Everyone has probably heard that from the writer DVD drive or you can get a semiconductor laser and light matches with it and burn through thin paper.
But the author of this video went further and made quite such a handy tool for engraving on organic surfaces. And this idea immediately played out in a different way. It should be noted that the video instruction for making a laser engraver is very detailed. The author explains in detail all the steps and why, what is needed. The only thing the author did not say is that even with such a low-power laser it is worth handling very carefully and avoiding even a beam reflected from any surface into the eyes. Otherwise, you can seriously damage your eyes. There is a way to increase the power of the laser. You just need to use several semiconductor lasers and focus their beams to one point. But this will seriously complicate the design and require a more powerful power source.
It took the author 4 months to assemble such an engraver, its power is 2 watts. This is not too much, but it allows you to engrave on wood and plastic. Also, the device can cut a cork tree. The article contains all necessary material to create an engraver, including STL files for printing structural components, as well as electronic circuits for connecting engines, lasers, and so on.
Video of the engraver:
Materials and tools:
Access to a 3D printer;
- rods from of stainless steel 5/16";
- bronze bushings (for plain bearings);
- diode M140 for 2 W;
- radiator and coolers to create diode cooling;
- stepper motors, pulleys, toothed belts;
- Super glue;
- wooden beam;
- plywood;
- bolts with nuts;
- acrylic (for creating inserts);
- G-2 lens and driver;
- thermal paste;
- protective glasses;
- Arduino UNO controller;
- drill, cutting tool, self-tapping screws, etc.
Engraver manufacturing process:
Step one. Create the Y axis
First, in Autodesk Inventor, you need to develop a printer frame. Then you can start printing the elements of the Y axis and assembling it. The first part that is printed on a 3D printer is needed in order to install a stepper motor on the Y axis, connect steel shafts and ensure sliding along one of the X axis shafts.
After the part is printed, two bronze bushings must be installed in it, they are used as sliding supports. To reduce friction, the bushings need to be lubricated. it perfect solution for similar projects because it is cheap.
As for the guides, they are made from 5/16" diameter stainless steel rods. Stainless steel has a low coefficient of friction with bronze, so it is excellent for plain bearings.
A laser is also installed on the Y axis, it has metal case and gets pretty hot. To reduce the risk of overheating, install aluminum radiator and coolers for cooling. The author used old elements from the robot controller.
Among other things, in the block for the 1"X1" laser, you need to make a 31/64" hole and add a bolt to the side face. The block is connected to another part, which is also printed on a 3D printer, it will move along the Y axis. toothed belt.
After assembling the laser module, it is installed on the Y-axis. Stepper motors, pulleys and timing belts are also installed at this stage.
Step two. Creating the X Axis
Wood was used to create the base of the engraver. The most important thing is that the two X-axes are clearly parallel, otherwise the device will wedge. A separate motor is used to move along the X axis, as well as a drive belt in the center along the Y axis. Thanks to this design, the system turned out to be simple and works perfectly.
For fastening cross beam, which connects the belt to the Y axis, you can use superglue. But it is best to print special brackets on a 3D printer for these purposes.
To check how the electronics work, the author turned it on outside the machine. Used to cool electronics computer cooler. The system works on the controller Arduino Uno, which is related to grbl. In order for the signal to be transmitted online, the Universal Gcode Sender is used. To convert vector images to G-code, you can use Inkscape with the gcodetools plugin installed. To control the laser, a contact is used that controls the operation of the spindle. This is one of the most simple examples using gcodetools.
Of course, complex images are not of very high quality, but the simple engraver burns out without difficulty. You can also use it to cut cork wood without any problems.
Good time everyone!
In this post, I want to share with you the process of creating a laser engraver based on a diode laser from China.
A few years ago, I wanted to buy ready-made version an engraver from Aliexpress with a budget of 15 thousand, but after a long search, I came to the conclusion that all the options presented are too simple and, in fact, are toys. And I wanted something desktop and at the same time quite serious. After a month of research, it was decided to make this device with our own hands, and away we go...
At that moment, I didn’t have a 3D printer and 3D modeling experience yet, but everything was fine with drawing)
Here is actually one of those ready-made engravers from China.
