FlyinFlynn Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Welcome to the forum Josh. Why that size? It will add complexity and potentially reduce accuracy. In my experience when cutting parts out it is better to cut them individually or in small groups than in one large pattern, it may be slightly more economical in your blank material to produce everything 'sardined' together but it only takes one small problem to spoil a complete blank. My 2p worth.........Ask yourself what is the largest single item I am going to want to produce and build (or buy) a machine to accommodate that. If you have a 3D printer or a cnc router to produce the plastics I would suggest you make your own - it isn't rocket science, all the hardware except for the plastic parts are freely available on ebay (other sites are available), and it is an interesting journey..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Henderson 1 Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Thanks I really would be wanting to cut a fuselage side out say around a meter long. Dont mind building something but don’t know where to start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 I bought the banggood laser engraver. I would lilt to modify the frame so it is 1m long and 350mm wide. I really need two lengths of the extruded aluminium frame. I don't suppose anyone has any idea where I could get this from? Thanks Martyn Edited By Martyn K on 29/11/2019 15:02:55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Martyn - Ooznest are a good UK supplier. Cut to length and delivered quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Thanks Andy I'll try them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Henderson 1 Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Other than the frames extended is anything else needed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Yes - no matter which axis you extend, you'll need toothed belt. I think it's GT2 spec belt, which can be got from Amazon or Ooznest as above. You may also need some stepper motor wire extensions. You can solder that in, or buy pre-made extensions. Edited By Andy Meade on 29/11/2019 15:26:12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Thanks Flynn for the info on the Arduino shield. Delivery of the Uno and Shield was very quick and now have the board up and running with GRBL. Second order now placed for shorting links to improve the accuracy and to allow me to clone one axis. Offer made for a cheap frame on flea bay so will see if the seller bites. Had thought they may be on sale today but cant find any special offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Posted by Andy Meade on 29/11/2019 15:25:17: Yes - no matter which axis you extend, you'll need toothed belt. I think it's GT2 spec belt, which can be got from Amazon or Ooznest as above. You may also need some stepper motor wire extensions. You can solder that in, or buy pre-made extensions. Edited By Andy Meade on 29/11/2019 15:26:12 If the software you are using has maximum travel limits set you will also need to modify them. I don't know about eleksmaker software but GRBL has those parameters and they *may* be set. I guess the easiest thing to do is build the extension and try it..if either carriage stops before it gets to the mechanical end suspect that parameter! Joshua.. I am going to start a new thread about building a laser engraver/cutter so you might find that interesting. It is obviously up to you but cutting out a fuz side is pretty easy with a knife and a straight edge and making your laser cutter to do that seems to me to be a bit OTT. At 1 meter long you will be spending quite a lot more on extrusion and belts, not to mention desk space and you will *possibly* run into resolution problems if the frame sags or vibrates. I don't think I would make one that long just to cut a fuz side. Edited By FlyinFlynn on 29/11/2019 23:07:34 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Henderson 1 Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 Flyinfynn Please put a link on here when gig start building. what size are you building and with what components? I like the idea of being able to cut a full kit hence the sizing as the Eleksmaker A3 only have a small cutting area. Im sure some way with the Extended frames they can be supported somehow? Just don’t know what to buy as a start for the laser cutter/ setup to then tinker with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 Joshua. I have just built a laser cutter with the dimensions that you are after. Have a look at my build log here. It will also take a dremel for cutting thicker ply. Geoff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Posted by Joshua Henderson 1 on 30/11/2019 09:51:59: Flyinfynn Please put a link on here when gig start building. what size are you building and with what components? I like the idea of being able to cut a full kit hence the sizing as the Eleksmaker A3 only have a small cutting area. Im sure some way with the Extended frames they can be supported somehow? Just don’t know what to buy as a start for the laser cutter/ setup to then tinker with? Link is https://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=147510 I have a 1.2 meter length of 20x40 lying around (as you do!!) so i will build it that long, probably be about 30cms wide. As it is a simple design and quite light on the cantilevered gantry it should not suffer too much from vibrations. Buying an eleksmaker and possibly modding it to your requirements would be the less traumatic way to go but where is the fun in that? There is no magic in these engraver/cutters, you just need to arrange for the laser to be in the right place at the right time..and most of that is done by the microprocessor, if there is any magic in this process it is in being able to master the software to get your design in a machine readable form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 Let the fun begin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 Flynn How are you getting on with your 6W cheap laser? Tempted to purchase the same model but thinking you only get what you pay for given similar models are upwards of £70. