Very cool system Mark so many project possibilities once you have access to a laser. A nice addition to the lineup.

 

Another good design from the Crew. Well done.
Means I've got to find some more space to put one of these!!
Really Great video! Even the videos are getting better.
Good Job.
Gray
P.S. Can I buy one which doesn't SPIN around all the time? It'll save on an extra motor!

 

I would add that internally most +-2w diodes use the same M140 diode, and most of the 3.8-6w lasers use the same NUBM44 diode, regardless of source / manufacturer. So the key is to rather pay attention to the Laser Driver and Vendor support / warranty / documentation when selecting a particular one.
You want to make sure the included Laser Diode Driver is a) good quality b) accepts PWM (otherwise you cannot do grayscale engravings) c) comes with good vendor support. The sub-$100 models rarely seem to come with a working PWM implementation. The giveaway is usually when the driverboard is inside the laser heatsink - small PCBs like that are usually not PWM capable. Look for lasers that have seperate Power and Control inputs (at least 3 wires, sometimes two seperate connectors) or clearly stated PWM support.

I can personally vouch for L-Cheapo (kinda hackish but Matteo provides excellent customer service) and OPT Laser (overkill on quality... very easy to wire up) - have both on hand.

The demo video at the end of the builds was with the Optlaser 6w mounted by the way...

 

@timrowledge negative, i don't see Carbon fibre on our list... It definately would not do cutting of CF. Perhaps engraving.
The specifics of material thicknesses can be obtained from the specific diode sellers (the ACRO itself is the motion platform, you bring your own Laser diode to the party), for example, the Optlasers : See Tests and adjustments for their test results. Acrylics, we do in around 20 passes for black, other colors less responsive with a 6w diode... Balsa up to 6mm or so. For your kind of work, I dont think a 445nm diode will do. 445nm is more effective on organics, and suited slightly more toward the engraving work spectrum than cutting. See our list of testing on OpenBuilds ACRO Laser System about halfway down. We arent adding max thicknesses yet as its very dependant on the specific diode. Refer to each diode manufacturer for exact expectations

(; one of our Mill bundles will chew through CF, Acrylic and Balsa with ease though... picking the right tool for the right job (; - see for example, of Ronin cutting CF on his C-BEAM machine:

 

Laser head PLH3D 6W

 

It wont be reliable that way. The second motor prevent Racking of the Y axis

 

yeah, I wondered about the same thing till I noticed that the pulleys in the list of materials are 14 tooth and fiddled with the GRBL settings calculator to see what the means.
4.5 micron is what you get with 32x microstepping, 2mm pitch belt, and 14 tooth pulleys!
and not all controllers can do that...

 

VCC -> to V+ on PSU
GND -> to V- on PSU
TTL GND -> to XPRO GND
TTL In - to Spindle pin on XPRO (or other Grbl 1.1 based controller)
ANG in - NOT CONNECTED, we use PWM instead

No, Power and control is wired seperately. 24v to POWER input. 3.3-5v PWM signal to TTLIN

 

Which is why the XPRO is offered as accesory during checkout: Onboard DRV8825s capabale of 1/32.

In this case though, motor resolution aside, you are going to see plastic edges melting or wood charring a little further off your planned path anyway

For raster engraving you'll also never set it to run a 45 micron line spacing (unless you want to wait forever for a job) - practically for raster engravings you purposely defocus the lens a little (to get a feathered edge which looks better than a deep cut on an engrave) which results in say 0.1 - 0.15mm spot size, therefore typically you raster at 0.1-0.2mm line spacing.

Fact is, precision on this machine, is way better than some of the competition out there running LM8UUs on plain stainless roundbar, or shower wheels in T-Slot (;

 

With the CO2 lasers you have soo much power coming out the back of the cut that it reflects off the cutting bed, or base of machine, and still has enough power on the way back up to char material. Not going to be an issue with diodes. If you have a highly sensitive use case, apply masking tape over the faces before cutting. After the cut, peel off the tape and it takes any soot or smoke marks with it leaving a clean surface

 

Just watch out for the known comms issues between Smoothieware and LaserWeb - you wont get optimal Rastering with the Azteeg unless you switch to Grbl-LPC

 

Yip that'll do (as long as you have the limitations noted like no GLCD etc of course)

 

In the stock Acro configuration, there is no motorised Z axis, We did however not yet need it - a couple extra passes on usually does the same. Again though, 445nm lasers are more effective for engraving than cutting, depending on the material. You could of course add a motorised Z axis (; as the system is modular you should be able to make some minor adjustments to fit a V-Slot actuator onto the X carriage, and then mount the diode to that in turn. (; remember you can always use the laser, to cut parts to then upgrade itself with.

Once you have a motorised Z - LaserWeb has a simple depth-per pass and number of passes setting in the Files tab to achieve this

 

Hi chuckd

Can you elaborate on what you need exactly? Do you need to elevate the machine off the table? Or do you need a movable Z axis to mount the dispenser too? If it's the latter, the reply just above this one may relate to you as well. Depending on the rigidity needed / weight of your dispenser, you may also want to do a custom build using our modular parts instead, as a long z axis may have some deflection on a light weight low cost frame like the Acro