TS 1290 130W Laser Cutter (Including Chiller) 190-510. The 1290 is a feature packed laser cutter from our new TS range. It has a bed size of 1200 x 900mm and is available as complete package to suit.
In this tutorial you will learn how to make your own 4 ft by 4 ft, Arduino controlled, 3 watt laser engraver / cutter (for thin materials) for around 300$. The main thing that separates this tutorial from other laser engraver tutorials on here is the roughly 42 x 42 inch cutting/engraving area. This project arose when I was trying to create a 20 x 15 pixel coffee table. I needed to be able to cut my own fairly large foam grids in order to make the light separation to create the 'pixels'. One of the most expensive parts to creating your own pixel table or wall is creating the grid, most have theirs laser cut out of foam by some sort of online laser cutting service. The only problem with the online service is that it isn't cheap, and I'm a broke college student.
The only alternative I saw was building my own laser cutter.This particular laser cutter is rated for a maximum of 3 watts, even though that power is nothing compared to industrial Co2 laser cutter, which typically starts at around 40 Watts to 500+ watts, the 3 watts is more than enough power to cut thin materials such as foam board, balsa wood, plastic, and cardboard. Even though 3 watts may not be enough to cut through your thicker materials, its more than enough to engrave images on almost any surface (shown in the pictures above). In total your materials (depending on where you buy them from) should come to about $300. Attached is the full bill of materials (B.O.M. V1) for all of the materials I used, including links to each. Remember you do not have to use these exact materials, there are lots of different components that will also work for this build.
The circuit is pretty straight forward if you follow the diagram posted above. There are however a few technical details you do need to pay close attention too:.
The Stepper Motors: You may notice that two of the stepper motors are run from one driver. After trial and error (and suggestions from other builds) you do need in fact need two stepper motors for one of the axis's (two stepper motors from one driver). This is so one side of the axis does not lag behind the other.
The two combined stepper motors are wired the exact same with one of the two stepper motors coils reversed. This is so that one stepper motor runs in revers to the other, causing them both to pull the belt in the same direction. Laser Power: When adjusting the DC-DC step down supply make sure you DO NOT exceed the specs for your laser, this will fry your laser and you will have to purchase another. The laser I am using is rated for 5V and up to roughly 2.4A. Therefore I have the current limited to 2A and the voltage just below 5V.
Logic Level MOSFET: The MOSFET in this circuit is very crucial, It turns the power to the laser diode itself on and off. A Logic Level MOSFET turns fully on or fully off when very low current is applied to the gate, this is perfect for controlling it with an Arduino because the Arduino sends a very low current to the MOSFET. If you tried to use a standard MOSFET or transistor the laser would not get full power because the Arduino does not supply enough current to fully close the connection between your laser and its ground.
In the circuit above the MOSFET is inserted between the laser and ground on the DC-DC step down supply. Cooling: One big problem I ran into when I first put this together was the laser diode overheating if I ran it for too long. The heat-sink is NOT sufficient to disperse all the heat from the laser, to fix this issue I added a small computer fan mounted right next to the laser. After this addition I haven't had any problems with heat even when running it for 9+ hours straight. I also added a fan next to the stepper motor drivers because they also produce a lot of heat even when the laser cutter not running, if the power is on these guys will get very hot. Attached I have included a 3D design for the laser cutter in order to show you the general frame for the project (created in ).
The design is to scale and shows you how to assemble the laser cutter. Building the shuttles: This includes the shuttle that holds the laser (the Y axis in this example), and the two shuttles that make the X axis.
No Z axis is required, instead of a Z axis (like a 3D printer) the laser will be turned on and off. In the CAD pictures above I've given you all the dimensions you should need to be able to assemble the three shuttles, if you have any questions on the dimensions please refer to the attached 3D Design. All the holes drilled for the round rod to fit into the side boards or shuttles are 1/2 inch deep. Make sure you pre-drill all the holes in the shuttles to prevent risk of the board cracking. The Round Rod: I purchased 3/8' steel (Aluminum would work better but steel is cheaper and easier to find) rod from Homedepot, the reason I went with the thicker 3/8' was to prevent and sagging on the rail. The rod came coated in a grease like substance, this needs to be removed before you can use the rod.
