Baby CNC engraver

[Nick Reynolds]

I bought myself one of these toylike things to have a play with...

http://www.banggood.com/500mW-Desktop-DIY-CNC-Micro-Laser-Engraving-Machine-Assembling-Kits-p-1055378.html

...might be assembling it tonight.

I've already sorted all the parts and had a look at the assembly manual. Assuming there's not a ton of slop in the leadscrews I'm hoping it can turn out some quite accurate small pieces.

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Nick Reynolds - 950SM|620SC
In the land beyond cleaning where the Dust Donkeys dwell

[Connor Shearwood]

I was interested in getting one of those (or something similar, there are almost identical kits on ebay/amazon for ~£200), I'd be interested in seeing what kind of performance you can get out of it.

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[Nick Reynolds]

I'm seeing this very much as a learning experience.

The HS CNC machines are a bit serious to arse about on and a lot of the time I'd just be looking to make something small from plastic/wood. I've got my own 3D printer but the surface finish isn't good enough for some of what I want to make.

Can't see the laser module doing much but should be fun for making some lettering on things.

On 19 January 2017 at 15:55, Connor Shearwood <dr...@lifein2d.co.uk> wrote:

I was interested in getting one of those (or something similar, there are almost identical kits on ebay/amazon for ~£200), I'd be interested in seeing what kind of performance you can get out of it.

On Thu, 19 Jan 2017 at 15:51 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace <london-hack-space@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I bought myself one of these toylike things to have a play with...

http://www.banggood.com/500mW-Desktop-DIY-CNC-Micro-Laser-Engraving-Machine-Assembling-Kits-p-1055378.html

...might be assembling it tonight.

I've already sorted all the parts and had a look at the assembly manual. Assuming there's not a ton of slop in the leadscrews I'm hoping it can turn out some quite accurate small pieces.

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In the land beyond cleaning where the Dust Donkeys dwell

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[Nick Reynolds]

Built this last night and it went nice and easily. There were a LOT of M3 nylocks to tighten. They've seemingly improved some of the parts since they wrote the instructions but changed the number of screws so you have to use slightly over long ones for a lot of it or you end up short elsewhere.

https://goo.gl/photos/jSvSDjAdZWB5rHDU8

I ran out of time to actually power it up, I hope to have a go at engraving something this evening.

[chrisbob12]

Thanks for posting this, I'm keen to see how you get on with it. Do you expect to cut material with the laser? Also I wasn't clear from the website what the maximum size workpiece is.

[Simon Howes]

Be super careful of the laser on this.

Its an eyekiller.

[Nick Reynolds]

The laser module is supposedly 500mW so I'm only expecting to mark/engrave the odd thing. Being able to mark the surface or finish on things is all I'm expecting. I'm guessing it might cut paper/card but I need to experiment.

I've done a build video but need to turn it into a timelapse to not bore the pants off people as it's the best part of three hours long.

On 20 January 2017 at 09:45, 'chrisbob12' via London Hackspace <london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thanks for posting this, I'm keen to see how you get on with it. Do you expect to cut material with the laser? Also I wasn't clear from the website what the maximum size workpiece is.

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[Nick Reynolds]

I've bought some of the safety glasses they sell but I'm not going to trust my eyesight to them.

I will completely enclose it before using the laser and probably wear the glasses too, just in case. From another project I've got a dozen or so spare USB webcams, I'll probably put one inside the box so I can watch it do stuff.

On 20 January 2017 at 10:02, 'Simon Howes' via London Hackspace <london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Be super careful of the laser on this.

Its an eyekiller.

[Billy]

It might be worth picking up some tinted glass to make an enclosure, similar to what is used in the existing laser-cutter lid.

We have the screens that we use in the welding room, which are made from strips of flexible plastic. Might there be something similar for the wavelengths used by the laser?

But, yes. Protect your eyes.

On Friday, January 20, 2017 at 10:02:38 AM UTC, Nick Reynolds wrote:

The laser module is supposedly 500mW so I'm only expecting to mark/engrave the odd thing. Being able to mark the surface or finish on things is all I'm expecting. I'm guessing it might cut paper/card but I need to experiment.

