Hi, as some of you might know I was very lucky to get hold of a broken laser cutter offered up by 13eightyfour as a donation on the for sale forum HERE. I got it home and put it in my garage / office / play room. I spent the next few weeks getting the missing bits together and working out what needed doing to it. When I got it I knew the laser power supply was broken but the tube was good. It was missing Air and Water hose and and extractor ducting and just overall needed a bit of love. I'm hoping to detail the fixes and mods I'll be doing to this to get it up and running and hopefully my first baby steps into using it.
Laser Current Ammeter Panel Meter After getting the laser working (i'll detail later as I don't have pics of the power supply fixing) the first mod I wanted to do was add an ammeter to watch the current flowing through the tube. These are listed as 50 Watt lasers but seem to have a 40 Watt tube and it would seem a 40 Watt laser power supply. To make sure there isn't any damage to anything it's recommend to run the tube at less than 20mA and what ever power setting gives that result take that as the 100% mark. I bought this meter from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AO83O3I/ - 'DC 0-30mA Analog Current Panel Meter Ammeter 85C1 30MA Off White' First thing needed was to cut a hole into the top of the laser cutter. It turns out that its 3mm steel and not that easy to shift. I stated with two outer holes and then tried to use a hole saw but it was not up to the task. After a lot of filing, bending and cutting I got it to fit. Not impressed with the hole but it works. The next issue was that I only made the hole big enough for the barrel and not the full circle on the back which meant it didn't sit flush. Out came the 3D printer and I made a THING - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1859910 Fits great! Will get it hooked up and show off wiring
Not a silly question. I have no idea TBH. It was free* and close enough to collect. Also wife approved so could just let it go. Will get it working and see what it can do. Will hopefully be a great edition to my lab along with 3D printer. *excluding repair and setting it up costs
How did this end up? Can you cut 5mm acrylic with it? Can you cut 1.5mm aluminium with it? If the answer to either or both is yes, can you do me some stuff?
I'm bad at these things. I've got the photos of the build be need to sort them out and write it up. I've not done anything with Acrylic only wood and card so far. Wont ever be able to do metal 50W isn't enough. Currently its out of action as I replaced the mirrors and its so far out of alignment at the minute it doesn't even make it to the lens! Need to get back in the garage and align it.
I thought 50W wouldn't do metal, but it's always good to ask! I'm panicking that I don't have any spare aluminium pieces for my current project and I fancied redoing a tricky bit on the cheap Hope you get it sorted.
