Laser Cutting Head

... i've received some 5Watt-diodes, soldered a simple driver and made some images with an unfinished (rough breaked) fiber emitting 2Watts.

The LaseCutter-Wiki is updated and atached is a photo showing how 2Watts power without any focussing burns POM in 5mm distance from the fiber

This is a really dangerous 'toy', so any development and fiddling with the active beam should be done only with appropriate laser-goggles and/or an enclosure around the working area ...

VDX Wrote:
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> ... i've received some 5Watt-diodes, soldered a
> simple driver and made some images with an
> unfinished (rough breaked) fiber emitting 2Watts.
>
> The LaseCutter-Wiki is updated and atached is a
> photo showing how 2Watts power without any
> focussing burns POM in 5mm distance from the fiber
>

So your plan is now try to use that 5W diode laser fur cutting? what materials?


> This is a really dangerous 'toy', so any
> development and fiddling with the active beam
> should be done only with appropriate laser-goggles
> and/or an enclosure around the working area ...

Maybe right at begin of the page there should be the warning in big red letters.

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

Hi Casainho,

... with focussing i'll have a spot bigger 0.1mm diameter from the 5Watt-diode-fibre - it's depending of the ratio betwen collimating- and focussing lenses.

Good absorbing (dark coloured) materials can be cut ... light, transparent or reflecting materials not.

For sintering (DMLS) i have to test, here 5Watts are enough to melt most powdered materials ...

For higher powers i can combine more of the 5Watt-fibers by aligning the collimated beams parallel and focussing with a single focussing lens - but then the spot is even bigger ...

I want to test with collimating and focussing with GRIN-rod-lenses - i have some here, but they are from image-optics, not for laser-focussing, so the pitch-metrics aren't optimal. I've got some infos for laser-lenses: - a GRIN-lense with 0.5mm diamter suitable for collimating will cost around 30 Euros ...

With standard plastic collimating lenses (1 Euro each) i'll have 5mm diameter per collimator, so a 7x-array will be min 15mm in diameter ... with 0.5mm GRIN-collimators i'll get 2.5mm diameter for a 19x-array

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

... translated the LaseCutter-Wiki into a German version - updates will/should be synchronous in both versions ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

VDX, when you have something working, I may follow you :-) -- so please think on something very simple to start, and you may have a few more people working with you :-)

I am interested on laser powder 3D printer and laser cutter.

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

Hi Casainho,

... as you can see in the atached image, you can melt plastic even with the 'naked' fiber ... without any optics.

So the easiest setup will be a power source with 6 or 12 Volts and 5 Amperes and a tunable/switchable current-driver (eg. with LM317's) driving the diode.

With moving the fiber-tip close to the powder-surface you'll have a melting spot of maybe 0.2mm or smaller (it'a a Gaussian beam, so most energy is in the center).

For cutting or a smaller focus you'll need a focussing head, but this can be made with a single lens in a tube and the fiber fixed in a probed distance ...

I have some comercial collimators and focussing heads, but for the DIY-approach i'll test with cheap and easy available lenses and some tricky methods

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

casainho Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...
> Maybe right at begin of the page there should be
> the warning in big red letters.

... added the atached image as entry-warning

I think that electronics are easy for us, DIY. And since we have already the Mendel/any other CNC, should be easy to mount the laser fiber on the head.

Price of the system is very important...

What do you think would be easier and cheap to do, laser powder 3D print or laser cut?

As for laser powder 3D printing, we have the difficult to find PLA/ABS powder and to build the need structure for the 3D printer.

---

---
New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

... i think ataching a focussing lens and cutting is simpler than the powder-handling for sintering.

For testing it's comparable ... but with cutting you have much more toxic gases you have to vent ...

Here in Germany i can give away a 'naked' diode for 50 Euros, a focussing head and fiber-protecting adds maybe 30 to 50 Euros ... and a complete running module with electronics, optics and rudimentary controlling for maybe 300 Euros upwards ...

This are DIY-prices, not a comercial start ... and i don't have any experiences with shipping, aditional fees and precaution/safety issues when international

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

VDX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ... i think ataching a focussing lens and cutting
> is simpler than the powder-handling for
> sintering.
>
> For testing it's comparable ... but with cutting
> you have much more toxic gases you have to vent
> ...

