Lazer Engraving Wood

[Anonymous No.1762804]

Does anybody have any experience with lazer engraving machines for wood or reccomendations for decent machines?

I want to make small things like coasters, etc. Nothing crazy

[Anonymous No.1762816]

Expensive and dangerous as fuck. Try a DVD burner.

[Anonymous No.1762880]

>>1762804
These machines are built from aluminum extrusion and go together easily, although they don't come with instructions. They all come with an Arduino nano controller with typically allegro 4988? stepper drivers. The Arduino has Grbl loaded by default, but it's always an older version. Flash the newest version from GitHub. Throw away the CD that comes with it preloaded with China crap. Get LightBurn and follow the guides on their website for properly setting up your machine (setting acceleration, etc.). Get some microswitches and build homing switches (helps GREATLY with repeatability). Throw away the goggles it comes with (if it does at all). Buy a QUALITY pair of OD6+ laser goggles for the wavelength of your laser (typically 450-455nm). Upgrade to a 15watt laser when you get some more cash. If you follow these suggestions, I've got more tips for configuring/using this awesome combo

Pic related, an order for 50 tap handles in maple

[Anonymous No.1763030]

>>1762880
>15watt laser
Do those really exist? I remember reading somewhere that laser diodes top out at about 5W and anything over that is either some bullshit like "15W" brand name or input power rating or something, or just horribly overdriven and won't last longer than like a hour

[Anonymous No.1763052]

>>1763030
My '15'w does burn and cut much faster than the '2.5'w module it replaced, so I know it's at least as powerful.

Individual diodes do generally top out at 5w, but the larger wattage modules use an array and collimate that light. It's actually kind of pain because the collimated array light winds up being a rounded rectangle instead of a point source of light, which makes it difficult to blind pilots. I don't have a laser power meter to test output directly, but I'll test the power going to the laser from the driver tonight and report back.

[Anonymous No.1763145]

I know a man who lazer etched a juul

[Anonymous No.1763330]

>>1763145
>"man"

doubt it

[Anonymous No.1763448]

>>1762880
What would you suggest for a machine to start with?

[Anonymous No.1763453]

>>1763052
>the larger wattage modules use an array and collimate that light.
Have you taken one apart to verify this?

[Anonymous No.1763870]

>>1763052
Indeed for a laser diode stack several 10s or even 100s watts of power is not a problem, however a) all of them are in the near IR region, not violet/blue, b) they got quite different shape and size compared to the regular laser diode modules and c) the price is also way out there, even for cheap-ish chink stuff

[Anonymous No.1763961]

>>1763448
This is mine (pic related):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-Desktop-Laser-Engraving-65x50CM-2000mw-Laser-Head-Marking-Printer-Engraver-/153821606123

With this laser:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000107129413.html

>>1763453
I haven't taken mine apart no, but I think stryopyro on YouTube dropped that nugget somewhere.

>>1763052
Highest draw from power supply was 1.9A@12v (23w). Recent post on EEVblog website suggests 20% efficiency so assuming 100% efficient controller then I'm getting ~5w of actual collimated light output from my '15w' laser

[Anonymous No.1764065]

>>1762804
Diode lasers aren't strong enough, you need at least 40W co2 laser to do anything useful.