need your input and advice on a DIY laser cutter / engraver

[armadilloarms]

Hi everyone, im wanting to build a laser engraver / cutter and ive been looking for some DIY plans and found some but there is always more info out there.

what i want to do is engrave/ etch aluminum , titanium steel and Stainless both in round and flats
rounds i know ill need either an indexing head or a rotating chuck

i also want to be able to cut foam for custom case inserts.

so has anyone built one? do you have plans and parts lists

any input or advice? I do want to build one.... it will hopefully be less expensive and i will learn more

i have the ability and skill to machine any parts .... i will prob purchase extrusions for the frame

so lets see what we all have to say and contribute

thanks

if you want to call me and talk... great pm me

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[armadilloarms]

still hoping

[NIC 77]

First off, I'm not an expert on lasers, I don't own one, but I am interested in your project.

I'm curious, what your end goals are for this, specifically,

1. Do you want to do post anodizing engraving, or is pre anodizing engraving acceptable?

2. Is this for your logo and features on your products, like labels, directions, etc, or is this something where you want to be able to laser engrave an entire slide for example, with custom decorative designs for a customer?

Also, what kind of CNC equipment do you current own if you don't mind me asking?

[armadilloarms]

pre and post engraving on anodized and unanodized products

yes on my logo for my business, serial numbers, markings, slide work etc...

custom foam case inserts for firearms etc.

i have a cnc bed mill but the program is dos, "old" and to upgrade to engraving is very expensive for me prob in the area of 8k and basically a whole new op system

with the laser i can do alot of things with it.... engrave cans , receivers, barrels etc

this is going to be a fun project to build but i know little about lasers

thanks

First off, I'm not an expert on lasers, I don't own one, but I am interested in your project.

I'm curious, what your end goals are for this, specifically,

1. Do you want to do post anodizing engraving, or is pre anodizing engraving acceptable?

2. Is this for your logo and features on your products, like labels, directions, etc, or is this something where you want to be able to laser engrave an entire slide for example, with custom decorative designs for a customer?

Also, what kind of CNC equipment do you current own if you don't mind me asking?

[Dean448]

About the only thing that is DIY about a laser is the housing and frame. Tube, power supplies, slides, optics, controller are all purchased. Everything is belt driven.
You will find threads for engravers based on grbl that are converted 3D printers.
I guess the availability of standard components and they all are similar designs is why you don't see a build area under lasers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fixtureman1]

You are going to need a fiber laser to etch metal

[NIC 77]

I was looking at some vids on youtube. Seems like a couple companies are making exactly what you are looking for, no idea on the cost. Looks like they can do curved surfaces without a rotary axis, up to a point, and also offer rotary axis machines.

Correct me if I'm wrong but are these galvo mirror systems with a motorized Z axis?

Z-Tech Advanced Technologies, Inc. | Laser Engraving/Cutting Systems

For a DIY laser with traditional X and Y movements, belts are the way to go I think, simply from a speed and acceleration standpoint. Are there DIY galvo laser kits available? Galvos use mirrors to reflect the laser instead of linear movement, as you probably know.

I was wondering for simple engraving if you couldn't attach a laser to the Z axis of your CNC machine, obviously this wouldn't work too well for more complicated rasters as it's not fast enough, also, without the proper protective enclosure safety could be an issue and you don't want to go blind. It just seemed like a simple solution to engrave the parts at the same time as they are being made, I see now that perhaps it's not the best way to do it.

For a rotary axis, I would want the resolution to be acceptable, unless you were simply using it as an indexer.

A stepper motor with 1.8 deg per step, 200 step per rev, and 10x microstepping, for a piece 6 inches in diameter,

2xpiexr = circumference, 2 x 3.14 x 3 = 18.84" circumferance

360 / 2000 = 0.18 deg per step with 10x microstep (in reality the microstep won't get you 10x res I don't think, so the result won't be as good)

18.84 X (0.18/360) = 0.0094", so 9 thou, I think you'd want a gear reduction of at least 10, preferable more, on the rotary to get you below a thousandth resolution on a larger piece, unless you are using servos.

No idea what software you should use, also, do you need a Z axis because of the differences height of the parts you'd be engraving on a rotary? For example, if you are engraving something shaped like a rectangle all around, when the rotary moves it to do the edge, well, now it's closer to the laser.

Sorry man, I don't know anything about lasers, I'm just jabbering on here, I'm just interested in the project.

Hopefully at the very least my banter will help to generate some more interest in the thread.