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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    475

    New build: openbuild / Chinese frakenlaser

    This is just in the planning stages in that the parts (hopefully all of them!) Are ordered.

    I have a 1200*900 Chinese laser from about 8-9 years ago but it's never been great for accuracy. I have modified the lens assembly to be easier to adjust to the beam rather than needed to adjust the beam, but I covet a better system like a Kern laser had, or even the Chinese 4*8 machines but don't want that large.

    So, I'm going to build one myself. I'll get a bit more cutting area in the process too. The plan is to use a sort of beefed up Acro system from openbuild parts and run mount the laser on the gantry. That should allow the alignment of the Y to basically be permanently set and less beam travel overall and thus less power loss from one corner to the other.

    This is primarily for cutting although I hope engraving is possible, no reason it shouldn't be. I'll be taking the openbuilds belt drive and modifying it to run the belt flipped over a little like the belt and pinion style, for the gantry. The Y will be dual drive with actual belt and pinion kit from openbuild stuff.

    The main thing I am losing is the up and down of the table but I could always make new gantry sides if I need to move the assembly higher.

    I hope it will be better than the Chinese machine but it's unlikely to be worse. I'm not a 3D cad guy so I'll just be posting some photos along the way.

    Old machine and a CNC will make parts for the build until the laser tube itself is ready to be transplanted.

    Greg


    Sent from my Nokia 3.4 using Tapatalk

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    475

    Re: New build: openbuild / Chinese frakenlaser

    So, some of the parts have been coming in. Motors, drivers, enough to remind me I needed encoder cables and didn't buy any so I did that.

    I did want to test a easy way to slave two drives together.

    On a past CNC retrofit, I did the standard y and a slaved in software....had some issues with the BOB, but basically it worked in the end.

    Then I saw some guys running 2 motors from 1 driver.....in reverse. That would not work on a closed loop driver but neat.

    However, I just need to run two motors opposite each other as 1 axis as I'm using a DSP controller for this, a ruida. I wanted to see if daisy chaining the pulse signal and daisy chaining the dir signal (to dir + on one driver and dir - on another) would work.

    It does.

    Mechanical parts coming next week so maybe getting serious in a few weeks.

    Sent from my Nokia 3.4 using Tapatalk

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