Steel sanding pads, steel wool or high grit sand paper should work, after sanding the steel it should be very smooth and look like it does in the pictures above. After everything is assembled the rails need to be coated with white lithium grease, this prevents rusting and helps the shuttles glide. The Belt & Stepper Motors: When it came to mounting the stepper motors to the base and attaching the timing belt I used what tools I had at hand. The stepper motors and bearings should go on first before you worry about putting the belt on.
In order to mount the motors to the wood I cut a rectangular piece of sheet metal the width of the motors and about twice the width for the length. I then drilled 6 holes, 4 for the top of the motor so you can screw the sheet metal to the stepper motor, and 2 holes on the far side of the sheet metal. I then bent the sheet metal 90 degrees and screwed the sheet metal to the wood. On the opposite side from the stepper motor is where you mount your bearings.
Each pulley/bearing set consists of one bolt, 2 bearings, a washer, and sheet metal. I simply drilled two holes in opposite ends of the rectangular piece of sheet metal and one smaller hole in the middle. Then bent the sheet metal into a 'C' shape, put the washer on the bolt first followed by the two bearings and finally put the bolt through both holes on the ends of the sheet metal and tightened it down with a nut on the bottom. The sheet metal then gets screwed to the wood using the hole drilled in the center of the sheet metal. As for the timing belt I put a screw through each end of the belt and then screwed each end of the belt to a small piece of wood attached to the corresponding shuttle. You can get a much better picture of what i'm describing in the pictures above.Attachments. The required software to run the laser cutter is thankfully free and open source to all.
Below are links to each along with the laser engraver extension that is attached to this step.Required Software:. (For creating and converting your designs).
With the Laser-engraver extension (Attached).To start off download all the required software and put it someone you're not going to loose them (A designated folder in my documents for example). Install Inkscape then extract the laserengraver.zip file. After the laserengraver.zip has been extracted open up the folder and copy all of the files inside to C:Program Files (x86)Inkscapeshareextensions.
Take a look at the commented picture above for more help on what files to copy. Next you want to install the Arduino IDE and GRBL Library (These must be done separate). I wont go into how to install the GRBL Arduino Library there are plenty of tutorials out there.
Finally, extract UniversalGcodeSender-v1.0.7.zip to its own folder. The Universal G code sender is the software that sends the design information to the Arduino. After you extract the.zip file you will find a file called start-windows.bat, double click on this file to launch the software.
Configuring the Arduino GRBL settings: First things first you need to upload the GRBL code to the Arduino. This is the easy part, open up the Arduino IDE click Sketch/Import Library then select grbl at the bottom.
A long list of #include 's should be loaded onto your sketch now all you have to do is compile and upload. For more information on importing and uploading the library please visit the link 'With the GRBL Library' above in the required software bullets. After the code has been uploaded to the Arduino you will now need to configure the settings to match your laser cutter. This link does a great job of explaining what each one of the setting does and how you configure them. This link will help you calculate values for each one of your settings based on the materials you used.Attachments. Acquire An Idea: One thing you need to remember when thinking of a design is that the laser cutter will not fill in a picture if its supposed to colored. It simply does the outlines, if you take a look at the first image above you can see an example of what i'm talking about.
Inspiration can come from anywhere when you have unlimited possibilities for a design. The other day I was watching a Ted talk, jotted down some notes and created what you see in the second image above. I also attached the.svg for the design so that you can edit/use it for yourself. A.svg is not your normal picture format like a.jpeg, its a vector image. This means the entire image is made up of points instead of pixels, making it totally scale-able without loosing its definition.Create Design: After you've got some sort of idea on what your about to make you'll need open up a some form of vector based software.
For example Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator is what I use, programs like Photoshop or gimp will not work for creating vectors. You can either create your own images from scrap or user existing images online and convert them to a vector which I cover more in the video above. Also sells vector packs which I would highly recommend, these make creating a design very simple.Convert Design: Once you have your design you now need to convert it to a format the laser cutter can read. This is where the Inkscape Laserengraver extension comes in handy. Select your design and convert it using that extension.
