The nuances of operating lasers on inexpensive DIY CNC machine (CNC machines) and 3D printers

    Hello everyone who is interested in engraving and cutting with semiconductor lasers!

    For the second year I have been engraving and cutting with the help of laser diodes. Anticipating comments, I will immediately say that these are not CO2 lasers with a power of 25 W, but laser diodes with an effective power of up to 10 W. Therefore, the entrance ticket to them below. I have gained experience in using different Chinese engravers (about it here ), with diodes of different power (from 0.3 to 5.6 W), and most importantly I have been in different situations during the operation of all of the above. Now I want to share situations to avoid errors with undesirable consequences.

    The text of the article under the cut, a demonstration in YouTube. In the video I expressed my opinion about the choice of color points are most likely wrong, so do not rely on it when choosing points!



    Keep safe!


    This is the first and most important piece of advice that cannot be neglected! Do not want to impair vision? Do not want to sing a finger? Follow the safety rules!

    - Wear goggles during laser operation. I met red, green, darkened. Tested various glasses, see YouTube. Make a conclusion yourself.


    - Housing with a cover protects your eyes from laser reflections, from the spread of combustion products throughout the room. Use non-combustible material, provide holes for the wires and a hole for the fan. In order to see what is happening under the body, make the lid translucent, for example, red.

    - To avoid damaging the table during cutting, use a metal surface.

    - For immediate prevention of emergency situations, it is advisable to set up a red button available to the operator that turns off the signal or energizes the laser. For example, I met such a preset button directly on the electronic board of the Chinese manufacturer Laser Ax. It turns off the power supply to the motors and laser.

    Control the laser with an electronic board with mosfet


    - To use lasers with a power of up to 10 W, a current of 1 to 4 A is needed. But many power supplies, 3D printers and DIY do not provide such a high current strength. Therefore, I use a simple Endurance board, which is separately powered and separately low-current control signal from a 3D printer or DIY.

    - And from the board there is a DC-output to the laser.

    Use hood


    - This is especially true when working with acrylic, PVC, plastic, leather, rubber. I read that PVC burning products even spoil the laser lens. I use a fan and a corrugated pipe.

    - Air suspension of combustion products reduces the efficiency of the laser beam until the beam reaches the material. Therefore, the fan is useful to blow off the combustion products in the path of the laser beam.

    Want to cut with a laser?


    Change the focus of the laser software. As you remove layer after layer, lower the laser by 0.1-0.2 mm so that the focus is always on the surface of the material. 3D printers with the Z axis, or XY engravers with an actuator for the laser, are suitable for this method of cutting.

    Take care of yourself!

    ADDED
    14noya2016g . My choice of eyewear (in the video) aroused the indignation of members of the forum, so I conducted an experiment . I admit my mistake, made it because of superficial judgment. From the experiment and opinion of the members of the forum, the conclusion that red glasses will protect your eyes better than green ones. Be careful with Chinese glasses!

    Also popular now: