Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

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Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

Postby naPS » Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:50 am

So like most folks on here, I'm in the process of building the 2.0 laser. I'm nearly done, and I've taken quite a few notes during the build process, and figured now is as good a time as ever to come do a brain dump.

I purchased all of the kits from Bart, but cut my own 1/2" and 1/4" plastic pieces on my mill. Everything assembled great, and there are a few tips I can hopefully pass along to get others rocking and rolling with their lasers.

First - the electronics need mounting hardware. This isn't supplied in the kits. I used M4 socket head bolts to secure the Kelling power supply to the electronics enclosure. The 4020 drivers are no longer available from Kelling, so you have to drill your own holes for the 4030's. They're a little bit bigger, and if you upgrade to the Z-axis stepper you'll have to definitely drill some new holes for that driver. I used some packaged screws and nuts from Home Depot to secure the drivers, power supply, and DIN rail to the electronics platform, and used slightly longer ones to secure the break out board. This was all pretty simple. I also used a couple of brass wood screws to secure the power connector to the back panel since the connector itself didn't come with mounting screws, which was a little odd. The 120v socket attached easiest for me by removing the bottom screw that would normally go into the box in your wall, and just screwing it through the middle hole that would normally attach the cover plate to the socket assembly. It's nice and tight for me, and seems to be working very well.

I still haven't come up with a solution for running a parallel cable from the rear of the electronics assembly to the break out board, but I am also not going to spend too much time on it as I have a v2.0 Pololu driver board that I am making a custom back plate similar to the one that Bart showed the other day. Should take a couple of minutes on the mill and I'll be done. Since it will be directly plugged in at that point, there will be no need for a parallel extension.

The electronics assembly itself was pretty easy, and fairly self-explanatory. I purchased a Syil SX3 mill a few years ago, and it's given me enough headaches because of the inferior electronics that I'm fairly familiar with Mach3 setup and pins and ports and stepper drivers and ARRRRRRGH! CHINESE ELECTRONICS ARE CRAP. At least the Syil ones are. Chalk that up to a major learning experience which made this assembly pretty simple. I spent a little extra time when I was assembling everything to run the wires in sleeves. That's just me being OCD, and probably unnecessary.

The frame assembly is fairly self explanatory as well. I wanted to start before I received the kits from Bart, so I ordered everything on the BOM from Mitsumi, and went to town. If you're looking to go this route, you'll need a ton of M5 10mm socket head screws for all the angle brackets, and M5 12mm socket head screws for attaching the 1/4" plastic parts to the frame. Don't forget to purchase a lot of M5 washers if you're going this route as well. Order a shit-ton of extra T-Nuts too, both the pre and post assembly. You'll need them. Trust me. You will. Just get them. And put extras EVERYWHERE.

I didn't really have any issues with the frame assembly, other than attaching the stepper motors to some of the mounting plates. I can only assume that my plastic pieces are a little thicker than the ones that Bart supplies, because the screws supplied in the hardware kits were slightly too small. I believe they were 8mm long, and I had to purchase some 10mm long screws, which fit the drivers perfectly. This was actually only an issue on the Z stepper, the others were fine, as they were longer.

Once the frame and electronics were assembled, the rest was really straight forward. Put the skins on in the order suggested in the instructions. Mount the laser, mount the mirrors, align everything, and burn away. Oh wait, that's a total lie, it was another fun learning experience. I can honestly say that I had more fun assembling this laser than I have doing just about anything short of playing with my kids over the last couple of months. Seeing it all come together is rewarding. And, my kids loved watching it go through the various stages of assembly.

Here's some interesting things I ran across that will hopefully make someone else's assembly much less frustrating when they get to these parts.

My hardware kit only came with 3 spacers to fir the mirror mount next to the laser. I can only assume this is an error on the BOM, as I noticed in the Trogdor build, he's got the exact same thing going on. I put two of them on the bolts directly below the mirror, and one furthest away from the mirror. Worked great.

My mirror assemblies from Lightobject were both different. I about chucked some beer bottles at the wall when I was initially trying to align the mirror on the gantry to the head. After spending about 3 hours going crazy, I took a day off, cooled off, and really examined what was going on. The easiest way to describe what was different is that the threaded mounting holes were on different sides, if you look at the trogdor build, his mirror mounts are exactly the same, the ones I was sent are mirror images of each other. Once I noticed this, it became clear that there was no real way I was going to align them the way I had them installed... basically an error on my part for not picking that up before. So, I swapped them around, re-squared everything up, and 10 minutes later I had a perfectly aligned laser.