In the video above I go over all of these steps in much greater detail. In the video above I go over how to connect the laser cutter to your PC, adjust the software settings, and prepare for a run.Adjusting software settings: Mainly making sure your Max X & Y rates match what speed you set during conversion of your vector.Adjusting the hardware: You can see in the picture above exactly witch POT I am adjusting to lower the current, this step is not necessary its just an easy way of focusing your laser without burning the material.The Print: Make sure the speed is set, the laser has been focused and aligned with the bottom corner of the piece you'll be burning. Now hit send and sit back and watch!LASER WARNINGBE VERY CAREFUL when around the laser while it is running, I would highly advise reading through this Wiki page to get a better understanding at just how dangerous the laser radiation really is.
May cause burns to the skin and blindness if used incorrectly. Please click the link below and read before operating the laser.Thank you all very much for reading through this instructable, a great deal of time has gone into creating this. If you would like to see more projects that we've been working on swing over to our website at Famousmods.comAlso please vote for us in the, Contest and the!!Thanks everyone! Vertical would sortof work, but you have to be aware of what kind of work you are doing. For etching, you basically just have to be sure your work is secure. For cutting, you have to make sure any cut-out pieces won't fall onto the laser or x/y carrier.
For wood, the smoke may discolor more area since the smoke will stay close to the work, and the upper portion of the cut/etch might burn wider than intended.Personally, I'd make sure it was sturdy enough to store vertical, and pull it out horizontal for use. Hi awesome project. I am the creator of the Laser Ink kickstarter projectYou may find some interesting information there. Update #10 has reference to an open source version of grbl that allows you to do image rastering. Update number 4 gives a brief overview of the theory of operation. Additionally we have created a full software stack that could control this machine.Additionally I would recommend using the Flexmod P3 Driver to control the laser power this allows the grbl to send an analog signal that is then used to set the pixels of the image.Great job.
Great build, great instructable, and I'm looking forward to my parts arriving.Since I'm waiting I thought I'd study your video on Inkscape, right down to using the same file for conversion. However I keep receiving this error doing the extension:'Traceback (most recent call last):File 'laserengraver.py', line 3188, in e.affectFile 'inkex.py', line 283, in affectself.effectFile 'laserengraver.py', line 3156, in effectself.orientation( self.layersmin(0,len(self.layers)-1) )File 'laserengraver.py', line 3080, in orientationdocheight = inkex.unittouu(self.document.getroot.get('height'))AttributeError: 'module' object has no attribute 'unittouu' 'Any thoughts?
Could it be due to newer version than yours? If so any idea on a work around for it?Thanks.
The star turn of most hackspaces and other community workshops is usually a laser cutter. An expensive and fiddly device that it makes much more sense to own collectively than to buy yourself.This isn’t to say that laser cutters are outside the budget of the experimenter though, we’re all familiar with the inexpensive table-top machines from China. Blue and white boxes that can be yours for a few hundred dollars, and hold the promise of a real laser cutter on your table.Owning one of these machines is not always smooth sailing though, because their construction and choice of components are often highly variable.
A thorough check and often a session of fixing the non-functional parts is a must before first power-on.Extreme Electronics bought one, and in a series of posts documented the process from unboxing to cutting. Starting with and what to watch for out of the box, then.
A plugin for Corel Draw was supplied, along with a dubious copy of Corel Draw itself. Finally, and the process of finding the proper height for beam focus by cutting an inclined plane of acrylic.The series rounds off with, and should make interesting reading for anyone, whether they are in the market for a cutter or not.These cutters/engravers have featured here before many times. Among many others we’ve seen one, or another.Posted in, Tagged, Post navigation.
My maker space has a blue Chinese laser, and it’s an incredible bargain. They definitely have a few weak spots, but most are easily addressed.0.
Interlock – There’s no lid interlock, at least on the cheapest ones. Don’t laser your face off; wire something in series with the arming switch.1.
Power – models with knobs on the control panel use a big resistor for current limiting. It’s prone to failure, and often takes out the power supply and/or laser tube when it goes. We upgraded ours with a current-regulated power supply from Lightobject.com.
