Laser cutter plans

[Richard]

What are the plans for the laser cutter?

There was talking about:
1. Checking and replacing the tube and power supply.
2. Upgrading tube and power supply.
3. Buying a 40w desktop laser cutter for around 400 dollars.

Richard.

[Trevor Law]

Where is this $400 desktop laser deal?

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[Trenton Wilson]

i'm still interested in doing that.  the laser "cutter" is a laser tube and psu combo and or a desktop from some chinese company for about 500$.  depends on which is the better choice (research still needs to be done)

[Ben]

I think getting ours up to spec would be more cost effective and better in the long run.

1. We definitely need new optics
2. We may need a new tube
3. We may need a new PSU, or repair the current one

Kevin mentioned being able to source a replacement tube for relatively cheap.

[Sergio Cabaruvias]

Hi guys,

I'm new. Trent signed me up last week. 
I'm interested in helping with the laser. I don't know much about electronics, but I can help if another set of hands are needed. 
Here's a blog post from a guy who ordered a whole laser from China. He goes into a lot of good detail about customs, quality, and preventable problems. http://www.polygonlabs.com/blog/?page_id=6

Anywho, Im getting into engraving, so Ill be using the laser when Im at the shop. Ill try to add to the test notebook. I'll be working with paper, mostly. Oh, also going to try to engrave some wood items. But ya, Let me know if I can help with anything!

[Trenton Wilson]

Sergio,

Thanks for the link.  I'll take a look at it in a bit, hopefully others who are interested in the project do the same. 

Regards,

Trent

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[Kevin Hsu]

Checked again with a friend who has purchased one of the K40 eBay special laser engravers and he says he does not recommend it for use in the space. The main reasoning is that it uses very difficult to deal with software. There are now versions of the K40 that will support direct printing from CorelDraw but I have not seen great reviews on it yet. Also problematic is that the K40 does not have adjustable height bed.

I am looking at tube lifetime and there is a very high discrepancy between manufacturers. For this reason I am heavily leaning toward http://www.purilaser.com/en_lasertube1.htm to buy the tubes because they are local (they have an office in Chino) and they have a lifetime of up to 10,000 hours (most others are around 1,500 to 2,000 hours).

I will need to find a suitable power supply, I will most likely purchase from http://www.lightobject.com/ because they are located in CA and have a very good rating on their eBay page. They would also be a great place to purchase the mirrors and the focus lens.

The total cost for retrofitting will be in the $500 - $600 range.

Please post comments or suggestions.

[John Cunningham]

Good to know about the K40. Non-adjustable bed height is a big mark against it.

I vote yes and can put $100 toward it. More if it comes with sharks and head mounts.

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[John Cunningham]

Clarification! I vote yes on the retrofit.

[Trenton Wilson]

thanks kevin for updating this.  I'll put in what i can.  Considering the details that you dug up, i'm glad i didnt push to hard on just getting a turn key system and gets us stuck in a frustrating situation.  I'm in support of the parts buying option as well.  please post up totals and parts numbers so we have a better idea of how much we need to cobble together, and so that others may have some reference for their own uses.

[Kevin Hsu]

opened up the laser system this weekend to see what needs to be done. found this laser unit that is unlike the laser tubes that i would be replacing it with. it appears to be a sealed aluminum box instead of a glass tube. this means that with a new tube i will have to custom make an enclosure and tube mounting. it also explains why this things was a 40 W air cooled laser when all the other 40 W tubes i could find were water cooled.

the main power supply seems good but it is only 28 V output, the laser tube had circuitry that appears to be stepping up the voltage. there was a burnt component in that circuitry. kind of surprised the laser is even working at all. A replacement tube definitely will need an additional power supply.

i'll need to check if the laser controller sends the right signals to work with a power supply and tube retrofit or if i will need to replace the control system as well. there are options available such as using a RAMPS board.

for these reasons i am taking the short term solution and purchasing the ebay special. i should get it in about a week. while that laser holds us over for the short term, i will spend the time designing the retrofit for the big guy following the path mentioned in my last update.

[Ruben Vega]

Well, I would've love to be there in the tear down of the laser cutter :(

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[Trenton Wilson]

Sorry Ruben, it was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, though we certainly could have used an extra pair of hands.

[Ruben Vega]

Do  you guys know the make and model of the laser cutter, maybe we can find diagrams floating around. It can help to recreate the power supply or make a better one based on the specifications of the old one.

[Trenton Wilson]

Excellent idea Ruben!  The make and model number are as follows:

Mfg:  Universal Laser Systems Inc.

Make:  ULS-25PS

[Ruben Vega]

There doesn't seem to be any documentation on this laser cutter, only blogs of people who do their custom fixes since it's cheaper, but they don't provide a lot of information on it.