Looking at the options possible designs mechanics, the first sketches of the future machine were made on a piece of paper ..))
It was decided that the engraving area should not be less than A3 sheet.
Myself laser module bought one of the first. 2W power since it was the most the best option for reasonable money.
Here is the actual laser module itself.
At this stage, sketches on notebook sheets no longer appeared, everything was drawn and thought out in Compass.
Having bought 2 meters of a square profile 40x40 mm to build the frame of the machine, in the end only the carriage itself was made of it ..))
Motors, linear bearings, belts, shafts and all electronics were ordered from Aliexpress during the development process and plans for how the motors would be mounted and what kind of control board would change on the go.
After several days of drawing in Compass, a more or less clear version of the machine design was determined.
And so the X-axis was born ..))
Sidewalls of the Y axis (sorry for the quality of the photo).
Fitting.
And finally the first run!
A simple 3D model was built general view machine, in order to already accurately determine its appearance and dimensions.
And away we go... Plexiglas... Painting, wiring and other little things.
And finally, when everything was adjusted and the last part was painted black, the finish line came!
Now some beautiful photos))
To make a laser engraver or CNC (computer numerical control) machine, we need:
DVD-ROM or CD-ROM
- Plywood 10 mm thick (you can also use 6 mm)
- Wood screws 2.5 x 25 mm, 2.5 x 10 mm
- Arduino Uno (compatible boards can be used)
- L9110S motor driver 2 pcs.
- Laser 1000mW 405nm Blueviolet
- Analog joystick
- Button
- 5V power supply (I will use an old but working computer power supply)
- Transistor TIP120 or TIP122
- Resistor 2.2 kOhm, 0.25 W
- Connecting wires
- Electric jigsaw
- Drill
- Wood drills 2mm, 3mm, 4mm
- Screw 4 mm x20 mm
- Nuts and washers 4 mm
- soldering iron
- Solder, rosin
Step 1 Disassemble the drives.
Any CD or DVD drive is suitable for the engraver. It is necessary to disassemble it and remove the internal mechanism, they come in different sizes:
It is necessary to remove all optics and the board located on the mechanism:
You need to glue a table to one of the mechanisms. You can make a table from the same plywood by cutting a square with a side of 80 mm. Or cut the same square out of the CD/DVD-ROM case. Then the part that you plan to engrave can be pressed with a magnet. Cut out the square, glue it:
To the second mechanism, you need to glue a plate to which the laser will subsequently be attached. There are a lot of manufacturing options and it depends on what you have at hand. I used a plastic model plate. In my opinion, this is the most convenient option. I got the following:
Step 2 Making the case.
For the manufacture of the body of our engraver, we will use plywood 10 mm thick. If it is not there, you can take plywood of a smaller thickness, for example 6 mm, or replace plywood with plastic. It is necessary to print the following photos and cut out one lower part, one upper and two side parts according to these templates. In the places marked with a circle, make holes for self-tapping screws with a diameter of 3mm.
After cutting it should look like this:
at the top and lower parts it is necessary to make holes of 4 mm for fastening your parts of the drives. I can’t immediately mark these holes, because they are different:
When assembling, it is necessary to use wood screws 2.5 x 25 mm. In places where self-tapping screws are screwed in, it is necessary to pre-drill holes with a 2 mm drill. Otherwise, plywood may crack. If it is planned to assemble the housing from plastic, it is necessary to provide for the connection of parts metal corners and use screws with a diameter of 3 mm. To give an aesthetic appearance to our engraver, it is worth sanding all the details with fine emery, if desired, you can paint. I like black, I painted all the details black with spray paint.
Step 3 Prepare the power supply.
To power the engraver, you need a 5 volt power supply with a current of at least 1.5 amperes. I'll use old block power supply from the computer. Cut off all pads. To start the power supply, you need to close the green (PC_ON) and black (GND) wires. You can put a switch between these wires for convenience, or you can simply twist them together and use the power supply switch, if there is one.
To connect the load, we output red (+5), yellow (+12) and black (GND) wires. Purple (duty +5) can deliver a maximum of 2 amps or less, depending on the power supply. There is voltage on it even with the green and black wires open.