At current prices it’s two-thirds the cost of the machine, but it’s cheaper than replacing the tube, resistor, AND power supply down the road.2. Air – Don’t plan on using a laser much without an air assist nozzle, whether you buy a machine with air pump included, or get the cheap one and plan to add your own air. Ours runs a CPAP pump and a 3D printed nozzle. You don’t need a harsh blast, just enough air to move smoke out of the cut and away from the lens. If you don’t have air, I’d consider cleaning the lens every hour of operation, before the smoke particles get really baked on and thermal shock cracks the lens.3. Lens – The gold (ZnSe) lens our machine came with cracked. We replaced it with a black GaAs lens from Ebay.
![X252 laser cutter driver free X252 laser cutter driver free](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125630552/544523279.jpg)
As I understand it, ZnSe lenses are marginally more efficient but much more fragile – I haven’t noticed any loss in capability, but the black lens has run a LONG time. Also, since this information is infuriatingly hard to find: 12mm diameter and 50.8mm focal length.4. Bed/Clamp – The stock work-holding clamp is a neat idea, but really only appropriate for engraving bulky objects. Most maker space uses revolve around cutting parts out of sheet goods. We just pulled the whole frame out and replaced it with some rigid steel mesh on standoffs. This also gave us an opportunity to mess with the focus.5.
Software – The linked article really undersells how awful the stock software is. Once you get everything installed, the plugins work okay, but getting them installed is incredibly hit-or-miss, and good luck if you’re running anything newer than Windows 7. Plus, the laser requires a flaky hardware security dongle. Ours now runs from a Smoothieboard and Inkscape plugins. I’d want one set up to run G-code like a really expensive laser.A good ZnSe lens from someplace like II-IV in a water cooled housing could go for a couple months of 40 hour work weeks. The trouble is that a good ZnSe lens is probably going to cost a lot more than the entire laser package in this article.I can’t imagine running a laser with no assist gas – even if you’re cutting acrylic, the extra wear you’d get on the lens would be a royal pain.
I’m wondering if you could cut some thin sheet steel with this if you used an oxygen assist.One other trick from the high end that could be adapted to these cheapie lasers is to use the laser to make its own consumable lattice to put under the workpiece. Although with something this low powered, the aluminum grid stuff made for lighting fixtures would last a long time as a support lattice. At Protospace (in Calgary) we have recently bought a Speedy 300. The software is about as annoying to use as that of our other laser cutter (a Rabbit, which uses LaserCut software and a Leetro controller), but it’s annoying in pretty much the exact opposite ways—things that are annoying to do with the Rabbit are easy with the Trotec, and vice versa. CorelDraw is a popular program around here to use to design stuff for the Trotec, though the JobControl software will take rasters and vectors from any program capable of printing.
Also, regarding lenses, we just bought our first replacement lens for the Trotec, and we’re going to increase the frequency of cleaning the lens from weekly to before and after every use, and hourly while in use, to keep it from cracking again. I have one of these, and it happily works without much hassle.Though, I changed the controller in it for another one, maybe not the smartest choice of mine, and now I would have probably used a aurdino with some CNC software instead of an of the shelf solution with poor software.But it works just fine and does what I need it to do, so can’t really complain. And mine has been working for soon over a year or is it two (One easily forgets it seams)But I would recommend one of these cheap lasers with some upgrades when it comes to the controller. Instead of buying something like a Glowforge or similar. (Unless one really needs the slightly larger work bench, or doesn’t want to fiddle a little with electronics.)I did look into building a laser cutter from scratch, but found that to be a lot more work and around the same price as just buying one of these instead and doing a few upgrades. It doesn’t feel to cheaply made, considering its performance and price.
Over all a good laser cutter. To buy a lot of stuff from AliExpress, but the site is now dominated by crooked “merchants” and AliExpress no longer does a good job of moderating disputes. You can’t trust the reviews because the merchants get rid of bad ones by replacing product listings that get them (same crap products, new listings). Way too much stuff I order simply never arrives, after being suspiciously delivered to a “wrong” address in Arizona (I’m in Virginia)–I suspect buyers are being used to support an illicit import business. I’m not anti-China (my wife is from Guangzhou, and I travel to China frequently), but AliExpress has turned in to a big basket of sleaze. I don’t understand comments like yours.
