Hi, I've built a few large 3D printers and a CNC machine, now I am looking to round out my arsenal with a laser so I'm humoring myself with what a custom glowforge design would look like. There's a handful of DIY projects here and there I'll follow for assist but in general, I don't know much about lasers other than avoid blinding yourself. I was considering a run of the mill 40W laser for cost but between the small work area, some questionable quality control, and a need to replace the laser tube a couple times a year, I'm looking at an 80W laser tube and bumping up my budget so I have something timeless.
If you guys are fine with it, I'll update this post with names of people that answer questions or just point out something really important. I can be wordy and I'm sure many of you are busy so no worries if you throw a link out or anything, this is just for fun:
Things I have:
An inclination to order from Amazon
24V rated Cohesion3D Mini 32-bit board and LCD
Nema 17's and drivers for general X and Y (jfong: ditching h-bot kinematics and going cartesian, I like)
12V power supply for motors and random stuff
Limit Switches
Half a football field of miscellaneous wire
Stashes of screws and hardware
Timing Belts and Pulleys (jfong: need to get 10-15mm wide belts)
Parts to build a rotary A-axis
12V Blower fan for air assist (maybe a 15x50mm blower is too weak?)
3D printer to make internal parts
CNC mill to make a case
Automatic fire extinguishers
Things I need:
CO2 Laser Tube (Maybe 80W, MichaelHenry: 60W, feel free to change my mind)
Laser Power Supply (Can I power 24V fans and control board from this or too risky?)
Laser rated mirrors (For the daredevils out there: do these mirrors get hot to the touch?)
Laser rated focus lens (Looking at a 20mm with a focus of 50.8mm because that's what I see most people get but not sure what's the balance)
Water Pump, Tubes, and bladder
Computer Fan (opposite of work area) --> Pre-Filter --> HEPA filter --> Activated Carbon Filter --> Computer Fan (In this order)
BL Touch Probe (not sure if needed)
Maybe some threaded rods for the Z height (not sure if needed)
Nema 23/24's and maybe even Nema 34's with their respective power supplies and drivers for an infinite axis (not sure if needed but means this machine needs to be re plugged to switch Y-motor)
Some kind of laser grill
LED strips to light up the inside
Aluminum extrusion and corner braces
Extrusion wheel bearings to use the extrusion frame as linear rails
Ply Wood enclosure (or maybe MDF if I'm feeling cheap)
Tinted Plastic shield (Anyone got some color recommendations other than orange? cuz I was just going to wing it and test a bunch out to see which one made me go blind first)
Cutting Objectives:
~4' x infinite x unknown height, would be convenient to cut large wood sheets direct from a hardware store or stuff I find in my local scrap yard for the occasional big project and as stock for my CNC mill, I know lasers are disrupted by the air so the farther the beam is from its source the weaker it gets, not sure if it would mean the opposite end would by 90% or 50% of the original strength which leaves me wondering if there are some equations for calculating cutting depth for dummies. Worked with a 30W laser before and it had power issues at its far end, maybe the tube was dying but was never sure. I don't mind a 2' wide machine but kind of underwhelming for a 4' long CO2 tube, feel free to bash me for this dumb idea if you want).
Computer Paper (at minimum power I could cut this stuff with a 30W laser without setting it ablaze, I'd like to still do that with this DIY laser even at 80W but I'm not sure if possible so I don't mind duct taping a laser module on there if you guys think that's for the best whenever I want to cut thin stuff)
Cardstock
Single Ply Cardboard (Tangent: anyone know the secret to cutting two ply or thicker cardboard without setting it on fire? Not that it is a requirement, just curious if it is as simple as adjusting one's focal distance)
Wood (There are a variety of densities, I'd like to grab whatever from a hardware store and butter through it at least up to 1/4" but anyone know the maximum thickness I should expect? I'll test it when I build the machine of course, just curious)
Acrylic (Bare minimum should be no fuss to cut 3mm thick)
Glass engraving (Sometimes glass cups with the rotary axis)
Stone engraving