on Sunday, April 25th 2010 - 5:48 AM
Hey Ill buy a kit as well
Comment from: Robert Williams on Sunday, April 25th 2010 - 3:26 AM
[quote="bdring"][comment][/comment]Z motor is NEMA 23.
I could probably put both patterns on the motor bracket just for the fun of it. I get the pulleys next week. I did not order the belt yet, because I want to make sure everything fits right. I think I might give http://www.econobelt.com/ at try. The belts seem a lot cheaper than Stock Drive. The pulleys are about the same price.
Now that the laser is pretty productive, I might start selling part kits. I think I will start with an 6mm Acrylic part kit for the XY system, a 1/4" MDF part kit for the skins and an Acrylic one for the Z lift assembly. The kits would just be for the parts not available off the shelf. I might see about qty buys from the v bearing people to get the cost down on those expensive items. The cost would be less than you could get it at Ponoko or Pulolu.[/quote]
I'll buy your kits NOW!... I notched 4 floors before I got it right, 2 Z tables. Robert
Buildlog Author Comment: bdring on Sunday, April 25th 2010 - 1:48 AM
Comment From Buildlog Author
Z motor is NEMA 23.
I could probably put both patterns on the motor bracket just for the fun of it. I get the pulleys next week. I did not order the belt yet, because I want to make sure everything fits right. I think I might give http://www.econobelt.com/ at try. The belts seem a lot cheaper than Stock Drive. The pulleys are about the same price.
Now that the laser is pretty productive, I might start selling part kits. I think I will start with an 6mm Acrylic part kit for the XY system, a 1/4" MDF part kit for the skins and an Acrylic one for the Z lift assembly. The kits would just be for the parts not available off the shelf. I might see about qty buys from the v bearing people to get the cost down on those expensive items. The cost would be less than you could get it at Ponoko or Pulolu.
Comment from: Robert Williams on Sunday, April 25th 2010 - 12:30 AM
Is the Z motor NEMA 17 or NEMA 23?
Saturday, April 24th 2010 - 10:51 PM
I fabricated the new Z lift parts. I don't have the correct pulleys yet, so I only put together the motor corner as a test. The parts all laser cut very well. It is a lot easier than routing, because you don't have to babysit the machine as much. With routing there is always concern of a piece of scrap getting itself in trouble. There will also be a piece that rides on the lead screw that attaches to the bed. I will work on that next. I want that to be much more simple than it is now. .
Motor Plate
I doubled up on the bearings. This might not be needed, but they are a little narrow compared to the belt. There is a washer between each bearing to make sure there is no stress between the inner and outer races. .
Motor Plate close up
I added one more feature at the last minute that may not even be necessary. Each piece with a lead screw has a tapped hole. This can be used to support the piece against the bottom if it starts to sag. A screw can be lowered to contact the floor as an additional support point. The Acrylic is quite stiff. With eight support brackets, it probably is not necessary. .
Comment from: willyinaus on Friday, April 23rd 2010 - 9:07 PM
.That looks like a really good design you have made up is it ok if I steal it when you have it all worked out
Comment from: Ben on Friday, April 23rd 2010 - 3:09 AM
bdring wrote:I refined the design to use a few less parts. The motor is mounted on one of the corners. This puts it in a nice location for shortest wiring. The lower right corner has the belt adjustment. This is just the sub assembly view. It mounts to the existing frame. Not all small hardware parts are shown yet.
I think I will laser out some parts and test it. .
z_lift_2.jpg
TBH I wasn’t a big fan of this design until I realized it allows you to mount the Z axis motor outside the perimeter of the cutting area; now I think it’s great ! Your method of routing the belt is simpler than mine and accomplishes the same belt contact area. I will probably go with a similar design when I’m able to update my Z axis design.
Friday, April 23rd 2010 - 2:57 AM
I laser cut two parts to test the clamping of the bearing. I think it will work great. I am still thrilled and amazed that the laser is accurate enough to cut a hole that can later be tapped (#6-32) without any clean-up drilling.
I refined the design to use a few less parts. The motor is mounted on one of the corners. This puts it in a nice location for shortest wiring. The lower right corner has the belt adjustment. This is just the sub assembly view. It mounts to the existing frame. Not all small hardware parts are shown yet.
I think I will laser out some parts and test it. .
I am working on a new simplified Z lift design. I want to make all the parts out of the same 6mm acrylic material that everything else is made out of. I also want to support it from the frame only. This will make the bottom skin simpler. It will also be much easier to build and adjust.
My first attempt at the design is shown below. This assembly will be the same in all corners but one. One corner will have some adjustment of the idler pulley to allow the belt to be tensioned. The motor (not designed yet) will be in the back of the cabinet. This design looses a little Z travel, but increases the table X/Y size. I think this is better anyway. .
