Laser where in UK?

[stk2008]

Hi all some of you may know I have a home made CNC milling machine.

Well watching a few videos on Youtube of laser cutters and engravers I want one .

I cant afford to purchase one but even if I could I would rather make my own.
I need help in finding a laser that would

Engrave

Plastic
Aluminium
Wood

Cut

Plastic
Stickers

So the laser dont need to be real power full as any hard materials I will do on me CNC milling machine.

I have looked on Ebay and can not find any thing laser wise.
If possible I would like the laser and power supply and all the other bits that is needed to make the laser work with MACH3.

I have no problems in designing and building the actual machine axis etc just the laser side I need help with.

All the laser parts need to be cheap and in the UK.

Can any one help and advise me please.

Thanks very much.

[Litografa]

Call HPC Lasers

[stk2008]

Hi there thanks for the reply.

I have had a look and there machines look nice.
I don't know much about the laser side but on that site I cant seem to find lasers and psu`s to run them just the CO2 tube or is that it?.

Thanks again

[Litografa]

I hope HPC have on stock tubes and power supplies as spare parts for their lasers. So why do not sold this parts to you?

[stk2008]

Ah im sorry yes I see now you did say ring them so I better do that and see if they would sell the

CO2 Tube
PSU

is that all that is needed?.

Thanks

[Litografa]

If you want make laser from 0 - you need laser tube, PSU, water cooling system, motherboard, motors, XY motion rails, 4 mirrors, one lens, possibly Z axis )) SOFTWARE!!!
looks like cheaper buy ready to use laser from HPC or China

[stk2008]

So to get the laser to work I will need

CO2 tube
PSU
and driver board to run laser via mach3 etc?.

I will have no problems making the machine with the required axis just the laser side I am a noob on

[Litografa]

If you have/ can built motion system, you are right - you need only CO2 tube
PSU, and driver board to run laser via special software. I am not sure that Mach3 can run laser.
But do not forget water cooling syste for laser.

[stk2008]

Litografa thanks very much mate appreciated.

[epilotdk]

Originally Posted by stk2008 All the laser parts need to be cheap and in the UK.

"Cheap" and "UK" are mutually exclusive. If you want it cheap then you will have to import the parts from China. You need the optical path as well, not just tube and PSU.

If you somehow manage to source the parts in the UK, by the time the machine is up and running you can easily have spent what a complete machine from China would have cost you.

If you make your own machine remember it will need a lot more speed than a CNC router.

[stk2008]

Hi epilotdk thanks for the input.

Yeah I understand it will need to be faster I am sure I could gear it if required.

Ummm but the point about it being cheaper to get a China made one is worth thinking about.

Is there a site that would list all the parts just for the laser side with pictures all most like a

DIY CO2 laser for dummy's

Yes yes if your a dummy then making your own CO2 laser would be silly :P

Thanks

[Tweakie]

If you are constructing your own machine you really only need one axis, preferably the X axis, which is reasonably fast.
I use a wood router, to which I have added a laser and OK it may take a bit longer to complete the Raster stuff but it can still be done. Here are a couple of examples.........
The gears are were cut yesterday from 6mm acrylic using a vector toolpath.
The image is in anodized alluminium using a raster toolpath.
Both were produced with Mach3.

Tweakie.