Friday 1 May 2015

Laser cooling

The J48-1 I have can be air cooled, so this seems like the simplest option! The manual states that an airflow of 250cfm is required on both sides of the laser from two fans. This is quite a large air flow to achieve with two 120mm fans, do I have opted for four fans giving a total of about 450cfm. I'm also using a fan controller to regulate the fan speed from based on a temperature range of 35 to 55 degrees.


The fan controller with two of the 120mm fans.


Inside the fan control box.

Tuesday 28 April 2015

First cuts!

Well here it is my first few cuts with the j48-1. Pretty impressed so far. I can't run it for long as I still have cooling and extraction to sort out, but the laser seems to cut well and marks anodised aluminium well too! Happy :)


J48-1 Laser mounted to cadet CNC

So there it is, mounted to the pacer cadet :) so far so good! I've also finished the electrical looms so should be able to test it this afternoon.





Synrad optical mount


Fitted the ULO optics mount ready to take the head. I found ULO optics to be much cheaper than the Synrad options I was looking at. I got the compact laser mount (C-LMC), and the compact lens nozzle assembly 38mm F.L. (C-LN38) Both for £300+VAT which is less than half the price of the Synrad setup.


Sunday 5 April 2015

Added connectors to control box


From left to right:
Power and PWM
Interlock and laser warning signals
Control input from CNC machine.

Tuesday 31 March 2015

Laser control box

Laser control box is nearly finished. Front plate machined and electronics mounted. Still need to add the connectors.




Laser controller

Rather than buying a Synrad UC-2000 controller from eBay, I have modified my existing controller design to supply the required PWM signal to the laser.


This is a PWM frequency of 5khz, with a minimum tickle pulse if 1uS and a maximum PWM ratio of 95%. All according to the Synrad spec sheet.


Thursday 26 March 2015

Laser lasing!

Well I received the PSU a few days back and have rigged up a CW test to fire the laser. I'm happy to report it does lase!

27v PSU adjusted to 30v


Here you can see the laser spot at the top right burning into the plywood. This straight from the output, no focusing head.


Thursday 5 March 2015

Pacer CNC laser mod

I've been toying with the idea of adding a small laser to my pacer cadet 600 cnc router. I have already successfully I stalled a 2.8w blue solid state laser, that can mark and cut some materials, but not to my satisfaction. However, now I have see it can work, I plan to add a syntax J48-1 10w co2 laser directly mounted to the Z axis in place of the router. 

I have found a laser on eBay that claims to output 14.6w, when they are new they deliver about 15w, so hopefully this should have some life left in it. 


The laser has been OEN modified to have a 15pin D type connector to supply power and control. No key switch, and fuse has been tucked inside. I could change all this back to a normal setup, but think I will leave it for now.


I need I by the optics, which are around £700 unless I find them on eBay. And I need to modify my existing laser control electronics to generate the required tickle pulse needed for the J48-1. Unless i pick up a cheap UC-2000 controller. I missed a cheap one the other day, but no guarantee it would have worked!

More to follow...