I bumped the mirrors a few times while installing the cover and gas springs so I wanted to re-align the mirrors. I thought a neat low tech feature would be to have a remote laser trigger. This would allow me to trigger the laser while I am near the mirrors.
I already had a manual button on my front interface, so I just put a 1/4" mono jack connector in parallel with it. I then put a button at the end of a long cable with a mating plug. .
Remote Trigger
. Yes....my manual power control knob is timing pulley. I did not have a real knob and the pulley fit
Buildlog Author Comment: bdring on Sunday, April 11th 2010 - 1:49 PM
Comment From Buildlog Author
If I shake the table the cover wiggles a little but does not appear to want to close. It feels like it takes about a 1/2 lb of force to pull down. It is pretty close to vertical so there is not much force on the springs when fully open. It pushes itself open for about the last 2-3 inches. All other positions it wants to close. I was mostly interested in having it hold itself open and assist me in opening. The spring is available in 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120 pressures. I chose the lightest one.
There is a lot of adjustment capability because everything is mounted to the slots. I did not play with it too much. If it tended to close by itself, I could increase the support angle a bit. The nice thing about gas springs is that they keep a constant force throughout the compression, unlike a spring which increases.
Comment from: Ben on Sunday, April 11th 2010 - 5:37 AM
The painted enclosure skins look great! My laser enclosure also has the front broken into three sections. The gas springs seem to hold the door open nicely; does it stay closed even when bumped or jostled?
Saturday, April 10th 2010 - 10:14 PM
I did some finishing on the enclosure skins. I just painted them gloss white. Before I painted the front skin, I split it into three sections. I want the middle section to be easy to remove to get occasional low access from the front. .
Painted Enclosure
I also got thew gas springs working. They were putting too much stress on the hinge. I previously had to alternate the screws because the heads were bumping into each other when the hinge was completely closed. I got some flat head M3 x 5mm and that allowed all holes to be used without the heads interfering. It works well now. Edit: I realized the gas springs are mounted upside down and fixed. The McMaster info page on gas springs says the fat end should be mounted above the thin end wherever possible. I think this makes the seal last longer. .
I finally got around to cutting the window for the cover. It looks pretty good. I didn't put all the screws in place yet, because I will be painting it. I think I might add a window to the front too. It is nice to be able to see the work at a low profile when it is cutting/engraving. I put the gas springs in too, but they are distorting the hinge a little. I think I just need to add a few extra mounting holes right near the ends of the hinge. I have some simple handles too that will go on after painting. .
Comment from: dfowell on Wednesday, March 31st 2010 - 2:06 PM
Hey I have been reading your blog and following your laser build, I am working with lasers in my shop big lasers and wanted to build my own I was wandering if you have a parasolid of your laser build and drawings to scale so i can attempt to build one, Thanks Good Job
very impressed
Wednesday, March 31st 2010 - 12:38 AM
V25Aspire_Final_Logo.jpg (5.77 KiB) Viewed 35419 times
. I have been using my VectricAspire program to laser cut some parts. I made a post processor file for it. Aspire is way overkill for laser cutting, but it should work for all Vectric's other programs as well. Cut-2D is probably a good candidate for lasering and is a decent price. You can download a semi-working version for free.
The post processor is for use with Mach3 and the E1P1/E1P0 control style. I will detail my E1P1 control method in a later post.
My ultimate goal with this open source laser is to make it possible to build one with no special tools. I want all of the complicated part to be fab'able by another laser. If enough people build one, there will be an easy supply of parts.
I finally got around to cutting one of the laser's own pieces. This is the laser carriage plate. You can see the original (installed) and the new piece. I put a piece of white foam board under all the pieces to give a little contrast in the picture. I have not cleaned-up the assist hose routing since I made the new cover. I actually have some new self coiling tubing I want to try. .
I have had this dust blower for about 4 years. It did a lame job on my router. The shop vacuum did much better. I decided to hook it up to my laser with it located right at the wall to minimize leaks that could cause gas to re-enter the shop. It is almost ready to go. It was a lot of work to plumb in and get it out the side of the house. I got ride of the bag and all the other attachments. .
I found a good gas spring at McMaster Carr. The gas springs are McMaster p/n 4138T551. I did some graphical calculations on using it. As I understand it, I want to fully extend the spring at my full open which is going to be about 80deg. I want it to almost fully compress as it closes, but I want the spring to have some over-travel so the last few inches actually push it closed rather than pushing it open.
The spring is available in a lot of strengths, but I will go for the lowest, I really only want a minor amount of assist and enough to hold it open. Any extra is just unwanted stress on the enclosure. .
I built the cover out of the framing material and temporarily put it in place without the skins. I think it will work. I think I will put two small gas springs to hold it open and closed. I think one gas spring would eventually warp the cover. I need to get some more plywood and the windows is due later this week.
