[thevisad]

I was looking around at the different laser chiller options and some of the DIY setups. While some were neat and impressive, they seemed too big and too costly for the most part. I wanted something small, that could keep my laser cool and not take up too much space under the bench. I finally settled on a counter top ice maker with some rv antifreeze. Igloo Compact Ice Maker - Assorted Colors - Sam's Club It cost 99$ + tax at Sams and with zero modifications, I dropped the original pump from my DK40 laser into the reservoir. I filled it with 2/3 gallon of rv anti freeze and dropped the return line into the ice tray so that the coolant overflows directly into it. Right now I simply turn the unit on and off to control the temperature, but I will be building a controller to handle the power cycling.

[thevisad]

Some videos of the machine running.

https://youtu.be/cCv856SE_o0

- - - Updated - - -

[mondo50m]

Nice job on that. How long can you run the laser before starting the cooler again to drop the temperature? I may have to be doing this myself.

Milt

[thevisad]

I powered the unit off at 10.8 degrees and let it run until it was back up to 18 degrees, but I did not time it during that run. It was probably 15 minutes or so? I will time it the next run I do and see what the rise in temperature is during the engraving with the cooling system off. I know I ran the engraving done in the videos for just over an hour and I let the cooling run most of the time, powering it off only once. At the end of the engraving cycle it was at 13.8, while starting at 26 ambient. I am going to add some insulation to the tubing to try and eliminate some of the cooling loss through these methods. I noticed a major jump in cooling time when I dropped the coolant back ontop of the upper rod in video 5.

If you do end up doing this, definitely get some RV antifreeze, as this thing makes ice quick. 8 minutes for 10 large ice cubes, which fill a pint glass half way. When testing with water starting at 26, the first batch melted in the run off pretty quick. The second batch stayed until the 3rd batch was done. At that point the water was roughly 15 degrees and getting colder. The cycle for the large ice is 8 minutes on, 30 seconds off, followed by the next cycle.

I already have the electronics figured out and am now just designing a new controller to replace the existing one. This way we can set the temperature we desire and hold it there.

[Bigbird48]

reading the reviews on the ice maker it seems to not last very long before it stops working. let us know how long yours last.

[thevisad]

reading the reviews on the ice maker it seems to not last very long before it stops working. let us know how long yours last.

I will do, I read the reviews on the ice maker as well and after opening the ice maker and looking at the controller I can see why there might be issues. The controller seems a bit shoddy and uses pretty cheap components. The motor driver for example costs less then 10 cents. The rest of the machine appears to be pretty well made and as long as the compressor doesn't give out, should last a long time.

[thevisad]

Been busy working on my Arduino sketch and finally a Windows application to control the Arduino controller. I currently am using a Arduino Nano, a Sainsmart 2 channel relay, a 100k thermistor and a 10k resistor. It's currently in testing now, to be wired into the unit once I have some safeguards built into the control firmware. Currently there is two way communication between the firmware and Windows application. You can start and stop the controller from the software and retrieve data. I will be adding in support for sending
updates to the firmware to change the device on the fly. Current cost of the control module is just about 5$.

The unit has been working really well, I was running an hour and a half etch last night and watching a movie, I forgot to check the temp and when I did it was at 9 degrees. I left it off for the rest of the etch, roughly a half hour and it finished the etch at about 18 degrees. I expect the unit to cycle on and off once it reaches temperature about every 15 minutes, more as I ramp up the power on the unit.




http://puu.sh/jX1HT/3da5ef744f.jpg

[heliman666]

Hello,

Nice work on this project. I live in Florida and have my laser setup in the garage and have been using ice packs in my bucket to keep the laser cool but it does not last long in 90 deg weather.
Would you be able to share your setup and program you wrote to control the ice maker? i think this would be the best cost effective setup for me and my hobby. like everyone else i don't have over flowing pockets.

thank you in advance
Adam

[thevisad]

Hello,

Nice work on this project. I live in Florida and have my laser setup in the garage and have been using ice packs in my bucket to keep the laser cool but it does not last long in 90 deg weather.
Would you be able to share your setup and program you wrote to control the ice maker? i think this would be the best cost effective setup for me and my hobby. like everyone else i don't have over flowing pockets.

thank you in advance
Adam

Thanks man, I have a little bit more to do to it before putting it into fully into production. I was making my own board but have been side tracked by other projects. You can see the schematics and such at my site here. The windows program to connect to and start/stop the chiller is done. The controller firmware is mostly done with the safety features written in to prevent starting and stopping the controller. I started coding the water sensor portion, but this is when I got side tracked.

You do not need to use my board in order to get this to work, so if you wanted to create your own you could do it with the following parts. Technically, you could use any Arduino based on the ATMega328P chipset, I chose the Nano due to the small foot print. I chose the particular ice maker since Sams club had it on sale for 99$, but this should work with any of these types of ice makers. I should have the items available on my store page shortly so that you can order them directly from me, instead of having to source the parts elsewhere.

https://github.com/thevisad/IceController

2 Channel Relay
Arduino Nano ATMega328P