My power supply from Lovehappyshopping was shipped with AC110 markings on it, leading me to believe it was a 110v power supply. Nope. It's 220v. What a pain in the ass, but I had two circuits in the same room that I was able to combine to make a 220v circuit. I've got the second leg running through a 24v relay that closes when the 24v electronics power supply is energized, so I don't ever forget to turn one of the phases off to the laser power supply. I went back and read the auction after I found out what my problem was, and you are supposed to specify what voltage power supply you want. Mea culpa.

Getting the tygon tubing on the fittings with the small gaps between them on the laser tube was a challenge.... until I read that you can just heat the tygon up in some hot water, and it slips right on. Well, guess what, the directions were right. It went on super easy after I heated the tube in some boiling water for like 4 or 5 seconds. Too simple.

I'm using a fountain pump I purchased from Harbor Freight as my water pump. I also have a GEMS water flow sensor that I purchased off of e-bay for 10 bucks, and it works like a champ. Other than the fact that the threaded connections on the sensor body aren't standard, and I couldn't find anything to fit it, so I've currently got the water flow switch jumpered out on the break out board. I've ordered some 1/4" barbed fittings from GEMS, and when they get in, I'll mount the sensor in my machine and wire it up. I milled a mounting bracket out of 1/2" HPDE for it, and it works great.

I'm using the 660 CFM Dust Collector from Harbor Freight for my exhaust fan. Can't smell a thing in the room when the cutter is in operation, and it's surprisingly quiet. I'm very happy with it. It's enough airflow to keep the smell and smoke out of the unit, but not so much it's whipping things around inside the housing.

I'm using the 70 lpm airbrush compressor from Harbor Freight for my air assist. Works great, super quiet, no complaints there. Fairly steady output, but it does pulse slightly. A receiver would totally alleviate this, but I'm not even sure it's necessary.

One weird issue I thought I was having was due to me using the incorrect inputs for the Step Resolution Calculator on the site. I ended up using 200 Steps per Revolution, 20 pulley teeth, and .08 belt pitch. It then spit out the correct values for me based on the micro stepping. It's another one of those things where I was just being a bonehead, and the information was readily available.

That's about all I can write for now, I've got a lot going on here, and can't wait to cut some stuff tonight.

One thing I did want to ask though, is the acrylic that I can buy at Hone Depot really acryllic? I tried cutting it, and it basically just melted, It's not like the acryllic I cut on my buddies laser cutter a while ago, that stuff seemed to cut like butter. This stuff just kinda blobbed up, like folks said they noticed with PVC and whatnot.

TJK_6772.JPG
The frame, coming together.


TJK_6741.JPG


TJK_6923.JPG


Edit : If you're looking at where to purchase the Cable Carriers, there's a post here that give the details on which ones you need to order. I ordered them locally from Motion Industries, and they shipped directly to my house. It was $20.00 for the X carrier, and $14.00 for the Y carrier. I purchased a few extra of each just in case, so if you need one in a pinch, shoot me a PM, and we can work something out.
Last edited by naPS on Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

Postby lovebugjunkie » Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:58 pm

The acrylic that machines nice is call "Cast acrylic" I think the stuff you find at the local hardware store is "Extruded acrylic" hate the extruded stuff for machining..
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Re: Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

Postby naPS » Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:36 pm

Yeah, I got it to cut real well last night. I had to adjust the height to put the focus basically right at the top of the piece, and then it cut fine. I found with the extruded stuff that it cut best with the laser at full power and moving about 14 in/min.
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Re: Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

Postby BenJackson » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:05 pm

My understanding is that the extruded acrylic has trapped stress which can be released when you cut. Sort of like when you saw a straight board in half and end up with two warped boards.
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Extruded Acrylic

Postby naPS » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:28 pm

Yeah, that seems to be what I'm getting with this stuff. Some of it cuts great, and then there's certain parts where it cuts, but warps, and the little pieces come out bent somewhat. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on some of the cast stuff, and see if that cuts better. I'm sure there's more adjusting and whatnot I need to do with my laser, I've mainly just been monkeying around with it trying to figure out what settings work best for different materials.
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Re: Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

Postby r691175002 » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:44 pm

From my experince the real problem with extruded acrylic is that the trapped stress combined with the additional stress from being laser cut (heating only the edge of the piece) means that when you try to glue the stuff it crazes insanely badly. I've read that it can also be a problem with cast acrylic and is worse with low power lasers because the heat stays around longer at low cut speeds.

