Messages

1

General Mach Discussion / Re: Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 03, 2019, 04:15:08 AM »

I was wondering about using a complete off-the-shelf fiber engraver with galvo head and then just moving the workpiece beneath it with the galvo turned off. That would cover the optics at least and I could still use the system in it's original mode when required for flat work.
Using Mach for moving the workpiece would be easy enough although the beam wouldn't move as fast as using a galvo.
I'd still need to tap into the laser source control circuit for on/off, power, frequency, etc. to be controlled from Mach.

Rab
www.cnc-toolkit.com

2

General Mach Discussion / Re: Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 02, 2019, 02:36:03 PM »

I've not found out much about options for the optics yet, but here's a link that seems to have that covered;
https://www.edmundoptics.co.uk/

3

General Mach Discussion / Re: Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 02, 2019, 02:34:22 PM »

 
Yeah, seem potentially pretty good for the price considering I was getting quotes for high speed engraving spindles for more than this !

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 02, 2019, 09:48:04 AM »

Info and pinout connections on the example JPT laser interface;
https://www.astron-japan.co.jp/pdf/JPT_YDFLP-LP_User_Manual-Oct_C2015.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0XzXvmGabKFQo59PsMcwlv0f0Q8x7y_SIuAv8bdor7plyZKk1zt7p2lRA

5

General Mach Discussion / Re: Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 02, 2019, 06:34:05 AM »

Hi Tweakie,

I'm hoping I could put together a system to engrave titanium, silver, gold and platinum.
I get pretty good results on these materials with a high speed spindle but have to keep the design quite simple on small scale items, whereas lasered examples I've seen have far more detail than a rotary cutting tool could achieve.

If budget was less of a concern I'd be looking at the likes of these;
www.spilasers.com

Rab

6

General Mach Discussion / Re: Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 02, 2019, 05:04:44 AM »

Hi Tweakie,

I'm thinking of mounting it next to the spindle on a small milling machine, so the XY and rotary axes would move beneath it, just leaving the movement in Z to flex the fiber cable. However, maybe be better to keep the cable / beam expander fixed and just move the focusing lens.

I've found just one laser module designed for fitting to an existing cnc machine, however it seems a little overpriced and underpowered with a relatively large spot size, but it's still interesting;
http://endurancelasers.com/an-endurance-brand-new-fiber-marking-module-for-metal-engraving

Rab

7

General Mach Discussion / Controlling a Fiber Laser engraver with Mach ?

« on: September 01, 2019, 06:48:00 PM »

I've been looking at fiber laser engravers as they seem to be able to engrave finer detail than I can achieve with a high speed spindle and they have pretty reasonable prices for say a 30W machine.
However, the software that typically comes with them seems to cause users a lot of issues for rotary engraving, never mind full 4 or 5 axis work.
So, I'm wondering how feasible it would be to attach a fiber laser source with simple fixed focus optics onto one of my existing cnc machines similar to how many users have done using a diode or co2 laser source ?
Are there any particular issues with controlling a fiber laser source ?
There an example module here;
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32960062748.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.588d7765V9G1B0&algo_pvid=086b3b84-9a1a-481b-a05d-a9d6759e58b3&algo_expid=086b3b84-9a1a-481b-a05d-a9d6759e58b3-1&btsid=c3382929-2c03-4a09-9030-17a477e0befd&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_10,searchweb201603_52

thanks,
Rab
www.cnc-toolkit.com

8

*****VIDEOS***** / Re: See more than 290 videos of members machines.

« on: January 06, 2010, 02:40:14 PM »

I've added my 5-axis videos,
Rab
www.cnc-toolkit.com

9

Works in progress / Re: Three Page Lathe Screen

« on: January 06, 2010, 09:20:02 AM »

Thanks Phil,
I copied those bitmaps over to C:\Mach3\Bitmaps\New Screen
all show up fine now,
Rab

10

Works in progress / Re: Three Page Lathe Screen

« on: January 06, 2010, 06:49:10 AM »

Hi Phil,
Nice screen set. I've just set up my lathe and am finding this a lot easier to use than the default.
I'm not sure if I've done something wrong in setup but there's no images in the Wizard pages although I got the bitmaps installed for the main menu pages.
Rab
http://www.cnc-toolkit.com/ - Open Source 5-axis