getting ready for next spring's cnc expansion

Dan Noren

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with the coming of next spring, i am planning on expanding the cnc machine a touch. the x axis is going 6 inches wider, the y axis is staying the same (enough length there). i have all the parts in hand to have at it come the thaw, and garage space. a bit later, i had seen that someone i knew from twitter had purchased a dedicated laser engraver/cutter, and i darned near followed his lead. but, being the practical guy that i am (and not wanting to add another bench), checked into the realm of add ons to the shapeoko. sure enough, there was a firm called jtech photonics, that has an upgrade kit. but, all things being equal, it involves removing the spindle every time you want to use the laser. being the creative sort that i am, and after consulting a couple of creative friends, decided to design a bracket to add the laser to the spindle, as the laser itself is small enough to get away with this. like i said, as long as i was rebuilding it a bit bigger, why not go laser while i was at it? now i just need to wait patiently for the tax return to show up, to pay for the upgrade. as electrons are free, and i had a bit of time on my hands, drew up the upgrade in sketchup, to see what it will look like.
 

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There's good information on both the Inventables and Vectric forums about implementing the J-Tech laser system. I'm planning to do the same at some point in the next few months. From what I've read, it's not difficult at all. :thumb:

If you haven't thought about it, you might want to consider using 1/2" HDPE for your brackets. I've made all of my versions of brackets with it using VCarve for the design and creating gcode.
 
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