Meaning, I get that you had a shitty experience but didn’t you pay with a credit card? Don’t get your stuff, don’t pay for it. It goes something like this:“Hello, credit card company? Yes, this is Rodney. No ROD-ney, McKay!
My secret password is vanilla. Okay 9 4 3 4.
Cool, um, oh right, yeah so I didn’t get the chinese stuff from September 5th but those China crooks won’t refund me! You’ll take care of it LIKE YOU LEGALLY HAVE TO? Absolutely avoid like the plague the company XYZ-tech.com and their EXLAS machines.Monumentally incompetent.
On arrival a beam finder was mis-installed, which didn’t matter since it burned up the second day. Laser tube lasted only 3 months. An autopsy revealed they’d installed the wrong power supply (a 100W tube but were driving it with a power supply set for 130W).
That extra 30% meant it never had a chance; laser tubes are.very. sensitive to over current. They admitted their “mistake” and offered to sell us a replacement tube “at cost”. Excuse me?We pointed out the 1-year warranty. They replied the 1-year applied only to the machine; tube was covered for only 3-months. We pointed out the tube failed at 3-months.
They said they start the warranty clock when they shipped the machine in March. Hell, the machine was stuck in customs (and EXLAS new it) for 3-months so, technically the warranty had expired the day we received it in July.CNCzone.com is full of similar horror stories about XYZ-tech and EXLAS. My favorites are the safety interlock that didn’t work, and the connectors that fell off (so they hot-melt glued them in place). The laser power supply is calibrated to take a 0-to-5V signal and scale that to give 0-to-100% power for the laser tube installed. However, for ours it was calibrated for a 130W tube but only a 100W was installed.
Approximately, that means that anytime anyone ran a job at 100% (full power) the poor 100W tube was being driven at 130W. For laser tube, you supply a high voltage to ignite them and run them, but you regulate them by monitoring the current, and tweakign the hight voltage as needed.The 100W tube expects 25mA max. The 130W tube expects 32mA. So that’s 30% over. This destroyed the first tube in only months. For a repair, we installed a trimpot “throttle” that scaled the 0-to-5V control signal to only 0-to-3.8V range (3.8V5Vx100/130).
If you follow the math, that means that when the computer was requesting 100%, the laser supply would see only a 3.8V control voltage and scale the 32mA down to 25mA (the correct current for the 100W tube). Laser diodes of about 1-5W at 450nm are slowly getting cheaper and more powerful.CNC cutting of paper, balsa wood, cardboard or very thin opaque plastics is certainly doable with these, as is marking of thicker wood etc.You end up with a machine that is far smaller, lighter, less complicated and more robust than CO2 laser systems. The laser is much smaller and can directly move on the XY stage, so no optics path to clean and align. No HV power supply, and no water cooling.But in terms of the amount of cutting power available it’s not close to even a small CO2 laser.Also potentially more dangerous too, despite the lower laser power – the 10um light from a CO2 laser is “eye safe”, as is all light in the infrared below about 1.5um. This means it won’t be transmitted and focused through the eye onto the retina so is safe in terms of retinal injury.(But still, 40W of 10um light from a CO2 laser hitting your eye is like sticking a fire into your eye – won’t cause retinal injury but your cornea and the front structures of the eye really aren’t gonna like that heating, so “eyesafe” is a bit of a misnomer at these power levels.)And common materials like acrylic, glass, polycarbonate, and typical workshop safety glasses will attenuate the 10um laser light quite well. This is why the lens and output coupler in your CO2 laser system have to be made from specialist materials transparent to the 10um light, like zinc selenide or gallium arsenide.But visible light at say 400nm from a multi-watt laser will go through materials like acrylic or glass, and it will be transmitted to the retina – it is in the retinal hazard spectrum, and at these power levels, even a couple of watts CW, you’re still talking about Class IV lasers.