Laser Engravers Cutter Discussion

[Greatscott]

A few weeks back I received my Bambu Labs P1S, and so far, loving it. This printer replaced my CR-10, which still works ok, just not at the resolution, speed or flexibility of the P1S. I looked into selling this printer, however, there really is no market for used printers. In researching uses for this printer I found a laser engraver/cutter kit made by Creality that is a plug-n-play system. Creality offers three version of this system, 1.5W, 5W and 10W.

https://store.creality.com/products/creality-laser-module?srsltid=AfmBOopDHwfmTBTdf6gGdCz_PigWPb9eErAgmgveHVMife5r4lt4FmAk

This system is thought out fairly well, it provides pass-through cabling and its own control box, allowing fairly quick transition from printing to lasering (it will be only used for cutting or engraving).

I am buying the 10w flavor of this system, along with the air pump and honeycomb matt. This system will be set up in my paint booth, which will help with pulling the fumes out. This is also perfect for a winter project because it is normally too cold to paint in the winter.

Out of the gate I have no big plans for this system, it is more of a target of opportunity to repurpose my old printer, but I do have some ideas... I use poly styrene for various scale projects as support pieces, but have not had good success with cutting it for use as exterior detailing. This is something I would like to do. I would like to do a bunch of engraving, and I am thinking anything around the house that doesn't move too fast will likely be a target for engraving (the wife's 30lbs cat had better learn to run faster).

As I get more experience with this thing I will post up what I have done along with my successes and failures. I am scouring YouTube for tutorials.

For those who have tips and tricks for laser cutting and printing, please post them up, along with the projects you have done. It would be very interesting to see scaler/crawler projects where a laser engraver/cutter has been used.

 

[high plains drifter]

"anything around the house that doesn't move too fast will likely be a target"

I dunno... That image was pretty funny.

I used to engrave some of my tools and automotive equipment... floor jacks, chainsaws, etc... anything that could easily walk out of my garage and into a pawn shop or disappear on a trail-ride in the Jeep. But it would be nice to be able to engrave things and not have it look like a caveman did it with a sharp rock.

 

[Greatscott]

The conversion is complete, my CR-10 is now a 10w laser engraver/cutter.

I set up the Creality Laser Module Kit this weekend, and in spite of a very light manual, everything went together fairly intuitively. Splitters come with the kit to connect the steppers to the 3D printer controller, and the laser controller, however, I have no intent to take this back to being a printer, so I just connected the laser controller to the X, Y, and limit switches.

I am running the printer controller to control the Z stepper. From what I have researched, with no power, the Z axis has a tendency to creep down while the X and Y is moving. I moved the Z limit switch so that when Z homes, the laser shield is right above the honeycomb. From here I use manual Z control to move the Z to the right height for the material and for focusing.

I have everything crammed into my spray booth. This booth is normally used for painting my RC bodies and parts, but in winter, painting is no-go. The booth has an explosion-proof fan that sucks the air through the bottom of the booth, and out about 20ft of dryer vent. This seems to do a good job of sucking most of the smoke generated by the laser.

I am still in the baby steps, learning the software, Lightburn, as well as how to get good results out of the laser using multiple materials. It is a lot like starting back at day-one with a 3D printer. Lightburn is a paid program with a 30 day trial, and is said to be the best for controlling laser engravers and cutters. With this, I have started reading up on using Fusion 360 for engraving and cutting as well.

Untitled by Scott O, on Flickr