For convenience, we glue the engraver on double-sided tape to the power supply.
Step 4 Joystick for manual control.
To set the initial engraving position, we will use an analog joystick and a button. We place everything on the circuit board and output the wires to connect to the Arduino. Attaching to the body:
We connect according to the following scheme:
Out X - pin A4 Arduino Out Y - pin A5 Arduino Out Sw - pin 3 Arduino Vcc - +5 Power Supply Gnd - Gnd Arduino
Step 5 Place the electrics.
We will place all the electrics behind our engraver. We fasten the Arduino Uno and the motor driver with 2.5 x 10 mm self-tapping screws. We connect as follows:
We connect the wires from the stepper motor along the X axis (table) to the outputs of the L9110S motor driver. Further like this:
B-IA - pin 7 B-IB - pin 6 A-IA - pin 5 A-IB - pin 4 Vcc - +5 from the power supply GND - GND
We connect the wires from the stepper motor along the Y axis (laser) to the outputs of the L9110S motor driver. Further like this:
B-IA - pin 12 B-IB - pin 11 A-IA - pin 10 A-IB - pin 9 Vcc - +5 from the power supply GND - GND
If at the first start the engines will hum, but do not move, it is worth swapping the screwed wires from the engines.
Don't forget to connect:
+5 from Arduino - +5 power supply GND Arduino - GND Power supply
Step 6 Installing the laser.
The Internet is full of diagrams and instructions for making a laser from a laser diode from a DVD-Rom writer. This process is long and complicated. Therefore, I bought a ready-made laser with a driver and a cooling radiator. This greatly simplifies the process of manufacturing a laser engraver. The laser consumes up to 500 mA, so it cannot be connected directly to the Arduino. We will connect the laser through a TIP120 or TIP122 transistor.
The 2.2 kOhm resistor must be included in the gap between the Base of the transistor and pin 2 of the Arduino.
There are few connections here, so we solder everything on weight, isolate and fasten the transistor from the back to the case:
To firmly fix the laser, it is necessary to cut another plate from the same plastic as the plate glued to the Y axis. We fasten the laser cooling radiator to it with the screws included in the laser kit:
We insert the laser inside the radiator and fix it with screws, also included in the laser kit:
And we fasten this whole structure to our engraver:
Step 7 Wednesday Arduino programming IDE.
Download and install the Arduino IDE. It is best to do this from the official project.
The latest version at the time of writing the instructions is ARDUINO 1.8.5. No additional libraries are required. You should connect the Arduino Uno to the computer and fill it with the following sketch:
After uploading the sketch, you should check that the engraver works as it should.
Attention! The laser is not a toy! A laser beam, even if not focused, even reflected, damages the retina when it enters the eye. Highly recommend purchasing goggles! And all work on checking and tuning is carried out only in protective glasses. Also, you should not look without glasses at the operation of the laser during the engraving process.
We turn on the power. When you change the position of the joystick forward - backward, the table should move, left to right - the Y axis, that is, the laser, should move. When the button is pressed, the laser should turn on.
Next, you need to adjust the focus of the laser. Putting on safety goggles! We put a small sheet of paper on the table, and presses the button. By changing the position of the lens (turning the lens), we find the position at which the laser point on the sheet is minimal.
Step 8 Preparing Processing.
To transfer the image to the engraver, we will use the Processing programming environment. Must be downloaded from the official
In a previous article, I described the experience of assembling and setting up an engraver from a Chinese kit. After working with the device, I realized that it would be useful in my laboratory. The task is set, I will solve it.
There are two solutions on the horizon - ordering a kit in China and developing your own design.
As I wrote in the previous article, the set turned out to be quite efficient. The practice of working with the machine revealed the following design flaws:
Because the frame is machine profile quite worthy, it turned out to eliminate the identified shortcomings by processing plastic parts.
I described the laser holder quite well in. I also added an additional detail to the design, connecting all four rollers on the right and left panels. The detail made it possible to eliminate backlash when moving the panels.
All parts have enough simple shapes and do not require supports and other printing difficulties.
To order a set plastic parts you need to go to the online store:
Models of plastic parts for printing are available:
The work of the engraver and his appearance can be seen in the next video.
The frame of the engraver is built on a machine aluminum profile 20x40. The parts that carry the moving parts of the engraver are made on a 3D printer. The moving parts move on standard rollers. The carriage carrying the laser module allows you to adjust the height of the laser above the desktop, which allows you to focus the power of the laser beam in a fairly large range.
The assembly of the structure is shown in 3D PDF format.
The design is very simple. For this reason, a lot of time and torment for assembly will not go away if you follow the recommended assembly sequence.
STEP 1. FRAME
As described above, the frame is built from a 20x40 structural profile. Internal corners are used to twist the profile together.
On longer parts, in the central holes of the ends, a thread is cut for mounting legs and side panels (at an average length).
The frame is twisted at the corners, with short parts inward. At this stage, do not fully tighten the screws - it is better to do this after installing the legs.
The legs are attached with screws at four points. This is done so that the frame is assembled without possible distortions.
First you need to secure all four legs, again without fully tightening the fasteners.
Now you need to find the most even surface! Expose all the details in such a way that the frame "stands" tightly, without playing on the surface.
We stretch all the fasteners, starting from the inner corners and controlling possible distortions with a square.
STEP 2. RIGHT PANEL
Before assembling the right panel, a flexible coupling must be installed on the motor shaft.
Then you need to screw the stepper motor through a plastic spacer.
The position of the cable outlet and the spacer are clearly visible in the figure below.
STEP 3. LEFT PANEL
To assemble the left panel, you only need to press the bearing into the hole.
I tried to eliminate the gluing operation. To do this, "let off a wave" on the surface of the hole for installing the bearing. For this reason, it is necessary to push the bearing in with force.
STEP 4. MOUNTING THE LEFT PANEL
Then install the assembly on the profile.
And fix the bottom rollers. The figure clearly shows that the mounting holes of the screws for fastening the rollers have a stroke of several millimeters. This is done so that the upper and lower rollers can be pulled together well on the profile, eliminating play. The only thing is that you need to act carefully and not overtighten. In this case, the stepper motor will require excessive force to move the panels.
STEP 5. MOUNTING THE RIGHT PANEL
The following parts are required for installation.
First you need to install the upper rollers.
Then install the assembly on the profile and install the lower rollers. Further installation is identical to the installation of the left panel.
After tightening the screws, you will need to check the progress of the panel. It should move easily enough and at the same time there should be no backlash.
STEP 6. MOUNTING THE GUIDE CARRIAGE
Both panels are used in this design to transmit movement along the Y axis. In order not to use 2 stepper motor, torque is transmitted to the left panel through a shaft with a diameter of 5mm. After preparing the details, let's get started.
First, the connecting shaft is installed and clamped with the locking screws of the flexible coupling.
When installing, make sure that the pulleys are not forgotten. Fasten them firmly this moment not necessary. Adjustment will be required when tightening the belts.
STEP 7. CARRIAGE
The assembly of the carriage is discussed in detail in a previous article ...
Assembly is not difficult.
STEP 8. MOUNTING THE CARRIAGE TO THE RAIL
First you need to collect all the necessary details.
All mounting operations are identical to panel mounting operations.
STEP 9. INSTALL THE BELTS
The belts are tightened with screws under the profile nuts. You will need to cut 3 belts in place and prepare fasteners.
To begin with, the edge of the belt is located in the niche of the profile with the tooth down. After that, the nut is installed. It will take some force to install the nut.
While tensioning the belt, you will need to set the position of the pulley. The pulley is set so that the belt rubs against the side faces of the pulley as little as possible throughout the course.
To install the carriage guide belt, it is better to raise it as shown in the figure below, since it is still better to install the nuts in the niche from the end.
After the guide is lowered to a regular place.
Before tightening the second "tail" of the belt, make sure that the belt is tight enough.
This completes the assembly of mechanics.
I plan to prepare a description of the controllers for controlling the engraver in a separate article. Follow the publications!
Since December 2017, I have been accepting orders for a complete assembly kit and an assembled, configured and completely ready-to-use laser engraver described in the article. Information is available in the online store.
If the article helped you and you want to support new projects, the support link:
