DIY laser-cutter

[Mobbit]

Can anyone recommend a howto for a diy-laser-cutter?

Bit hard to start from scratch without any experience :)

[multita...@googlemail.com]

Yeah - First Posting ;)

No XP on my side - but as i am in Berlin i could simply walk over to
lasernlasern.de and use one there ;)

What about this one for the beginning:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-cutter-start-slicing-stuff-for-under-50-dol/

Peace,

;j

[fengor]

>
> What about this one for the beginning:http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-cutter-start-slicing-stuff-for-...
>

looks interesting. i was talking to bre after the talk about exactly
this kind of thing.

Thanks for the link :)

-fengor

[bolke]

On Dec 28, 9:33 pm, Mobbit <endzeittra...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a howto for a diy-laser-cutter?
>
> Bit hard to start from scratch without any experience :)

Look at home made cnc machines, and replace mill with laser :P
There's tons of info about homemade cnc's, try instructables.com or
google. Take laser safety into account though.

In short, 3 good lineair bearings, a mount for the laser/laser/pen/
something, and a piece of software
to drive the whole thing.

Might be handy though to start with a simple pcb cnc mill. It'll be
easier,
cheaper, and a good way to get some experience (and no laser eye
gauging ;)).

[lasernlasern]

The mechanic is simple - more or less like a belt-driven pen-plotter
from the 80s. What's moving is just a mirror and a lens; the lasertube
is hidden inside the machine and has the size of two shoe-boxes and is
too heavy to move fast. The laserbeam leaves the tube with a diameter
of 2-3 mm and is focused by a lens in the printhead. This trick
reduces loss of power through dust on the lenses.
The hardest part in building a laser cutter yourself will be to find a
lasertube + electronics. Minimum to start with should be a 10 Watt CO2
tube.
Servo motors are faster and better than stepper motors.
And you need air assist to blow out the flame of the burning material;
basically a standard kompressor with a tube going into the print head.

Martin
lasernlasern.de

On Dec 28, 9:33 pm, Mobbit <endzeittra...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Philip]

Thanks to Bre's talk at 25C3 I found out about your shop, Martin. I'll
definitely come by some time (as soon as I have something I need to
cut.)

Philip

[mightyohm]

I'd like to build a metal cutting laser to one-up all the guys who are
cutting paper and acrylic. It has been done:

http://www.instructables.com/id/CO2-laser-that-cuts-sheet-metal/

Jeff
http://mightyohm.com