LOG: D40/K40 Major OverHaul, DSP Upgrade(NEWB Questions Ans)

[rushmore1305]

UPDATE:
So now that i have everything working on the hardware side, i think i should post some pictures in this original post, that way people who are new to this like i was can get an idea what this thread will entail and such, and others who either seen this or who are knowledgable can see right away if they can take any info out of this or not.

***NOTICE*** just a couple of month ago i did not know a single thing about lasers or anything related, I have come a long way, huge thanks to the community and especially Marco, LIGHTOBJECT by far best Customer Service EVER!!!
So this thread is BY NEWBIE, FOR NEWBIES/ROOKIES ****NOTICE****

In this update i will just post some pictures of completed unit, in a couple of days i will post specs and what i think anyone who is just getting into this should know about their parts and other simple but very important things that i have made mistakes on or simply overlooked.
Soon: next to each topic will have a link to the portion of the thread where it goes into detail about specified.

Assembled UNIT(Functional but , 90% cosmetic)






COOLING SYSTEM:




LIGHTING + Modifications





WIRING




OP

hello everyone, i just recently decided to get into the laser cutting bussienss

what i need to do is to cut patterns in acrylic/plexiglass that are 2-3mm thick.

so i have purchased the k40 laser from ebay for 700 and the DSP kit from light object. i am hoping that it will be enough to get me started.
i have a lot of experience with solidworks and hoping that i can either transfer the files into the type that DSP will recognize, if not ill probobly be able to learn the software fairly easy, i cant imagine the terminology being much differnt.

so as i have recieved all the parts i am just creating this thread to hopefully recieve some guidens and critisims on my progress.

but as i am looking into this i have my first couple of questions.

1. What should the liquid temperature be that is entering the Laser Tube.

2. do u guys think this 40watt laser be able to cut plexi that is 3mm thick.

3. do u guys have any advice or anything i should do right away first or second or what not.

please i highly welcome any advice, as i am a total newb at this and really require some help.

i will be posting pictures of everything first thing in the morning.

please help me resolve these ongoing issues so i can come up with more!

P.s i was also wondering if i should have bought something else to go along with the DSP kit that they sell on lightobjects site.

[Things]

Welcome to the money pit!

1. Keep the water between around 15 and 25C.
2. Yes, just fine.
3. And your last question, start off with settings around 10mm/s and 90% power and see if it cuts through cleanly, if not, back off the speed a bit.
You will also find air assist helpful, to prevent the smoke damaging your lens, and to help with cutting. Lightobject sells air assist lenses for the K40. You will also need to make sure the acrylic isn't sitting flat on anything that could reflect the beam back onto the bottom surface, or it will melt it. Most people replace the cutting bed in their machines with a material called "honeycomb" for this reason. Lightobject also sell this.

As for Solidworks, I use it and it works fine. Go to File - Save As, and in the format drop down list, select DXF. Then a toolbar will pop up on the left asking which face/side/view you wish to export (since it's 2D), and after clicking the OK arrow, it'll bring up a little preview screen, where you can then click Save to create the dxf. This should then open fine in LaserCAD.

[waltfl]

hi there
welcome to the K40 club
1. the temperature should never be below 15C (60F) and above 25C (78F) the best results are with a temperature of 20C (70F) +/- 1C. the more the temperature fluctuate the less stable are the cutting / engraving. always use a thermometer never just eye ball.
2. the same way important is the current use a mA meter and watch that the current never goes over 18ma ( the best is 15mA) every mA over the max will shorten the life of the tube dramatic up to hundreds of hours.
3. the DSP power settings should never be higher then 48% (because that's what comes out to 16mA) with 90% you would overpower the tube
4. air assist is a must for cutting, you can also use your own creation with a airbrush compressor and a copper pipe (1/8) and the tip from a ball pen soldered on and wrap 1 turn around the laserhead bottom so that the tip nozzle blows from the side.
5. I cut 6mm acrylic with speed 5 and 45% power
6. a tip for lifting the material from the bed , use thick fender washer at the edge
7. never work with anything's different then acrylic or the gases will destroy your machine you can check the plexiglass if you heat a thick copper wire red hot and burn with this the plexiglass if the flame is green don't take it.
8. as for soft ware the best program to work with the DSP and lasercut is corel this gives you direct icon to the lasercut.
9. allways make sure you got the exact distance from the lense to the material make you a little jig.
ok I hope this helps
greetings
waltfl

[rushmore1305]

Well that sounds very reassuring. Thank you.
I have just ordered the honey comb grill.
Is there any way you could link the air assist lens for me so I orchard the right one.
Also I see people using the airbrush kits for air assist. Should I be doing the same.


___________________________


I think i will edit this post to be my photos of the things i have made with the laser, right now i only have some letters done, but its the very first thing i have cut and i am very very impressed by the quality and the speed of the machine

[Things]

This: http://www.lightobject.com/1820mm-Laser ... -P701.aspx

You need to use an air compressor with it - something like a large aquarium air pump is what people commonly use. Some people connect it straight to their air compressor, but it's a noisy way of doing it.

