L-Cheapo Laser Attachment (for 3D printer) (Page 1 of 2)

Damn beat me to this! But looks great anymore pictures??

One note I can add is that I use plain Repetier Host for my cutting(w Skienforge) and engraving(w Slic3r). I have found a trick to for example cut and then engrave a single item. As a note I have found that when engraving fast travel moves and some painter tape help aviod the laser cutting during travels since the laser is always on (I am also trying to figure other options too)

What I do I make a for example bring in 2 STLs in the Repetier Host main window. For example a STL that I will use for a round pendent shape and a STL for whatever I am engraving into that circle. I size them accordingly and then save the workspace (it's an .amf file). because it seems like Repetier Host  will reorder you stuff it is best to just delete the items on your bed and just reopen that .amf file.

From here I have my 2 items I need.  I am not sure it matters but I usually do the cut first. So what I do when I have that .amf file with the 2 STLs on it I just delete the item I have set to engrave, leaving only the cut which I don't move (just don't save over that file). I leave my STL to be cut exactly where it is and run it through Skeinforge and cut....

Once that is done I leave the piece of material in place on the bed. I reload the amf file I made and carefully position the STL I want to engrave over the STL to cut, I turn on wireframe to help. Once I have my STL to engrave positioned as close as possible, I can then delete the STI to cut from the bed leaving onyl the STL to engrave on the bed, I run it through Slic3R and engrave.

Of course I know this still does not addressing actually cutting and engraving, but I am away from my computer when I got the urge to try this...so I just added this tip LOL. The short version is for cutting I use Skienforge and make sure the Z-axis scaling is -1. On the L-Cheapo Wiki I linked also is some sample Skienforge and Slic3R profiles. Though I do intend to share mine and add some comments once I get to it.

There is also aption for cutting/engraving that I have not tried yet (info found at http://photon-avenue.blogspot.com/2015/ … m-cad.html). I have not tried it yet but from what I have been told it will fix my issue of the laser being on during travel moves. It seems to involve making DXF files and the Dxf2Gcode program with some special config files for the Solidoodle/L-Cheapo laser combo.

Yet another tip that works with Slic3R/Skienforge is that I found when cutting it is best to set your shells/outer perimeters to 2. While the settings are there to allow for thicker outer perimeters so your print is stronger. It works well to get a cleaner/better cut. The only issue I have thus far with the way I am currently doing it is the fact the laser is on during travel moves hence why I am considering the DFX option above, or maybe I can edit the gcode manually to turn off the laser (AKA in my case turn off the extruder) during travel moves. Not sure how to do that, as of yet LOL. I am still kind of figuring this out.  Some people use the J Tech laser Inkscape plugin also ( http://jtechphotonics.com/?page_id=2012 ) which I have yet to play with much.

Another note for the laser version I got (the 3.8 watt version). The heatsink is NOT ground so it can't touch any other metal else fry your laser. This is important because if you move the laser to the VERY front of the Solidoodle it can touch against the metal frame enough to cause an issue. This can be addressed with stopping it from going to the very front via bed size; a wood block, and/or carefully positioning of your prints and what I did was add electrical tape where the frame and the heatsink could possibly come in even brief contact. You really don’t lose much of the front of the bed this way…just a tiny bit.

I think the standard 2.1 watt L-Cheapos have a smaller heatsink so maybe this is not a problem with that version. But I am not sure.

Oh thanks that is a good idea. I know it's hard to remember the exact terms for all these settings espcailly when you are not at home LOL. I look foward to trying your idea, maybe I can find the setting when I myself get home also.

While I found the setting, so far it's been hit or miss for me. I think because my laser is more powerful. Seems I have to move my laser up by 25-30mm to get no travel burn lines, which is ok except in the meantime it burns right through the material (1/8th acrylic). Which is just fine for cutting but not as much for engraving. Not sure I can get my Z axis to move any faster as I already tried to set my travel speeds to like 99999 but of course I think it maxes out well before that because it dosen't seem much faster. I need to maybe give the LaserEtch and/or Dxf2Gcode software another try since I think it turns off the laser during moves, also maybe I can figure out when travel moves are happening and turn the laser off and on. If I could do that I might even be able to write myself a lil code to find the travel moves and insert the laser on or off before the travel moves somehow.  I am sure someway I can work this, just finding out how

I have had some success using the Inkscape and the free Inkscape plugin. To get it to show up I had to place the plugin files directly in Inkscape extensions folder (if overwrote something on my install, but didn't seem to break anything).
Below is a sample of my settings, clearly speed would vary. The directory would be wherever you want to save the files. 

- Pronterface seems to handle to generated gcode much better, I wouldn't recommend R-Host as it does not show where the image will be

- Set the Inkscape files to mm and the size of the file to whatever your bed size is, even if the image only takes up part of that space

- The inkscape plugin works on paths, so make sure you have selected a path

- generated gcode does not home your printer, so either manually home before an engrave or add that gcode on before you use it

- Inkscape plugin shows up under Extensions -> Generate gcode- > J Tech Photonics

- Seems sometimes when I was playing with it and I ran the laser tool consecutively on the same image  it was adding extra paths, so be careful of that you might have to undo a few times to make sure of that it is only sending on path in the gcode. It could have been the file I was working on or maybe user error..but just putting it in here just in case. For me last night since I was tracing a bitmap, seem if I wanted to run the laser tool plugin multiple times it was best I reload the image, retrace the bitmap into a path and then run the laser plugin again.

- While using the tracing bitmaps to make a path in inkscape, it works but I noticed it worked but I think I need to figure out some tweeks. One thing that helps is to simplify the path first before using the laser plugin.

- I have only tried it to engrave and not cut as of yet..

I think if I can try the cuts and make it work and maybe work out a few more things, this may be the way I go. It requires far less steps then I was doing before.

http://jtechphotonics.com/?page_id=2012 <~~ The plugin and some instructions

https://youtu.be/xw8h0c5Vdw8        <~~        A relevant video that shows the Inkscape plugin being used

<~~  My screenshot of my settings for the Inkscape plugin but I was only engraving and not cutting. If cutting I would increase the number of passes and make my pass depth 0.05 or maybe 1.0 depending

Ok, this time I slowed the engraving down a tad, but more importantly I did not chose the "Simplify Path" option after creating the path. So clearly leaving the path more complex seems better

So that part took 10 minutes to cut? That'd be about a 6 second cut on my (admittedly more expensive) 60w machine.

Looking at the 7 watt head myself for my Mini Kossell.

I didn't even really notice the 7 watt one! neat.  Here is a picture of my enclosure my father in law built for my Solidoodle 2 that I use for lasering. It can lift off easy for when I am 3D printing and has a nice laser protected front window ..... and my cat who apparently thinks it's a perch for him. On the printer bed, I just have a canvas panel.