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Wow, been a long time since I posted about anything. I thought it was about time I wrote about something new.

I recently acquired all the parts for a laser cutter – although I was running an 80W tube from the BlackToe gantry I found that the two machining techniques were at odds with each other, and the laser needed an environment all of its own. Luckily I had enough stuff left over from my first CNC gantry – the Bluumax – to build a new X/Y table.

Patrick (www.buildyourcnc.com) and I have been talking about laser cutters for a while now – we both thought that putting the tube into the gantry itself was a sensible thing to do, since you would only need to align one axis.

Quite proud of these adjustable motor mounts – came to me in a flash of inspiration:

Here are some movies showing progress, alignment, and “first light”:

…and the finished engraving – about 1mm deep, lowest laser power, 1/4 baltic birch. The flashes of light seem to be where the toolpaths cross. Not entirely sure why this happens. Anyone know?

Update – check out this neat test for laser “tramming” – making sure it’s truly perpendicular – http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,23037.msg162437.html#msg162437