I recently attached a laser to the Shapeoko. But I’m torn about how to mound the laser and whether to make it a temporary or permanent mount. Any Pros and Cons to either of these options?
I made a little video of the first test print.
https://youtu.be/UIabXVx31ro
If it’s a removable mount and is always removed, then then laser will never be damaged by a crash or machine vibrations, or knocked out of alignment by an errant piece of stock.
You’ve got a router I presume? Mill a mount for your laser so you can run either a router or a laser using the existing carriage mount,
Can you share your collection of laser parts, PCB connections and what other G-code tweaks or controller reflashing you performed to run the Hello World project?
I’m eventually wanting to run a laser at some point and I’d want to model the success of others.
I bought a 2.8 watt 450nm laser with a control board (ttl) included. Getting it with the board is probably the simplest way to do it. I didn’t find one for sale on Ebay again, but it is similar to this one:
I also bought some safety goggles I could use with the laser. Depending on the wavelength (in my case 450nm), you will have to buy the proper goggles, you can’t willy-nilly pick some goggles. They have to be made to block that wavelength. (good thing I checked) So far, I’m not blind and they appear to work ok, maybe a little dark, but not unuseable.
Goggles I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DP2HJ0S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I followed the wiring pictures from the J-Tech website for where to connect the TTL board to the shapeokoo 3. The TTL is connected where it shows “Laser+/Laser-” in the pic/diagram.
This is a link to the pic/diagram:
I haven’t focused it yet, but I completely intend to follow the instructions on the wiki to do that. However, I found a problem with the g code in Sttep 2: The command “g3” I believe should be “M3” and “g5” should be “M5” those are the proper on/off commands. If you want to try more lines to find a focus, then you have to copy/paste more of those lines, changing the y and z coordinates so create a new line while moving it up. Again, I haven’t done this yet, but I loaded the gcode (after I corrected the commands for on/off) so your results may vary.
Wiki Link: http://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Laser_Cutter
I downloaded the “Hello World” file for the Shapeoko, and followed the instructions on the Wiki page (Section called “Using the Laser”). It has a link to where you take your shapeoko gcode file and upload it, it spiits out gcode you can use for the laser. When I tried to import the gcode into Carbide Motion, there were errors in the code. There was some unexpected “/” (slash) down in the code in a place or two. Once it was fixed, it seemed to work after I ‘eyeballed’ the focus of the laser (even with goggles, not sure I recommend that). The result is in the video I posted.
So far, I have not re-flashed the control board… am I supposed to?
that’s as far as i’ve gotten, work has been crazy and haven’t gotten back to it yet. Maybe tonight.
Hope this helps.
Thanks so much for posting this information on this forum for the community. I’ve read that one needed to reflash the controller board, however your experience demonstrates otherwise.
I’ve had a laser on my acquisition list, and I appreciate this info greatly.
I have a Darkly Labs Emblaser that uses that same diode. The laser and lens assembly is a lot closer (perhaps about 1.5") to the material being etched or cut and the line width I can achieve is down to less than a hair width. I’m mostly cutting and engraving small details for model making. The attached pic shows a fish engraved on 1/32 birch plywood using the “PicEngrave” program and some N-scale (1/144) window frames cut through 80 pound cardstock using the Vectric Cut2D Laser program that came with the Emblaser. I can’t quite see what kind of a lens set-up you have in the video but like I say when the laser is focused properly at the right height some very thin cuts can be achieved.
Hi
What software did you use for generate the gcode ?
Thanks !!!
N-scale? That brings back memories from years ago when N-gauge railroading was my hobby. It would have been so great to have had a CNC back then to make stuff.
Hi Argenis. I use Vectric Cut2D Laser software to generate the gcode for vector cuts and engraving and PicLaser for engraving bitmap pictures. I use PicSender for sending the gcode from each program to the laser.