I've done a build video but need to turn it into a timelapse to not bore the pants off people as it's the best part of three hours long.

On 20 January 2017 at 09:45, 'chrisbob12' via London Hackspace <london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Thanks for posting this, I'm keen to see how you get on with it. Do you expect to cut material with the laser? Also I wasn't clear from the website what the maximum size workpiece is.

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[Nick Reynolds]

Nope, I don't have a build video. Either I forgot to press record (I swear I didn't) or my generic action cam trashed the file when the battery went flat. Currently attempting file recovery on the card.

If I could be _sure_ to get some tinted glass that would be good eye protection I'd build an enclosure with some fitted but I don't want to take a risk. It's going to be need controlling from a PC so plugging a webcam into the same PC for viewing will be no great hardship.

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[Chris Brasted]

For enclosing the machine, I don't think you need anything other than standard polycarb guards.
I was involved in developing a CO2 cutting laser rig in a factory and getting the specialist consultant in to advise on safety and so forth (about twenty years ago). The machine was enclosed with regular clear polycarbonate guards, which was considered sufficient protection from stray beams when the machine was running, since the beam would be diverging from the cutting point onwards. Also worth knowing what the beam hits in the absence of a workpiece: does that surface act as a beam dump?

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[Nick Reynolds]

It's a black anodised aluminium extrusion. So not desperately reflective but it's not going to sop the beam up either.

On 20 January 2017 at 10:57, Chris Brasted <chrisb...@gmail.com> wrote:

For enclosing the machine, I don't think you need anything other than standard polycarb guards.
I was involved in developing a CO2 cutting laser rig in a factory and getting the specialist consultant in to advise on safety and so forth (about twenty years ago). The machine was enclosed with regular clear polycarbonate guards, which was considered sufficient protection from stray beams when the machine was running, since the beam would be diverging from the cutting point onwards. Also worth knowing what the beam hits in the absence of a workpiece: does that surface act as a beam dump?

[tim_n]

These lasers work on a set frequency.  They are not like CO2 lasers.  Using standard acrylic will not prevent you being blinded.  CE rated glasses have a frequency for these lasers and you need glasses specific to that frequency.  When previously looking into this, I found that a lot of the glasses are standard coloured acrylic and will give you no protection what so ever.  In the UK, the most common glasses that protect the eyes from these lasers retailed at about £150+

Of course you have no guarentee what laser you've actually received either.

You need to look at the laser area to ensure it's not on fire.

I'd err on the side of caution and just not use it at all.  I'm sure someone will be along shortly to say the exact opposite of what I've just said! :) I'm not an expert.

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[Nick Reynolds]

Yeah I'm not going to take stupid chances with the laser. It'll be inside a solid box, with a webcam pointed at it so I can watch progress. I'm going to start with standard engraving though as that's the main reason I bought the thing.

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[Nick Reynolds]

So far I've discovered the Z axis was miswired so it went in reverse and made homing the tool impossible as it wanted to smack it into the bed rather than lifting it up out of the way while it did so. From the product comments it seems other people have found this. Now I've rewired it the homing does what I expect and when fed a sample file makes the right kind of motion.

https://youtu.be/Cf-N8jW2G0c

I'll make myself some trivial g-code to try with a tool tomorrow. The controller runs grbl so you can use all manner of software, at least for the engraving and aren't stuck with what they supply.

[Ben Norcutt]

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

[Nick Reynolds]

Thanks, I'll have a look. At present the Arduino is loaded with grbl 0.9 so I might swap in another loaded with 1.1e and see how it behaves with laserweb.

Today in a classic bit of yak shaving I 3D printed a 'dummy' laser module that fits in place of the 'real' one but only has a~5mW module in. Which will allow me to mess about with it and watch it doing stuff in safety.

On 21 January 2017 at 18:29, Ben Norcutt <benno...@gmail.com> wrote:

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

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[Nick Reynolds]

After much distraction by other things I've got this working nicely with LaserWeb3. It's not going to be cutting anything much with a 500mW laser but it engraves on the surface of wood nicely. Currently my 'enclosure' is a large plastic stacking box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypokjwTqNoc

I now need to fiddle around with some CAD to produce some suitable gcode to use with the spindle and engraving bit.

