1 (edited by ysb 2014-06-03 11:44:37)

Topic: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/l-ch … attachment



200$ for a 2watts laser unit ... 220$ with the mounting bracket.. and yes, there is one specially for the solidoodle...

the software use Rh/slic3er with a special profil.. so no need to change anything..

can cut 5mm of acrylic (3/16") and engrave PCB support ...


get one for my old sd2...

2

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

That looks very intriguing!

Tammy
Solidoodle 2
E3Dv6 Hotend, MK5 v6 version, Glass Bed, Anti Z backlash slop nut, SureStepr SD8825 1/32 Extruder Driver, makeshift breakaway plexiglass case; . L-Cheapo 3.8 Watt Laser Attachment w/Custom built enclosure
From Buffalo, NY, USA

3

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Very tempting!

SD2 - Glass Bed, Fans on PCB and Y motor, Custom enclosure
Slicer - Simplify3D

4

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

What you really need is the laser and extruder available at the same time so you could use the laser to dynamically cut away support material :-).

5

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

I am a little leery.  If you take a look at the indiegogo site, not a lot about this guy and only this video showing a single one lighting up.  How is the heat dissipation?  I would like to hear from someone who has used this laser to create something.

6

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

michael.t.albers wrote:

I am a little leery.  If you take a look at the indiegogo site, not a lot about this guy and only this video showing a single one lighting up.  How is the heat dissipation?  I would like to hear from someone who has used this laser to create something.

I will tell you.. mine is already on the way to my home...

7

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

About ready to pull the trigger on this, but going to give it a few more days.   YSB, let me know when you get your please. and post some photos if you dont mind. Thanks

SD2 - Glass Bed, Fans on PCB and Y motor, Custom enclosure
Slicer - Simplify3D

8

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Thanks YSB!  Even if I don't install it on the 'doodle, I am thinking about it for my large scale printer I am putting together now.

9

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

no problem... i even think to put it on my prussa i3 as this printer is larger than my sd2...

10

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

I hate to be a negative nancy, but safety is really being overlooked here.

Goggles are not enough for working with this kind of laser. What happens if someone walks in while you're cutting? What happens if the printed mount breaks and the laser sideways instead of straight down? 2w is enough happily punch a hole in your cornea before you can blink, and that's assuming the LM317 current limiter functions properly (note this is probably the cheapest and least safe way to get constant current, as there's no feedback in case of IC failure).

If you do decide to go ahead with this, on top of the above please be sure to follow strict fire safety protocol. I'm pretty sure the creator of this posted that he set his printer on fire in the solidoodle IRC chat. Purpose built laser cutters catch fire often enough, this is just going to be more likely as it doesn't have some features that come with real laser cutters.

Finally, exercise extreme care in terms of fumes produced. Real laser cutters come with a full enclosure and exhaust system to pull out any fumes. You're literally burning through material, and may not fully understand the ablation byproducts produced.

11 (edited by ysb 2014-06-04 16:22:04)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

i take that into account... the printer is near a extractor (windows with electric fan) for the fume, and i began to build an enclosure with a webcam in it, to follow the work in progress... so in the worst case, the webcam will die... not my eyes.. smile and no one can be disintegrated by error... and i have a fire alarm 2 foot above my printer... safety...

ok... as the printer will be in my back when i will use it, perhaps if the MCP took control of my laser, i will finish in the game grid... but it's another story... (tron anybody ? wink )


i'm ok with you.. this system IS NOT for everybody.... it's a DIY part for makers with a brain...

read comment on hackaday page, it's already a big concern..

http://hackaday.com/2014/06/02/the-lase … d-printer/

12

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Good point.  I do like the box around the laser cutter for https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/15 … -engraver.  that would reduce some of those concerns.

13

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

The laser is at home.. with an mk 5 mount... 2 screws later, it's on the head of my solidoodle 2... it fact the mount replace th upper part of the mk5 mount .. but you can still use your extruder as nothing is removed for the path of the filament .... it's a beta unit as i want it fast.. somme polishing of the final unit are not their but it's purely visual...

My laser glasses arrived at the same time... perfect timing..

