[P.Passuello]

Here is a video I did last year of making a 3D commemorative plate.
It demonstrates 3D and double sided machining.
Finally The engraving is done with a laser attachment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ5Cr2b9vDk

Hope you enjoy.

Cheers
Peter

[ger21]

Do you have any info on your laser shoe?

[P.Passuello]

Do you have any info on your laser shoe?

Hi Gerry,

Here is a video I made on making the body of the LaserShoe and also mounting the laser and power control.
More info available in the description of this video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EMENb5xdRM

Thanks for watching
Cheers
Peter

[jeffery926]

Hi Peter,

I see in the description in the second YouTube video you posted here, your charging for directions how to setup a laser diode engraver on a CNC router. I remember when you were asking me all the questions on how to do this in the Vectric PhotoVcarve thread I started a year ago. Have you come up with something new since then?

Vectric Forum ? View topic - Can PhotoVcarve be used to Laser engrave on a CNC Router????

I remember you posting a link to the video of your first LaserShoe in that thread and the PP for Vcarve Pro and PhotoVcarve you wrote for laser diode engraving using Mach3. Your new LaserShoe is a good idea by extracting the fumes, but as I told you before, making it in the way you did makes it impossible to see the progress of the laser engravings. In my opinion, that makes it not as desirable. It needs to be made out of clear plastic or have windows in parts of it to see the work progressing and just wear the shielded safety glasses when the machine is running. They do make flat laser shield panels for different wavelengths you could make it out of. This would allow the laser diode's beam to be used for lining up the stock also.

We have came a long way with the laser diode engraving processes since that post in the Vectric forum. We are using TTL Modulation on dithered B&W images, varying the laser's intensity with analog modulation and even using a variable feedrate method and the information is freely shared in this thread, if your interested.

Diode Lasers. - Fórum

Since your setup is TTL, the VFR method may interest you for laser engraving images with 8bit greyscale shading instead of pulsing a dithered image.

There also is a new image to Gcode program now available written just for these three laser diode engraving processes. This program has it’s own image editor and several dithering algorithms within the same program. It will generate gcodes for rotary type engravings like Lithophanes also. It's a one of a kind program and you should check out the demo download and see if it will work for you.

picengrave | eBay

Here is a link the explains in more detail on the diode laser engraving process and schematics of laser control circuits that can be built and used.

http://picengrave.com/Laser%20Setups.pdf


Jeff

[P.Passuello]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply and the links. I have seen some but not all of these and will have a look through when I get the chance.
I encourage everyone read as much as they can so as to make an informed decision as to what is best for them.

It was your posts on using a laser with the CNC machine that spurred my interest in add the laser to mine and I have seen the leaps and bounds that you have made with your setup. The work you have produced is excellent and your methods of driving the laser to produce grayscale are ingenious.
For what it is worth I do not use the methods that you use to trigger the laser on my design, but rather drive mine straight from direction pin of a dummy axis. I have decided to keep it as simple as possible.

What the LaserShoe project is about is a design to add and removing a laser from the machine quickly with safety features built in. This I have not seen in any other designs. What particular laser is used or its method of trigger is not important and will be unique to the builder, but the shielding provided by the shoe and the fume extraction is my own work and I believe is unique for a CNC mounted laser. The lasershoe is not the laser but the shoe mount and fume extraction combination. Having used my prototype a couple of times it quickly became obvious that fume extraction would be a great asset as blowing the smell of burning wood, MDF and plastic around the room is not pleasant.
Engraving PVC is out and out dangerous as the fumes given off are poisonous and will turn to acid in your lungs.

When a builder wants to add a laser to their machine they have 2 questions to answer.

1. What laser will I get and how will I trigger it. As you know the options here are virtually endless. I show how I did mine and the builder is free to copy or use their own combination from the many sources available on the internet.

2 How will I mount it? This is the question the LaserShoe seeks to answer. Quick connect and removal from the machine along with fume extraction. Shielding the user and bystanders from the lasers direct light, though the use of laser safety glasses is mandatory while the laser is powered up.

I know not everyone likes the fact that the shield covers the action and I know the urge to see the magic of the engraving as it is done is strong but blind and gasping for breath is not my idea of how I want to end my days. I am hoping for exhaustion at the Playboy mansion but with my luck it will be the result of moving furniture.
I'm happy to wait for the job to be completed before I see the finished article. Those who want to see that is happening in real time will build something that suits their purpose.

Cheers
Peter

[jeffery926]

Thanks Peter,

It has been allot of fun. I totally agree with you that safety is always first priority using any kind of laser. I am considering building a full enclosure for my mini router to contain/extract the fumes, but plan on 445nm filtered windows in it to watch the progress also. I like your idea on the LaserShoe that it lets you quick change from spindle to laser. I will be working on something similar for my servo router, except the spindle will slip out of it's mount and the laser will slip in so the two centers will be the same and no re-zeroing of the X&Y axis will be necessary.

I agree also that making things simple and tying the TTL input to a direction pin is a simple way to turn the laser on and off. I know you have been using Vectric programs like PVC, but one thing I have found out, it is more difficult to get good results because the gcodes are not generated as complete as PicEngrave Pro 4 Plus Laser is which makes the PVC files allot smaller with less precision with the shade transitions. With PEP4, you can select what axis letter from Z, A, B and C you use to control your laser without having to make a special PP also. I'm not knocking PVC, as it is a great program, but I have found out it has it's limits when using it to laser engrave images. It was not written for this type of process and it looks like they will never update it to make any improvements either.

However, PEP4 Plus Laser was written for laser diode engraving images and it is a complete package with image editing tools to adjust brightness, contrast, gamma and sharpness. You can add text, ellipse, crop, flip, rotate and be able to laser borders with a set width around the image also. There are several dithering algorithms for pulsing (TTL) a B&W image also. This is all the things I would have to do with an image in Corel Photo Paint first when using PVC and PEP4PL is a third of the cost.

You said you like a simple setup. Imagine getting similar results as my more complicated analog modulated laser engraver creating 8bit shades of grey without any dots or dithering an image first. With a TTL setup like yours it's now possible by maintaining constant intensity and varying the feedrate instead. The program uses a F instead of a third axis letter for this method and you can set the minimum and maximum feedrate to get the desired results and that's something to consider with your TTL setup. I have no commercial ties, I'm just a very happy end user.

This one was done by varying the feedrate instead of varying the intensity on my mini CNC laser engraver.

Jeff

[P.Passuello]

Thanks Jeff,

I ended up abandoning VCP which was too much hastle and moved to DotG for photo's and VCarvePro for Text and line drawings.
I will be adding PicEngrave software to the list of things to try when I get some time.
It looks to be a very well priced software for what it does and since it is specifically made for laser use will make life easier with even better results.
Best of all I like that no real change is needed other than renaming my trigger axis. Well that will take 30 seconds, Cool.

Will make a video on the photo engraving process when I get the chance.
With winter coming on fast I may get the time sooner than I think.

Cheers
Peter

[jeffery926]

Peter,

Not only does it have settings/options for laser diode engraving, it has options for rotary image engraving also so it can be used for making Lithophanes and rotary wood photo engravings. I do not know of any other image to gcode program that has these capabilities all in one complete package.

Jeff

[Ajancnc]

Nice video! Really great work.