The lack of end stop switches irks me but as you're then just going to set a zero position on the piece anyway it's not a big deal. I am thinking about retrofitting some end stops so it can automatically home and know its limits. While this would be fairly easy on X & Y axes, space is limited on the Z axis.

[Connor Shearwood]

Did you ever get the engraving side working?

On Wed, 1 Feb 2017, 10:49 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace, <london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

After much distraction by other things I've got this working nicely with LaserWeb3. It's not going to be cutting anything much with a 500mW laser but it engraves on the surface of wood nicely. Currently my 'enclosure' is a large plastic stacking box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypokjwTqNoc

I now need to fiddle around with some CAD to produce some suitable gcode to use with the spindle and engraving bit.

The lack of end stop switches irks me but as you're then just going to set a zero position on the piece anyway it's not a big deal. I am thinking about retrofitting some end stops so it can automatically home and know its limits. While this would be fairly easy on X & Y axes, space is limited on the Z axis.

On 22 January 2017 at 01:55, Nick Reynolds <ncmre...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Thanks, I'll have a look. At present the Arduino is loaded with grbl 0.9 so I might swap in another loaded with 1.1e and see how it behaves with laserweb.

Today in a classic bit of yak shaving I 3D printed a 'dummy' laser module that fits in place of the 'real' one but only has a~5mW module in. Which will allow me to mess about with it and watch it doing stuff in safety.

On 21 January 2017 at 18:29, Ben Norcutt <benno...@gmail.com> wrote:

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

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[tim_n]

mechanical endstops are only a few pence off aliexpress, worth buying a few and wiring them in.

Missed your updates, sounds like you're doing well.

On Wednesday, 1 February 2017 10:49:20 UTC, Nick Reynolds wrote:

After much distraction by other things I've got this working nicely with LaserWeb3. It's not going to be cutting anything much with a 500mW laser but it engraves on the surface of wood nicely. Currently my 'enclosure' is a large plastic stacking box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypokjwTqNoc

I now need to fiddle around with some CAD to produce some suitable gcode to use with the spindle and engraving bit.

The lack of end stop switches irks me but as you're then just going to set a zero position on the piece anyway it's not a big deal. I am thinking about retrofitting some end stops so it can automatically home and know its limits. While this would be fairly easy on X & Y axes, space is limited on the Z axis.

On 22 January 2017 at 01:55, Nick Reynolds <ncmre...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Thanks, I'll have a look. At present the Arduino is loaded with grbl 0.9 so I might swap in another loaded with 1.1e and see how it behaves with laserweb.

Today in a classic bit of yak shaving I 3D printed a 'dummy' laser module that fits in place of the 'real' one but only has a~5mW module in. Which will allow me to mess about with it and watch it doing stuff in safety.

On 21 January 2017 at 18:29, Ben Norcutt <benno...@gmail.com> wrote:

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

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In the land beyond cleaning where the Dust Donkeys dwell

[Nick Reynolds]

Yes, I engraved a wooden badge and that's about it. Must go back to it sometime. I've spent more time on the A3 diode laser engraver I bought than on this.

On 30 Jul 2017 9:38 am, "Connor Shearwood" <dr...@lifein2d.co.uk> wrote:

Did you ever get the engraving side working?

On Wed, 1 Feb 2017, 10:49 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace, <london-hack-space@googlegroups.com> wrote:

After much distraction by other things I've got this working nicely with LaserWeb3. It's not going to be cutting anything much with a 500mW laser but it engraves on the surface of wood nicely. Currently my 'enclosure' is a large plastic stacking box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypokjwTqNoc

I now need to fiddle around with some CAD to produce some suitable gcode to use with the spindle and engraving bit.

The lack of end stop switches irks me but as you're then just going to set a zero position on the piece anyway it's not a big deal. I am thinking about retrofitting some end stops so it can automatically home and know its limits. While this would be fairly easy on X & Y axes, space is limited on the Z axis.