Will do test and photo tommorow..

14 (edited by ysb 2014-06-10 22:46:30)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

ok...

the beta laser head mounted on my SD2 first gen..

and the first burst of my personnal death star on some MDF..

the slicer profil need to be tweaked as we cant set an extrusion multiplier of zero to prevent to be spammed by "extrusion cold" alert..

http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=5503&download=0
http://www.soliforum.com/misc.php?action=pun_attachment&item=5504&download=0

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15

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Looking good... And you didn't even shoot your eye out wink

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Thanks to all for your contributions

16

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Cool.  Would like to see more pictures.  I was going to back this, but had an issue with my pay-pal account.  Then I found out that yours was on the way for testing and decided to wait until you gave us your review.

17

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

I made progress... an m302 command in the start gcode and no more spamming for cold extrusion  alert..

Now the last think i need to find is how to go back of one layer height at each layer to let the bed at the same level to do multiple pass to cut thick material..

18

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Couldn't that be done by reversing the wiring to the z-axis?  I'm not sure if that would work for a stepper motor.  It wouldn't be a good solution for me, but since you are setting yours up on a spare printer...

19 (edited by ysb 2014-06-11 12:06:56)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

i don't think that reversing the wires would do something good.. i don't want the motor to work in reverse. i want that each time the gcode ask Z motor to go down, then after that, a command ask Z motor to go back from the same height..

if you look at standard start gcode for 3d printer, we work with absolute coordinate... so when you slice your model, the gcode ask to the printer to go at coordinate of the 1st layer, coordinate of the second layer, coordinate of the third layer.. etc etc..

if i put a "gcode at start of each layer" that you can do in slic3r, i can only ask to the printer to go back at layer one height.. i don'T know the command to ask the z motor to go back for [layer height] mm .


edit :
answer my own question

i think if i add this gcode to "each layer gcode" of RH, i would work..

G91: switch to relative positioning so all further commands are relative to the current position (that's what we want)
G1 F150: slow movement rate down to 2.5mm/sec for Z axis (must be done BEFORE moving, otherwise will interpolate the slowdown and the movement together, grinding the Z motor)
G1 Z-[layer_height]: move Z down by layer height, leaving others alone

need to test it after work.. not sure if i can use '-' to ask for a reverse movement..

20

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Don't forget to put absolute positioning back in place.

Be interesting to see if it remembers the previous absolute coordinates to resume properly.

21

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

You could just disconnnect the Z motor while cutting.

Or redefine your steps/mm so that it only goes down one step per layer.

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22 (edited by ysb 2014-06-12 12:45:25)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

i just made different test... i cut a marylin monroe stencil thru wood veneer without problem in one pass at 6mm/s and i made test to cut the outline of an object in a ABS surface (0.6mm) that i 3d printed.. it's notably slower than to cut the venner, but you can do it... who said "i see a world of possibility" ?

now i need to find clear grey plexyglass...and a software to make the face model of a box right to stl in some clicks.... i know that this type of software exist for CNC cutting..

23

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Keep us posted.  Very interested in your results.  What is your overall opinion of the laser thus far?

24 (edited by ysb 2014-06-12 15:13:37)

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

the hardware is good... software side, it's the far west... the author use skeinforge to do this. i understand that skeinforge is a mutant 3d slicer with CNC Dna but i don't want to use it as skeinforge is obsolete and complicate to use. the slic3r profile is not done from his side so i'm in try-and-see process at the moment. we need to find how to configure/use/hack the traditional 3d printer software to do what we want... finding the good timing for each material that we want to cut/engrave... lot of things to do to push the limit of the thickness that the laser can cut..

if you didn't have the hacker/maker spirit, it's not for you... like the 3d printer at the beginning wink

my objective is to cut acrylic/plexiglass but i need to do some test on foam and balsa wood..

the test on veneer are good , it's easy to cut as a paper sheet...

123d make seem to bee something to add to my toolbox for this purpose...

25

Re: a laser engraver/cutter on your solidoodle..or any 3d printer

Curious if the laser is designed to have it's power level controlled by the software, or does it remain one constant level the whole time?