Maybe have the machine near a window?


> Here in Germany i can give away a 'naked' diode
> for 50 Euros, a focussing head and
> fiber-protecting adds maybe 30 to 50 Euros ... and
> a complete running module with electronics, optics
> and rudimentary controlling for maybe 300 Euros
> upwards ...

I prefer to build my electronics, because I have local components, I have some already in stock at my little electronics lab.


> This are DIY-prices, not a comercial start ... and
> i don't have any experiences with shipping,
> aditional fees and precaution/safety issues when
> international

Well, I guess the important is to have the wik page with good info about safety!

Shipping is very easy, here in Portugal I can see online a table with prices for each country, depending on the weight.

I think the most important is also to show off the possibilities of the system, and what can uses win for invest money and time to buy and build such system. I good documentation page with good pictures, text and video.

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

... i'll blog and update the Wiki with progress ... with working prototypes i can calculate the single developing steps from single diodes to atached optics and the different electronics variants.

One problem could be if i have to declare all tax-relevant transactions and/or if i start selling with a shop - then the estimated basic costs will double for private and triple for comercial sales

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

... tried to atach a ferrule for better handling of the fiber-tip.

The removing of the cladding worked, glued the fibre in the ferrule with cyanacrylat and milled/polished coarse (hadn't fine polishing paste then).

At home made a fixature for perpendicular polishing (plastic plate with a 1.3mm-bore) and tried with manual polishing ...

Seemed to work, but when testing and switched from 1Watt to 2Watts the fiber-tip and the ferrule smoked and the beam dispersed

I think i had overseen a crack in the fiber, so the light heated the crack and the surrounding until it melted the ferrule-tip

... next time i'll have to prepare better and arrange an appropriate microscope at home too ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Update ...

... best way for preparing the fibertips is removing the cladding, carefully scrap the naked fiber with a sharp knife (scalpel or diamond-cutter) and break it under the scrap - if the break is clean and perpendicular, it's OK ... otherwise try once more ...

Then test the beam-quality by switching the laser on, beaming with the fiber on a laser-indicator.

Ataching a ferrule is a bit tricky as you contaminate the fibertip with the glue - smallest residues of the glue will carbonize in the laserbeam and burn the fiber

I'll try without ferrules: - milling a two-part-holder for press-in fixing the collimating lens and the fiber with possibility to adjust the distance between them.

For collimating/focussing i have some different lenses and GRIN-optics, so i'll test with them and post the results ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

:-)

---

---
New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

Update ...

... complete assembled the first prototype with a smaller 5Watt-diode, optics, armored tube and all the electronics and drivers for switching and PWM-driving the diode - image atached.

The microcontroller in the front is a MySmartControl168 (Atmega168) with USB, so the module can be used either as preprogrammed pulse-generator with shaped pulses (e.g. per TTL-pulses or footswitch) or complete controlled by a PC.

The laser is working nice ... i have to program the MC and embed the module as toolhead in my CNC-mill for some cutting and sintering samples ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Nice!

I am waiting now for some demonstrations... could you also please record some videos?

Do you have any other blog, page, about any other hackings? like more info about that "MySmartControl168"? (I love to see others works :-) )

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---
New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

Hi Casainho,

first i have to program the basic firmware of the module, then i'll make some serious burning

In past i developed some stuff like laser-plotters with CO2-lasers or CNC-mills, but this was long before WWW and blogging ...

The last years i was busy with micro- and nanotech-development mostly covered by NDA's

But now i'm active on my own again, so there will be again some interesting stuff to blog

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

But now i'm active on my own again, so there will be again some interesting stuff to blog.

Neat! Would you like to do it at RepRap.org? I've found a mediawiki extension that enables blogging. I need to install it.

Also, I've started to get interested in "VDX paste". I mean waterglass-concrete ... No heated bed, the extruder is less likely to burst into fire ... might be able to run the machine and walk away from it for 12 hours ... we can make it ourselves and don't need to put in a special order to Village Plastics in the US ... hmmm.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2010 12:33AM by SebastienBailard.

