Laser Stories Board

[ArtF]

Glenn:

Of course, feel free to post anything you think helps anyone with anything..,
its really hard to find K40 or any laser info on wiring or specs , so Id like as much as possible
stored here for future wonderer...

Art

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Here is a photo of my recent test of power and feeds on a Luan plywood board.

I started off at 5% power output with each line being 10" to 300" per minute @10" feed change per line
1" long the top two are 3" long.

Minimum on my K40 was set to 52 and max 100, I still need to build a boost circuit to get to the 5+ volts.
So only really getting about 80% out of the tube for power at this time.
This was a good way for me to test the physical results, the K40 ma meter and the Oscilloscope (showing PWM output).

Once I found my minimum (52) in my case that takes out the coning shape you see in the bottom row (notice the length of lines truncated as the feed increased)

I incrementally increase power for each test block sequence.

Then use a single edge razor blade to gauge depths.

My intentions are to write a routine to do this for each material I might want to use.

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Here is a photo of me showing the results through a piece if note paper I tested on. (looking at a florescent lamp)

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Couple of raster burn tests
and then a poor photo of a vector burn

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My Initial "Walnut, Teak and Lexan" test with the following script in the MultiLine-MDI fold
from left to right; 10% to 100% power
bottom to top; feed 10 to 200 inches per min.
and an On/Off Mcode script calls for my air assist.

Code: Select all

m3 (start pulse engine)
g20 (set for imperial)
M103 (air blow on)
{  
x=0.4;y=0;z=0;a=0;f=0;p=0;
  for( j = 0; j < 10; j+=1 )
    {
      p+=10;
      GlobalSet("LaserMaxPower",p);
      block("MotionStill");
      for( k = 0; k < 20; k+=1 )
        {
          f+=10;
          GlobalSet("Feedrate",f);
          Engine.FeedTo(x,y,z,a);
          block("MotionStill");
          y+=0.03;
          x2=(x-0.4);
          print("feed= "+f);
          Engine.RapidTo(x2,y,z,a);
          block("MotionStill");
        }
      x+=.5;f=0;y=0;
      print("power= "+p + "\t\t  x= "+x+"\t\t  x2= "+x2);
      Engine.RapidTo(x-.4,y,z,a);
      block("MotionStill");
    }
};
m105 (air blow off)
g0x0y0
m30

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Did some raster testing today in Hard Maple (I use samples from the big box stores)
K40 Tube
2-5 volts firing using a modified circuit like glenn provided, (the 5volt supply is dedicated, not from pokies, found it only provided 4 max during firing)
min 50 max 97
Pin20 / PWM2
100% power setting
my preference is the lower left, but at least now have a range to fine tune.
might be closer to 90"/minute for me, as id like a little more depth for this material.

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200"/min 90% power
46min 95max
3 passes step down of .03" each pass
3" diameter in Hard Maple
best i can measure on the outside edges is 0.171" deep (so my overall burn was more than i calculated for)
more testing till i find the sweet spots.
total time: I estimate at just over an hour total (I was so impressed, forgot to check timer)
Image was from an ArtCam file I created years ago and cut on my router as a 16" diameter and gift.

[ArtF]

excellent decoration!..


Ill release a version update soon , it has better depth control, smart rastering like the DSP's do
and many bug repairs, better connection tolerance for usb as well.

Art

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Here is a straight one pass burn.
Augment converted from a color .png file originally a huge tif file that I clipped an area from.
about 5" wide
80% 200"/min

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16" x 13" map

testing on clear acrylic,  mirrored image from back .008" deep

and then test burning thru three different foams, the black is 55mm thick.