I might also hinge the lower front or at least make it a quick release. .
Here is more on the proposed cover. The cover has a frame that is 2020 extrusion. The cover frame fits inside the enclosure frame, but the skins for the cover are the full width of the enclosure. This will hide any gaps and seal a little better. I have the skins made out of plywood with an Acrylic window, but the whole top skin could be Acrylic. .
Buildlog Author Comment: bdring on Monday, March 15th 2010 - 3:14 PM
Comment From Buildlog Author
I can't imagine the partial vacuum theory being responsible. At best your blower can probably pull 10-12 inches at stalled flow. One atmosphere is 407 inches of water, so your are only changing the air by a couple percent.
You can make your own manometer with a piece of clear tubing. Some people set one up permanently near the flow, because it can show when filters need to be changed or there is blockage somewhere.
I cut a bunch of Acrylic yesterday and while the smoke and fumes behaved themselves, there was still a little stink in the air afterwards. I think I need to re-evaluate my system. I think I will get ride of my current blower and go with something larger and put it outside the building like you mentioned in this post.
I was at a junk yard on Saturday and saw dozens of huge blowers. One was the size of a refrigerator. I was tempted, on some of them, but did not buy.
Comment from: lasersafe1 on Monday, March 15th 2010 - 2:11 PM
One consideration is the inlet size vs. the the total evacuation rate. On my Chinese M40 I would tend to start things on fire, especially during paper cutting. I added the air assist and it would blow out the flames. On my ULS-25 I don't have air assist yet, but it doesn't start fires. I presume that my air exhaust is actually drawing a partial vacuum on the entire enclosure so it cannot support ignition. My exhaust flow rate is also MUCH higher than I had on the M40. I don't have an anemometer, but I would suspect I am near 600 cuft/min.
On a side note, I ran into a web site that says that the blower in your average clothes dryer is very good for this. Indeed, have you ever felt the blast of air coming out of the dryer vent?
Sunday, March 14th 2010 - 4:26 PM
I finished aligning the laser. It is accurate to a few thousands of an inch. See this post.
I started working on a cover. I originally thought a door the size of the work area would be good, But I think the reason I have held off on the cover is that I like to have full access from the top. So I have a full cover concept going. If anyone has any input, let me know. I will probably start cutting the pieces soon.
Cover Concept
It is basically a L shaped extrusion assembly that will be skinned in plywood with a transparent window above the work area (not shown yet). I found some really cheap piano hinge that works pretty well with the extrusion. Below are some pictures of a mock-up. I have two scraps of plywood shown. One piece will actually be more like a optional decorative trim strip on the stationary side of the hinge. I plan to put at least one gas spring to hold it open.
I broke one of the belt clamps. I was tightening at a bad angle and over did it. It is way easier to measure the belt, then install the clamps onto the belt before they go on the machine. They don't have to be tight at all. The teeth do all the work and the plastic threads are sort of self locking, so they won't loosen.
Anyway, I need to make one more, so I decided to turn the router loose on making a bunch of them. If anyone else breaks one I can send a spare. .
Many of the plastic parts need to be drilled or tapped into the side. This needs to be measured, marked and carefully drilled. I thought the fabrication process could add these lines make it easier.
I tried it with the tube mounting brackets. If you look carefully you will see a little half moon by each drill location. It worked great. The drill actually centers on the mark. .
Drill Location Marks
CAD View
I made 6 of these by the way. If anyone wants to try them, I can send them at my cost plus shipping. I will include the black nylon screws too.
I got the Y axis working. It was very easy to square up. The connecting shaft can easily be twisted to lock down the final fraction of a degree.
Here is a video. I had the Y axis set to a max speed of 1000 ipm and and accel of 750 inches/min/min. I easily goes five times that rate, but the the whole table states to shake. I don't need much speed in the Y so I dialed it down.
I posted the latest drawing of the XY assembly on the drawings page. I tweaked the idler pulley assemblies a little. I was using two brackets per pulley, but that turned out not to be required. I decided it would be better to have another Misumi bracket on the other side to more add side to side stiffness. If you fab'ed some parts already. They will work. You will just have two extra pulley plates.
I also got rid of the o'ring concept I was playing with to hold the bearings in place. My material came in so thin that it did not fit right and the regular hardware was holding it fine. If you have thicker material and are having trouble, let me know. I have a small amount of thicker material I can try out. I can also cut a few out of the thinner material for you. My router can be dialed in so that it is a nice tight, almost press fit.
My pulleys arrived today so I might be able to get them installed and start re-aiming the mirrors.
I also have a long term goal of simplifying the enclosure skins. I want some way to fab them without the large router that I use. If anyone has any ideas or some alternate materials, I would love to hear about it.
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