Laser cutter with his own hands on the metal, wood, plywood: components and assembly
The possibility of making something useful out of unused or unusable technology attracts many home builders.. One such useful device is a laser cutter. Having a similar device (some even do it with a regular laser pointer), it is possible to carry out decorative registration of products from various materials.
Homemade laser cutter can cut thin wooden parts or make engravings on glass
What materials and mechanisms will be needed
To make the simplest laser cutter with your own hands, you will need the following materials and technical devices:
- laser pointer;
- ordinary flashlight, equipped with rechargeable batteries;
- the old man writes the drive (CD / DVD-RW), equipped with a laser drive (not required at all, that such a disk drive is in working order);
- soldering iron;
- set of metalwork tools.
The higher the write speed of the drive, the more powerful the laser cutter
So, you can make a simple device for laser cutting, using materials, which are easy to find in a home workshop or garage.
The process of making the simplest laser cutter
The main working element of the self-made cutter of the offered design is a laser element of the computer disk drive.. It is necessary to choose the printing model of a disk drive therefore, that the laser in such devices has a higher power, that allows to burn tracks on a surface of the disk established in them. A laser emitter is also present in the design of the read-type disk drive, but its power, which is used only to illuminate the disc, not high.
Removing the laser module will require care
Laser emitter, which is equipped with a write disk drive, placed on a special carriage, able to move in two directions. To remove the emitter from the carriage, it must be released from a large number of fasteners and detachable devices. They should be removed very carefully, so as not to damage the laser element. In addition to the usual tools, to remove the red laser diode (and to equip a homemade laser cutter you need it) you will need a soldering iron, to gently release the diode from existing solder joints. Removing the emitter from the seat, care and caution should be exercised, so as not to be exposed to its strong mechanical impact, which can cause it to fail.
The cutter requires a red LED
Oscillator, extracted from a computer disk drive, must be installed instead of the LED, which was originally equipped with a laser pointer. To perform this procedure, the laser pointer must be disassembled, dividing its body into two parts. At the top of them is the LED, which should be removed and replaced with a laser emitter from a computer drive. Fixing such emitter in the case of the pointer, you can use glue (it is important only to monitor that, so that the radiator eye is located strictly in the center of the hole, intended for beam output).
To control the power you need to assemble the simplest circuit, otherwise the LED may fail
Voltages, which produce power supplies in laser pointer, not enough for that, to ensure the efficient use of a laser cutter, therefore it is inexpedient to use them for equipment of such device. Rechargeable batteries are suitable for the simplest laser cutter, used in ordinary electric flashlight. So, connecting the bottom of the flashlight, in which its rechargeable batteries are located, with the top of the laser pointer, where the emitter from the computer drive is already located, you can get a fully functional laser cutter. Performing such a combination, it is very important to observe the polarity of the batteries, which will power the emitter.
Scheme of a cutter based on a laser pointer
Before assembling the self-made manual laser cutter of the offered design from the tip of the pointer it is necessary to remove the glass established in it., which will prevent the passage of the laser beam. in addition, the connection of the emitter to the batteries must be checked again, as well as that, how precisely its eye is located in relation to the outlet of the pointer tip. Once all the structural elements are securely connected to each other, you can start using the cutter.
In principle, for a homemade cutter of this design, you can use any suitable housing
Of course, with the help of such a low-power laser you will not be able to cut a metal sheet, it is not suitable for wood work, but to solve simple problems, associated with cutting cardboard or thin polymer sheets, it suits.
Cutter test. Insulating tape is cut like a knife in oil
According to the algorithm described above, you can make a more powerful laser cutter, somewhat improving the proposed design. In particular, such a device must be additionally equipped with such elements, as:
- capacitors, whose capacity is 100 pF and 100 mF;
- resistors with parameters 2-5 Ohm;
- collimator - device, which is used for that, to collect the light rays passing through it in a narrow beam;
- LED flashlight with steel body.
Capacitors and resistors in the design of such a laser cutter are necessary for this, to create a driver, through which the power supply will come from the batteries to the laser emitter. If you do not use the driver and run current on the emitter directly, the latter can fail immediately. Despite the higher power, such a laser machine for cutting plywood, thick plastic and even more metal will not work.
How to make a more powerful device
Home craftsmen are often interested in more powerful laser machines, which can be made with your own hands. It is quite possible to make a laser for cutting plywood with your own hands and even a laser cutter for metal, but for this purpose it is necessary to get the corresponding accessories. It is better to make your own laser machine right away, which will have decent functionality and work in automatic mode, practicing an external computer.
Depending on that, you are interested in laser cutting of metal with your own hands or you need a device for working with wood and other materials, the main element of such equipment should be selected correctly - a laser emitter, whose power may be different. Naturally, laser cutting of plywood with his own hands is performed by a device of lower power, and the laser for cutting metal must be equipped with an emitter, whose power is not less 60 W.
For a serious machine it is better to spend to buy a laser diode of the required power
To make a full-fledged laser machine, including for cutting metal with your own hands, the following consumables and components will be required:
- controller, which will be responsible for the connection between the external computer and the electronic components of the device itself, thereby ensuring the management of its work;
- electronic board, equipped with an information display;
- laser (its power is selected depending on the materials, for processing of which the made cutter will be used);
- stepper motors, which will be responsible for moving the desktop device in two directions (Stepper motors from unused printers or DVD players can be used as such motors);
- cooling device for the radiator;
- DC-DC regulator, which will control the amount of voltage, supplied to the electronic board of the emitter;
- transistors and electronic boards for control of stepper electric motors of a cutter;
- limit switches;
- pulleys for installation of gear belts and belts;
- frame, the size of which allows to place in it all elements of a going design;
- ball bearings of different diameters;
- bolts, nuts, screws, ties and clamps;
- wooden boards, of which it will be made ??working frame of a cutter;
- metal rods in diameter 10 mm, which will be used as guide elements;
- computer and USB cable, which will connect it to the cutter controller;
- set of metalwork tools.
The components of the electronic filling can be selected separately or purchase a set of components for the CNC machine
If you plan to use a laser machine for metal work with your own hands, then its design must be strengthened, to withstand the weight of the processed metal sheet.
The presence of a computer and controller in the design of such a device allows you to use it not only as a laser cutter, but also as an engraving machine. With this equipment, whose work is controlled by a special computer program, it is possible to apply the most difficult patterns and inscriptions on a product surface with high accuracy and detail. The corresponding program can be found in free access on the Internet.
By its design, a laser machine, which can be made with your own hands, is a shuttle type device. Its movable and guide elements are responsible for moving the working head along the X and Y axes. Depth is taken as the Z axis, on which cutting of the processed material is carried out. By moving the working head of the laser cutter of the presented design, as mentioned above, correspond to stepper motors, which are fixed on fixed parts of the frame of the device and are connected to the moving elements by means of toothed belts.
Movable carriage of self-made cutting
Making the base of the machine
The case of the laser machine
A very important step in making a laser machine with your own hands is to set it up after final assembly. Adjustments and adjustments are made as elements of the kinematic scheme of the cutter, and its laser head. If the first problems usually do not arise, then the adjustment of the laser head is a rather complex process, the rules of which should be well studied.
In conclusion, we offer you a couple of videos about the assembly of another version of the laser machine with two DVD drives.