You can anneal the material before or after cutting which should fix the problem. I haven't tried it though.
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Re: Fueled by Newcastle, naPS 2.0 Build

Postby naPS » Sun Jul 17, 2011 5:10 pm

I have been insanely busy with work lately, and haven't had as much time to create things with my laser as I would like. I have been messing with Tweakie's Mach3 engraving plugin, and I gotta say, I'm getting results that are similar to what others are posting with their DSP's / RetinaEngraves. There's a small issue if you're going to do it this way though - not being able to combine raster and vector at differing power levels in the same run is, well, annoying. It's not insurmountable, but if I want to engrave a picture, and then cut the picture out using a vector cut at higher power it takes two operations using two different Mach3 profiles. Like I said, it can be done, but it's not as user friendly as the DSP or RE which can do it all in one shot.

I did make a couple of small improvements which have made set up a lot easier. I added a 10 turn potentiometer, which has allowed me to make very fine voltage adjustments. I'm sure it's completely overkill given the laser power supply I am using, however, I've been able to get very repeatable results when engraving, and I can get my desired voltage setting dead-on instead of within a few tenths, like I was able to get with the kit pot. The pot I used was : http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?lang=en&site=US&KeyWords=GU5021S26&x=0&y=0 It's a little pricey at about $16.00, but personally I'm not on a very strict budget, and I wanted a good part. The bummer about it is that it didn't come with a knob. Lame. It works like a champ though and is very smooth.

Secondly, I added a volt meter from LightObject. http://www.lightobject.com/4-12-Digital-Blue-LED-20V-Meter-P50.aspx This was simple to wire up, I just used the +5v wire already present in the front interface bundle to supply the meter power, and then hooked the sensing wires up to the pot leads. Also works perfect, and it looks cool tool. This thing was about $19.00 - fairly cheap.

Last, I cut a new interface panel that includes the volt meter. I had a piece of clear acrylic I cut it out of, but plan on cutting another one out of black when I finally get around to installing the Pololu driver board. I'll add in another hole for the new toggle switch once I procure one and have dimensions for what I need to cut. I need to move the power supply and a few other things around before I do that, as I'm going to use Barts .dxf to cut a new rear panel that is a fixed mount, and set the rest of the electronics bed up so it comes out the side, and not the back. It should be much easier to remove from the side than having to mess with all the other junk coming out of the rear of the machine. Anyhow, the .dxf for the panel that I cut is here : http://www.toddknapek.com/buildlog/naPS_interface_panel.dxf
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Added some improvements

Postby naPS » Fri Aug 12, 2011 10:26 pm

Updated some of the electronics tray, and moved the laser power supply to a shelf above the electronics tray. Installed the version 2 interface board with Pololu drivers on it. Put the details on my blog - toddknapek.com

One of the issues that I didn't detail is in relation to the new rear electronics panel. I have a way I'm going to address it, but was wondering if there's an easier way. The two screws that the cable retainer screws would screw into on the D connector are probably too tall. If they are screwed in to the interface board from the other side of the rear panel they protrude too far and prevent the cable from being completely seated inside the d connector on the interface board. I'm actually going to support the interface board using some acrylic brackets mounted on the underside of the card, but the current layout of the panel doesn't allow too much room for that.

It's also kinda a pain having all the adjustments having to be done from the top of the board. If you mount another shelf above the electronics enclosure to support the laser power supply, it makes accessing the adjusting screws on the driver boards somewhat challenging. I'm actually considering mounting the board vertically, or making it so I can remove the board from the rear of the machine without having to remove the whole rear panel. The only thing that makes mounting the board vertically a challenge is the connections on the side of the board. There's probably not enough clearance to do this properly.
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Fired up the rotational engraving tool...

Postby naPS » Mon Aug 15, 2011 10:54 pm

And it worked. Right out of the box. Didn't change a single setting on anything, just plug and play.

Did a couple of test engravings on some crap wineglass that my mother-in-law has used 'extensively.' My kids can't pronounce Grandma yet, so they call her Bubba. She spells it Baba, I guess thinking that she isn't like the typical "Bubba." Go figure.

It came out great - I'm very happy with the results. I tried the first "Wine" engraving at 100% laser power - it was too much. It made a couple of cracks in the glass - right at where the "W" is. The rest of the cut came out great. The "Baba's Juice" part was cut at 50% laser power, and didn't produce any cracks. Please pardon the dust and crap in the photos - if I was taking this for a production run I would have used a dust free towel to wipe the thing down instead of a paper towel. But you get the idea...

TJK_7292.JPG


TJK_7291.JPG
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Another rotational engraving tool image...

Postby naPS » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:40 am

My favorite beer, on a tall glass. The image is 3" tall... the detail came out way more clear than I can capture in this picture. I need to get a macro lens for my camera, bad. You can actually see the detail in the medals, and the bridge and skyline in the star. The letters have the outline, and the star does as well. It's much more impressive in person, unfortunately. But, it still came out great.

TJK_7575.JPG
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