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 I have two of them now and they seem ok. I don't think that the 6 Watts they claim for the laser is realistic as the performance I am getting from them is about on a par with the results others have had from 3.5Watt lasers. Perhaps the laser module is 6 watts input power...... Having said that $40 delivered is still a really good price for a 3.5 Watt laser and there is no external power brick needed....the regulator board is internal and the fan cools both the board and the laser heatsink. It makes for a neat installation. I have just uploaded a video to YouTube of one of mine working in my fuz side cutter .here on YouTube. This lasers are appearing on Ebay now... the word is out! You don't see expensive hard disks any more now do you! Enjoy the build. Edited By FlyinFlynn on 06/12/2019 18:44:49 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 More inclined to go with this laser link given those cheap units are not rated correctly. Plus its suppose to be from the UK. Edited By Andy Joyce on 06/12/2019 19:48:29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 6, 2019 Share Posted December 6, 2019 Just spotted this laser seems to indicate it requires and external driver so unsure what is supplied for the price quoted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Yes Andy..it is a bit confusing with there being 3 different lasers on offer in the same listing. The rating on the laser I bought is only my estimation based on practical results and the Chinese penchant for overstating specs.... My take on your laser is that the picture of the 5500mW one has the regulator board mounted above the fan, they describe this as 'external', this has a 2 pin and a 3 pin XH connector on it. The 3 pin connector is for +12v,GND and PWM and the 2 pin connector would be just +12v and GND for use if your controller board didn't support PWM. The 500mW laser does not have the PWM function,so just a 12v power cable and a simple regulator must be inside the heatsink. It is quite a good price IF it is a 5.5W laser...but you should ask yourself how likely is it that this Chinese manufacturer/seller is quoting the output power of the laser diode, or, along with all the other Chinese suppliers, quoting you how many Chinese Watts are being consumed by the diode, the electronics and the fan combined. The only way to be sure is to measure the current and voltage going to the laser diode. I did see on a listing for the NEJE 20Watt module that the actual light output was quoted as 5.5 Watts. I suspect if you buy just a laser diode the specs will tell you the actual output power of the diode but if you buy a laser module you will be told the input power of the module..... Death and taxes is all you can rely on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Flynn Looks like I pay my money and just hope you get something that works! Currently stuck as how to calibrate the Arduino Uno with GRBL installed to match the output of a Gcode file output from Inkscape. Inkscape measures a simple box as 70x10mm but for some reason LaserGRBL cuts a box far bigger in size Edited By Andy Joyce on 07/12/2019 14:30:15 Edited By Andy Joyce on 07/12/2019 14:30:35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Think I have now cracked the scaling issue by using the $$ command to ascertain the settings and then scaling $100 and $101 to 80. Note nothing is set for $0 through $27, is this correct? Edited By Andy Joyce on 07/12/2019 18:02:40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Errr....no! Here is my GRBL configuration - You probably can't read that, does your software allow config file imports? My config file can be downloaded from here. There are entries in $0,1,10,11,12,22,23,24,2526 and 27 although some of those are to do with homing. Let me know if you cannot upload a config to your controller. Alter my config to suit your speeds,rates and accelerations ( and set $22 homing cycle enable to 0 if you don't use homing) The 80 steps per mm is correct if you are using a 1.8 degree per step motor set to x16 and a 20 tooth gt2 pulley 360/1.8 * 16/40 = 80 degrees per motor revolution/degrees per step * microsteps/ mm per pulley revolution How are you getting on with Inkscape?... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Well I certainly have multiple files loaded for controlling the controller but not sure if any allow upload of the configs although I assume I did this when downloading the GRBL sketch. Just downloaded universal gcode sender and can now see all the settings so will see if I can download your settings using that programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Did get errors in downloading your file but now can see all the full range of settings in CNCjs so thanks very much for your help. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFlynn Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Glad you got it sorted. Strange about the file download..it works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy J Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Can anyone advise how I should connect my laser as pictured. Assuming it must be as depicted although the graphics on the PCB are not easily understood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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