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I just got a laser, and I'm building a DIY CNC too!

John Pollman

John Pollman

Member
Messages
1,338
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
My K40 Laser just arrived today. But I'm also building a DIY CNC machine.

My DIY CNC machine is underway. I'm printing the final two printed parts. They will be done in about six hours. It's gonna be approximately 128 hours print time. I've already started assembling the basic frame components. This is gonna be fun!

MPCNC parts.jpgMPCNC.jpg
 
Parts are looking good John! You're having too much fun!

Hey, About the k40, the trickiest thing I think about it, other than alignment is what to use for coolant

Here's a link to someone who did a lot of research, but the TLDR on it is that basically, don't use anything but distilled water, a little dish soap, and an little bit of algaecide.

I put an aquarium heater in mine and ran it all winter to keep the tube from freezing, and put a 1/2 gallon milk jug of frozen water in it in the summer to keep it cool.

https://lasergods.com/laser-water-coolants-additives/
 
Brent Dowell said:
Parts are looking good John! You're having too much fun!

Hey, About the k40, the trickiest thing I think about it, other than alignment is what to use for coolant

Here's a link to someone who did a lot of research, but the TLDR on it is that basically, don't use anything but distilled water, a little dish soap, and an little bit of algaecide.

I put an aquarium heater in mine and ran it all winter to keep the tube from freezing, and put a 1/2 gallon milk jug of frozen water in it in the summer to keep it cool.

https://lasergods.com/laser-water-coolants-additives/
Click to expand...

Good tip. Thanks!

I've got some additional parts on order for the cooling system. I'm going to put a flow indicator on it with a thermometer to display inlet and outlet temperatures of the coolant. It may be overkill, but it will look cool. :)
 
John Pollman said:
Good tip. Thanks!

I've got some additional parts on order for the cooling system. I'm going to put a flow indicator on it with a thermometer to display inlet and outlet temperatures of the coolant. It may be overkill, but it will look cool. :)
Click to expand...

That is absolutely not overkill. It's a necessity. One of my first projects with mine was redoing the control panel on mine to add that flow meter/temp thingy.

Love seeing other people get into this stuff!
 
John I think you're going to enjoy having both of those. You may want to print up some of the alignment tools for the laser to help get those mirrors aligned. That laser beam is pretty smarts when you get in its way. There are also some gauges I have printed to set my z table height for the correct focal distance (50.8mm) depending on the materials you're engraving/cutting. The one I have has several 1mm steps on it. I'll see if I can locate the stl file.

Vaughn McMillan said:
You and Darren are both major enablers, lol.
Click to expand...

Whaaaa???

I tell ya, no respect... :D
 
Making good progress on my MPCNC too.

Worked my butt off today. I built this workbench for my CNC. The electronics came in today too. So I can start wiring it tomorrow. I'm going to build a nice big drawer for it too.

I love this stuff!

MPCNC assy 4.jpg
 
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