Your Welcome, very easy build, I have had some problems setting up my board, but all is working now. don't get much help on here, but that has forced me to figure it out, which is a good thing I guess.

 

Howdy all, asking from work so I don't have the time to look through the thread for info, but I bought an eleksmaker/benbox laser frame clone, and the gantry setup is atrocious and wobbly for the laser z-axis combo I have on it.
Will the acro plates work with my extrusion to allow me to beef things up and keep it more rigid?
I believe it uses 2020 and 2040 extrusion.
Thanks!

 

Ok thanks for the reply. Should I check the prints or files for the acro to see if things are compatible? Or is there a better way you can think of?
Should I just buy the plates and then return them if they don't work? (If they are returnable that is..)

 

Thank you sir, will do.

 

Yes sir, those are indeed T slot wheels..
I decided after looking at how the acro is put together, I flipped the x axis upside down and it stabilized the Z assembly quite a bit better than it was.
I'm also thinking on changing over to a square 4040 type extrusion to help lend strength to the X so it won't twist.
Ohhhh, adult tinker toys...

 

Hi,
I have been using the ACRO system with an E-Cheapo laser since last year and I really love it. Recently I completed the last steps of the build implementing some things I really wanted to add to the system. I built a totally custom enclosure and air ventilation system. The enclosure has a sheet of plexi-glas with the special coating that completely blocks blue laser light. I am venting it outside but using just a regular furnace filter I cut to size and then a $30 HEPA shop vac filter from home depot. I researched a ton of options online and some DIY fume filters and everyone seems to use expensive activated charcoal. However since I am venting outside I figured I would try these cheaper filters. When I got outside I can't smell any smoke at all and the machine has been running for the last hour.

Last thing I need to do is build a box for the electronics. I also need to figure out if I should add more air intake vents. Right now I only have a small one inch hole at the top of the enclosure where the wires are running into the enclosure. There is so much suction that air only goes in while it is running. In fact I can push the lid down when I turn the blower motor on and it closes from the vacuum seal and I technically do not even need to use the latches. This is a huge improvement as far as safety goes and being able to work in the same room now while the laser cutter is running.

I am attaching some photos here but if you want to see more, I have a lot of photos on Instagram. FIST Blades (@fistblades) • Instagram photos and videos

If anyone has any good suggestions for wire management to keep the wires from getting tangled or caught up during operation that would be helpful. I managed to use some mesh wire shroud things that is doing an okay job but I would like to make sure that the wires are totally safe.

I am also going to be wiring up a IR flame sensor for the Raspberry Pi that I have running the LaserWeb server software. That way I can program it to cut power to the laser and sound an alarm if it senses any sort of flame at all. Lastly I will be adding a webcam as well since Laserweb has an option for one.

 

@Mark Carew Thanks! I ended up making a change to the setup. I moved the blower motor to be after the filter box. This helps a lot to configure it in to pull air instead of pushing air through the system. Basically it is making a vacuum and instead of pushing any fumes out it is pulling air in from the laser cutter enclosure to the blower motor. I found that no matter how well the system is sealed that pushing air will also push out fumes. I also added one of these affordable charcoal filters from Amazon for $33 which is amazing! https://www.amazon.com/iPower-Scrubber-Australia-Reversible-Prefilter/dp/B00E582DV2 Now I do not smell any smoke scent at all. Before I was getting some leakage of fumes into the room but adding the filter and also moving the fan helped a lot. The charcoal filter also gets rid of any smoke scent outside where I am venting the air so my neighbors do not get annoyed or call the fire department. I hope this information helps others that might want to build an air ventilation / filter system. It is really not good to breath in the tiny particles produced from laser cutting.

 

Hello Open Builds Acro community,
I tried to ask this question before but still no response. Is there any recommendations for a good cable management system that can keep the ACRO cables/wires from getting all caught up?
I am having a lot of trouble with this since I built an enclosure around my laser setup. Before I could just hang the wires higher up above the machine but now I only have a couple of inches above the laser and gantry. I really need to fix this issue because when cutting larger pieces the wires are getting caught up. Any help is very much appreciated! Thanks!!!

 

I have the 2'x2' Acro setup. Would I just need one drag chain or two and should I get the 500 or 1000mm one? Also I think I need to extend my cables so I will order 3 cable extensions for my stepper motor cables to be long enough to work with the drag chain.
I really appreciate the help a lot!
What exactly is the purpose of the 3 hole clips?
Thanks again!!

 

Okay, awesome and thanks again for the help. Attached is a screenshot of the parts I just ordered. I hope I got all the stuff I will need. Is there any resource for clear instructions or maybe a video of how to setup the drag chains and routing the cables through them?

 

I created a wire holder for my acro, if you want more pics or the stl file let me know.

 

Thanks for sharing. I ended up just using one drag chain from the Open Builds store. It works great and now I can use the 20x20" setup to it's full extends.

 

@nrymaker can you share your setup? I purchased the chain but couldn't decide how to mount it.

 

I just used one drag chain for the gantry. What I did was use one of those metal L shaped bracket from home depot and I hot glued it to the back plexi glass mount on the other side of the laser. I attached one end of the drag chain to that bracket. I just used one screw on each side of the drag chain and ones I got it all setup properly I used a big of hot glue to secure everything much better. The screws I ordered from OpenBuilds were too big to fit through the holes in the end of the drag chains. Next I mounted the other side to the right side of my acro machine. I did it all like this so that the drag chain was sitting lower and behind the laser mount tube. You could mount it all up top but I did not have enough room with the height I built my enclosure. I can take some photos up close when I get home if that is helpful.

 

@nrymaker if you dont mind sharing the pics at some point!

 

Hi all
which is the maximum and minimum height in which the Z head of the ACRO system can be moved.
greetings jc

 

it depends on what you have mounted to it, if you have the jtech Z axis mod its about 100mm and there is another mod here that is about 100mm also ( i think the usable space is less that 100 mm) as the x motors sits low.

 

What kind of top speeds can the 60x60 acro be expected to handle on the Y axis for engraving?

 

I am new to the whole programming thing, using the open builds cam gcode generator and the controller, I can't seem to figure out how to get the Image printed without the tool paths

 

What I mean is that I want to know how roughly the fastest speeds this gantry can handle as configured with the kit. How many mm/s can we reliably move the X and Y axis.