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-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

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Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Hi Sebatien,

... actually i wrote and updated posts here and some wiki-pages instead of blogging - i'll see if i can make more ... but continuous blogging isn't really my 'thing'

The 'roomtemp paste-fabbing' was my main intention when found f@h and reprap two years ago.

For me it's the perfect fabbing methode, as i need only small volumes for objects of some cubic-millimetres size with accuracies in 0.01mm ... for normally/common printed objects the syringes are limited in size (or you need a bigger frame and use the giant syringe showed in my last image ), so you have to exchange them regularly for fabbing greater parts ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

VDX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> ... actually i wrote and updated posts here and
> some wiki-pages instead of blogging - i'll see if
> i can make more ... but continuous blogging isn't
> really my 'thing'

Yeah, looks like you are using this forum message as blog and updating the respective wiki page :-)

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

... actually i wrote and updated posts here and some wiki-pages instead of blogging - i'll see if i can make more ... but continuous blogging isn't really my 'thing'

Don't worry about it. You triggered a macro that kicks in every time casainho and other users ask folk to blog rather than doing wiki pages.

I've got some questions about waterglass concrete for large, ~1 liter
print jobs, but I need to read your previous posts on the general
subject.

---

-Sebastien, RepRap.org library gnome.

---

Remember, you're all RepRap developers (once you've joined the super-secret developer mailing list), and the wiki, RepRap.org, [reprap.org] is for everyone and everything!

Update ...

... a basic firmware is running (selectable CW or pulsing, coarse or fine power-adjusting), the exhausting is running too, now i have to mill the holders and embed the laser-module as adjustable tool in my CNC-controller ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

VDX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Update ...
>
> ... a basic firmware is running (selectable CW or
> pulsing, coarse or fine power-adjusting), the
> exhausting is running too, now i have to mill the
> holders and embed the laser-module as adjustable
> tool in my CNC-controller ...

Good! can't you show us that by recording a video?

What are the characteristics of your machine? what can it cut? MDF? acrylic?

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

... i'll make some photos and videos when it's running ...

Clear or bright materials are nearly impossible to cut as the radiation (975nm Wavelength) pass through or is mainly reflected - this will be different with a CO2-tube (10640nm).

I'll try cutting black acrylic and testing with other materials, but my target application is powder-sintering and melting/fusing different materials normaly hard to handle or to combine ...

VDX Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll try cutting black acrylic and testing with
> other materials, but my target application is
> powder-sintering and melting/fusing different
> materials normaly hard to handle or to combine ...

So you have the same objective as Peter Jansen for his selective "laser sintering printer". What are the differences between your solutions? I am very curious...

Could you give your opinion about his ideas?

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

Hi Casainho,

... as long i didn't have a scanning system precise enough for 10 microns accuracy over a range of 150x150mm i'll use my CNC-mill as XY-plotter with a travelling area of 550x500mm and 12.5 microns accuracy with half-stepping or better when replacing the drivers with microstepping ones.

The first tests will be made with manually applying the powder-slices ... later there should be an automated powder-support with two reservoirs on the sides, but this can change.

The main difference is the much higher power (5W compared with 0.22W), the (slower) XY-plotter-translation and the much greater working area.

But this is all subject of change, so wait until i have some solid results ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

Ok, I hope you guys can get the best ideas from each other :-)

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]

Update ...

... first tests with cutting adhesive letters - black material, 1Watt power, 500mm/min.

I have to optimize my CNC-software for steering the ON/OFF-cycles and atach a charcoal absorber ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

... i tested with a mixture from fine powdered shugar and coal - it's grey in colour and dark enough absorbing enough laser-energy to melt.

A layer nearly 0.2mm thick, lasered with 2Watts and 400mm/min (same file as with cutting), resulted in solidified trays not really homogenous, but hard enough for powderbed-fabbing solid bodies out of shugar

The solidified mixture is hard as solid shugar and comparable brittle too, but was easy dissolved with warm water, so maybe this is another way to a removable support-material ...

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

:-)

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New cutting edge RepRap electronics, ARM 32 bits @ 100MHz runs RepRap @ 725mm/s:

[www.3dprinting-r2c2.com]