On 22 January 2017 at 01:55, Nick Reynolds <ncmre...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Thanks, I'll have a look. At present the Arduino is loaded with grbl 0.9 so I might swap in another loaded with 1.1e and see how it behaves with laserweb.

Today in a classic bit of yak shaving I 3D printed a 'dummy' laser module that fits in place of the 'real' one but only has a~5mW module in. Which will allow me to mess about with it and watch it doing stuff in safety.

On 21 January 2017 at 18:29, Ben Norcutt <benno...@gmail.com> wrote:

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

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[Connor Shearwood]

What was the accuracy on it like?

On Mon, 31 Jul 2017, 12:49 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace, <london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Yes, I engraved a wooden badge and that's about it. Must go back to it sometime. I've spent more time on the A3 diode laser engraver I bought than on this.

On 30 Jul 2017 9:38 am, "Connor Shearwood" <dr...@lifein2d.co.uk> wrote:

Did you ever get the engraving side working?

On Wed, 1 Feb 2017, 10:49 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace, <london-h...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

After much distraction by other things I've got this working nicely with LaserWeb3. It's not going to be cutting anything much with a 500mW laser but it engraves on the surface of wood nicely. Currently my 'enclosure' is a large plastic stacking box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypokjwTqNoc

I now need to fiddle around with some CAD to produce some suitable gcode to use with the spindle and engraving bit.

The lack of end stop switches irks me but as you're then just going to set a zero position on the piece anyway it's not a big deal. I am thinking about retrofitting some end stops so it can automatically home and know its limits. While this would be fairly easy on X & Y axes, space is limited on the Z axis.

On 22 January 2017 at 01:55, Nick Reynolds <ncmre...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Thanks, I'll have a look. At present the Arduino is loaded with grbl 0.9 so I might swap in another loaded with 1.1e and see how it behaves with laserweb.

Today in a classic bit of yak shaving I 3D printed a 'dummy' laser module that fits in place of the 'real' one but only has a~5mW module in. Which will allow me to mess about with it and watch it doing stuff in safety.

On 21 January 2017 at 18:29, Ben Norcutt <benno...@gmail.com> wrote:

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

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[Nick Reynolds]

Sorry, I didn't do anything requiring accuracy beyond looking how I expected. I've put it aside for a bit while I do other things, if I get some more time on it I'll try and remember to post an update.

On 31 July 2017 at 13:16, Connor Shearwood <dr...@lifein2d.co.uk> wrote:

What was the accuracy on it like?

On Mon, 31 Jul 2017, 12:49 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace, <london-hack-space@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Yes, I engraved a wooden badge and that's about it. Must go back to it sometime. I've spent more time on the A3 diode laser engraver I bought than on this.

On 30 Jul 2017 9:38 am, "Connor Shearwood" <dr...@lifein2d.co.uk> wrote:

Did you ever get the engraving side working?

On Wed, 1 Feb 2017, 10:49 'Nick Reynolds' via London Hackspace, <london-hack-space@googlegroups.com> wrote:

After much distraction by other things I've got this working nicely with LaserWeb3. It's not going to be cutting anything much with a 500mW laser but it engraves on the surface of wood nicely. Currently my 'enclosure' is a large plastic stacking box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypokjwTqNoc

I now need to fiddle around with some CAD to produce some suitable gcode to use with the spindle and engraving bit.

The lack of end stop switches irks me but as you're then just going to set a zero position on the piece anyway it's not a big deal. I am thinking about retrofitting some end stops so it can automatically home and know its limits. While this would be fairly easy on X & Y axes, space is limited on the Z axis.

On 22 January 2017 at 01:55, Nick Reynolds <ncmre...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Thanks, I'll have a look. At present the Arduino is loaded with grbl 0.9 so I might swap in another loaded with 1.1e and see how it behaves with laserweb.

Today in a classic bit of yak shaving I 3D printed a 'dummy' laser module that fits in place of the 'real' one but only has a~5mW module in. Which will allow me to mess about with it and watch it doing stuff in safety.

On 21 January 2017 at 18:29, Ben Norcutt <benno...@gmail.com> wrote:

Check out laserweb3 for software.

Ben

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