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DavidR8's shop shenanigans

I started reading and looking at machines. There are a LOT of variations and technologies & prices. David could you please sum up the options briefly on Diode vs CO2. Also it seems to me the laser power is one thing but another is laser power per unit of square area. For example on that Longer Ray 5 10W machine above they list specs on different models. It turns out the 10W machine has power of 2700W/mm^2 yet paradoxically the 20W version is 2500W/mm^2. The laser focal size on the 10W is much smaller. I'm not sure how important that detail is in practical performance.

You are buying a CO2 laser - what made you decide that?
 
Dan Dubeau said:
And then there's this


Kinda tempting, and doesn't look all that different than a DIY plasma build.......
Click to expand...
Laser cutters are very simple 2 axis machines; 3 if you want a power adjustable Z-height bed.
Also check out the Further Fabrication build.
I actually bought the plans, CAD model and BoM for the smaller version of his build.
I didn't price it out but right off the bat the Ruida controller is pretty spendy. Though for a build like that I would probably buy the LX4 board from VMS.
 
Printing my first part with the auto bed level and it is absolutely the shizzle!
Inserted this line into the opening machine G-code and voila, perfect first later.
G29 ; Auto Bed Level
 
Janger said:
I started reading and looking at machines. There are a LOT of variations and technologies & prices. David could you please sum up the options briefly on Diode vs CO2. Also it seems to me the laser power is one thing but another is laser power per unit of square area. For example on that Longer Ray 5 10W machine above they list specs on different models. It turns out the 10W machine has power of 2700W/mm^2 yet paradoxically the 20W version is 2500W/mm^2. The laser focal size on the 10W is much smaller. I'm not sure how important that detail is in practical performance.

You are buying a CO2 laser - what made you decide that?
Click to expand...
Diode lasers produce a light beam in the 440-1080 nm range whereas CO2 lasers produce a 10600nm light beam.
The biggest practical difference is power. The most powerful diode on the market is the Atezr at 24w output. It has a very small laser dot of .0048mm^2
But it's also $1600.

One thing to be mindful of is what wood they are cutting. The Atzer claims to cut 15mm basswood. The cut quality will likely not be great as that will take at least a few passes.

My 10w output diode will cut 3mm birch ply in two passes at about 300mm/min at 80% power which is not terribly quick. I could increase the power to 100% and speed up the travel but I found that lower power and slower speed yielded a better cut. It's interesting to note travel speed for diodes is typically measured in mm/min whereas CO2 laser travel speed is measured in mm/sec.

I went with a CO2 for my second laser because I wanted the most power (mine is 38w max and I may opt for a 50w tube) for the least cost.
A couple of drawbacks to a CO2 laser is that a) the laser tube is a consumable and b) power is correlated to tube length.
Used at their max power output a CO2 laser tube will last less time than used at 50% power so a more powerful laser is more economical than lower wattage tube given the same cutting parameters.
A 60w tube is about 1200mm long whereas a 130w tube is 1650mm long. The tube length is why as the wattage goes up, the physical dimensions of the machines also go up within reason. Some machines have bump outs to cover the end of the tube so the machine footprint is not unreasonably large.
 
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They still exist in the telecom industry. The US declared them a TOP secret device, so it is illegal to publish openly anything about them in most of the world.
 
This stone coaster has I think laser engraved lettering. The animal cutouts maybe also be laser engraved as I don’t see any tooling marks or scratches. The engraving is 0.7mm deep. Would your laser do this do you think David?
 

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Janger said:
This stone coaster has I think laser engraved lettering. The animal cutouts maybe also be laser engraved as I don’t see any tooling marks or scratches. The engraving is 0.7mm deep. Would your laser do this do you think David?
Click to expand...
At 38w maximum power mine probably wouldn’t but a higher power one I think could do that.
 
Dabbler said:
They still exist in the telecom industry. The US declared them a TOP secret device, so it is illegal to publish openly anything about them in most of the world.
Click to expand...
Sorry to burst you bubble there is lots of info available.

Laser
- light based
- easy to manufacture
- poor pass through of materials, makes it ideal for our application
- cost effective

Maser
- microwave based.
- difficult to manufacture
- geat pass through of materials, makes less desirable for our applications
- expensive

So the real reason is best application for job vs top secret stuff.
 
The MicroSD card slot on my Ender3v2 has always been a bit sketchy. Sometimes the card will slip into the case of the printer and minor surgery is required to get it out. Plus the card adapter to USB is shall we say, pathetic.
Was looking for a wireless connection solution. Octoprint looked a bit above my paygrade but ran across this $30 solution from Fiberpunk:
fiber-punk.com

Node Pro by Fiberpunk - Creality Ender edition

Node Pro is an affordable($29.9) and opensource 3D printer wifi module to add WiFi to Creality Ender series printers. It consists of an ESP-32-based board with open-source firmware, an OLED display, and a unique SD bridge that makes print faster and more reliable. Key Features Very easy to...
fiber-punk.com fiber-punk.com

It arrived today. Ran through the install and now I have wireless connection via wifi to the printer. Works like a charm!
 
jcdammeyer said:
Does Octoprint cost now?
Click to expand...
I don’t think so? By above my pay grade I meant above my knowledge/ability level :)
The Fiberpunk unit was so easy to install. The only thing I had to do was plug in two usb cords, insert the MicroSD card adapter and modify the config file on the included MicroSD card so that the device would connect to my home network.
 
Here’s the basic build of the gantry.
The opening that I have to deal with is 25.5” but the floor of the laser enclosure is 27.75 wide by 19.5” deep
Measuring 27.5” from the left side motor mount to the right hand end of the gantry will yield 20.75” of travel in the X axis.
I should net about 12.5” of travel in the Y axis.
08E4EE47-1629-47C8-9F32-83284DB5A780.jpeg8453CDB6-F493-46FF-B5DD-11D53F4AD2BE.jpegB3F22D57-BC44-4C0E-A59D-67CDC7E6EC87.jpeg
 
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