[Mark aka Mokey] borrowed his friend’s open up-body laser engraver for a whilst, and found it fairly lacking in characteristics and a bit far too pricey for what it was. The natural way, he imagined he could do better (movie, embedded below.) Immediately after a place of modelling in Fusion 360, and some on-line purchasing at the common areas, he experienced all the sections wanted to assemble an X-Y bot, and we reckon it seems to be like a fairly good beginning place. [Mark] had a Sainsmart FL55 5.5W laser module kicking close to, so that was dropped into the build, jointly with the standard Arduino in addition CNC shield combo operating GRBL.
[Mark] has offered the complete F360 supply (see the mokeylaser GitHub) and a detailed invoice-of-materials, weighing in at about $400, and centered upon the usual 2040 aluminium extrusions. This helps make MokeyLaser a reasonable starting up point for even further advancement. Upcoming designs include upgrading the controller to anything a bit more modern day (and 32-bits) as effectively as a more powerful laser (we do hope he’s bought some appropriate laser glasses!) and including air assist. In our experience, air help will undoubtedly enhance matters, clearing out the smoke from the beam path and rising the penetration of the laser appreciably. We feel there is no will need for more optical electrical power (and better threat) for this application. [Mark] says in the online video that he’s functioning on an extra develop video, so maybe arrive by later on and look at that out?
Obviously, MokeyLaser is by no implies the only these kinds of beast we have showcased, here’s the engravinator for starters. For even more minimalism, we lined a establish with some smart optics doing all the do the job. But what if you really don’t materialize to have a 5W laser module “lying around” then perhaps try out a far more pure warmth source instead?