[rushmore1305]

This: http://www.lightobject.com/1820mm-Laser ... -P701.aspx

You need to use an air compressor with it - something like a large aquarium air pump is what people commonly use. Some people connect it straight to their air compressor, but it's a noisy way of doing it.

ok so the dsp kit had a new head in it
that head has an inlet for a hose on the side of it does that work? can someone recomend a widely avaialble little compressor that is not loud as all hell
because i would really like to ommit using the pancake compressor i own


second thing or issue i guess i am having is the sizing of the holes that is on a new holder/head and the stock one.
is there something im doing wrong or do i just need to drill a new one??????
please refer to the pictures

in the next post

[Tech_Marco]

The best way to avoid the noise from a diaphragm air pump is to use a compressor with air tank instead. Air saved in the tank and the pump is not turning On all the time but once a while when air is low. Plus, you can leave the compressor outside of your house and connect a high pressure host to the laser machine. The DSP card has an output control for air. But you need to get a electric valve and a mini relay to control it. I have posted something before and it is quite easy to do so. After my new location settle down, I'll spend time to do more connection diagram through drawing.

The hole on the small laser head is "M3" with threaded. I do include a host connector so you don't need to buy. Picture was taking long time ago and the air connector was not shown

Marco

[rushmore1305]

Ok so here i come with a bunch of pictures, but first i think im going to ask my questions that way pictures are more of a reference point.

anyhow, so i have a couple of conecrns,

the laser itself has two wires connected to it, the way they are connected are kind of Iffy in my opion, but i am no pro, please look at them and let me know what u think.
1.Should i put some liquid electrical tape over the connector point on the laser tube????????

2.also would it help to add a couple more fan ports in the controls area of the box???

3. the laser head hole is smaller then the one needed for the new laser head provided with the kit, should i just make it larger or is there something special that i have to do?

4. is there a how to guide on how to do this somewhere?

5. is 1/5 horespower and 58 PSI air compressor enough to power the air assist??/

6. can someone please link the parts that are required for me to get this air assist going, i just really dont want to buy the wrong things, i have a problem of not sending things back, and my wife is already pissed that i am buying everything.

7. also i have noticed that there is an actual gap between all the work areas, so smoke and other things could travel into the laser section.

8. could that pose a problem? should i add on a wall and make each section isolated and ventilated.

9. i will be adding a PC style water cooling set up. i have a lot of experience in that,

this is a computer i built a year ago, it was in a magazine, my prious hobby:

http://www.overclock.net/t/905210/sexy- ... winner-feb



ok and now to the fun stuff the pictures:
ill try to put the in order of my questions:





















and just thought i would share some pics of my workspace which is a complete mess right now, because i have about 7 different projects going on all due at teh end of the week








and here is everything that came with the LIGHT OBJECTS kit, i have to say i am extremely impressed with the quality of the products, and cant wait to finaly get this up and runing, i could never do this without u guys.
thank you all ahead of time .

[rushmore1305]

URGENT QUESTION
in the last picture the last item on the left is my power supply, is it good to use? i just saw a post and a person had what seems to be same PSU and you guys said it is not the bussiness'


what psu do i need to buy if this one is no go?

[waltfl]

Hi there
you need this one

http://www.lightobject.com/40W-PWM-CO2- ... y-P71.aspx
greetings
waltfl

URGENT QUESTION
in the last picture the last item on the left is my power supply, is it good to use? i just saw a post and a person had what seems to be same PSU and you guys said it is not the bussiness'


what psu do i need to buy if this one is no go?

[rushmore1305]

Hi there
you need this one

http://www.lightobject.com/40W-PWM-CO2- ... y-P71.aspx
greetings
waltfl

URGENT QUESTION
in the last picture the last item on the left is my power supply, is it good to use? i just saw a post and a person had what seems to be same PSU and you guys said it is not the bussiness'


what psu do i need to buy if this one is no go?

thanks man, can i ask you a couple of more questions, what is this guy who everyone is talking about Macko, i think
and where is this tutorial thing? i think i am just stupid or maybe i have been up too long, but i need to find these links, please help me

[rushmore1305]

Hello everyone, i have a huge day here at my house, another christmas day here since the mailman came by. god i love living in the bay area order from light object on monday at my door on tuesday

so here is the list of following pictures(not in order)

brand new Power Supply Unit(PSU)
5 push switches(for safety managment) going to do a arduino vatiation to manage a bunch of feautures
airtac solenoid valve
remote controlled dual relay
ans HOneyComb plate

[rushmore1305]

and now to the order of bussiness, since i am going to be using my laser for primary cutting i will need to swap the bed that is currently in this unit, for the honeycomb grill i have aquired. now i am going to have to create four holes possibly more create this, also the adjustable bed is advertised to give you roughly 3 inches of play, well i am going to loose that.

my play is going to be ballpark 2 inches which is plenty for me.
that is due to the thicknes of the honeycomb bed that i am installing into this unit.

please refer to my pictures for better explanation













now please dont mind these lines these are simply to show you guys where the hole locations are that i am refering to, much more precise measuring is going to be done later this evening, and i am going to follow it up with more pictures of course

[waltfl]

Hi there
first you show the lift table up side down. second why don't you just take the honeycomb out of the frame and screw it on the existing table??
this way you hold the stability and sturdiness of the table what you would not have with the honeycomb frame.
greetings
waltfl

and now to the order of bussiness, since i am going to be using my laser for primary cutting i will need to swap the bed that is currently in this unit, for the honeycomb grill i have aquired. now i am going to have to create four holes possibly more create this, also the adjustable bed is advertised to give you roughly 3 inches of play, well i am going to loose that.

my play is going to be ballpark 2 inches which is plenty for me.
that is due to the thicknes of the honeycomb bed that i am installing into this unit.

please refer to my pictures for better explanation













now please dont mind these lines these are simply to show you guys where the hole locations are that i am refering to, much more precise measuring is going to be done later this evening, and i am going to follow it up with more pictures of course

[rushmore1305]

ok here is some more pics









































and just some projects i have been working on: