Well this time its a laser cuter really useful for really BIG ! timing pulleys.
Only downside it doesn't work at mo think the tubes gone and possibly the drive unit but mechanical its fine . All the issues are not a prob though in fact its a bit of a bonus . Its speced originally with a 50w tube this isn't exactly true its prob more like 45w . So going to squeeze a 60w tube and try and run it of the same power supply . Think should be ok looking at the specs of both power supply and tubes . But if anybody knows a lot more about this stuff than me then hints and suggestions would be helpful . Lets face it theirs a strong chance of death by electrocution or permanent blinding . I prefer to avoid both .
On the control side i am going to set it up for Mach3 that way i can either mill or laser cut the same designs . Well that's the plan anyway .
May get back to timelapse and motion control eventually but think these off topic things are handy just for making things so i will post on how i am doing
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[flickr]2014-10-07 18.08.38 by DISPLACEMENT101, on Flickr[/flickr]

[flickr]2014-10-07 18.09.05 by DISPLACEMENT101, on Flickr[/flickr]

That looks great - I want one. Do you know what materials it can handle? How thick? How clean is the cut? There are plenty of cheap router cutters around but laser should have advantages? (Except can't mill the surface...) Look forward to hearing how well it works.. G

Hi Gerald hows things ? The cutters from one of the places i work it had a accident ! Not my fault i must say but as turned out well for me .
In its original spec it could cut 6mm acrylic lexan etc but not metals . Increasing the tube to 60w should take the depth of cut up to 10/12mm maybe . You can do multiple passes to increase cut depths to .
The cut is very clean in fact if you are cutting clear acrylic it gives you a perfect polished clear edge . Very nice no cleaning up to do at all .
I hope to cut 10mm lexan which is quite tough for large timing pulleys . I may CNC a aluminium center boss to increase load handling but this may not be necessary we will see .
Will let you know how i go but not going to be quick got to order a 1200mm glass tube from China which i am slightly nervous about.
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Just a quick word of warning ! After a bit of research Lexan prob a bad idea it doesn't cut very well and it may give of poisonous gases . Dont want to kill anybody out their as i said not a expert on this stuff .
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