instructables

Frankenstein Laser Engraver

by ianmcmill

This Frankenstein Laser Cutter was built out of an old scanner and printer.
The whole thing evolved around the instructable of Groover and his 'Pocket Laser Engraver'.
This is a Making-Of. Although, a lot (if not everything) of the mechnical construction requires ingenuity but I tried to
document the complete build process as much as I could. Every scanner's and printer's mechanic is different so
this can not be used as a step-by-step guide. It's more of a "how it can be done"-guide. I try to cover the questions
that could arise in the process of making.

When I started I had absolutely no clue about electronics. All I knew was that RED is (often) + and BLACK is
(often) Ground. So if you have the same requirements, don't let experts unsettle you. With the right motivation you
can acquire almost any knowledge. And don't believe the NAY sayers.

I have learned a lot in this project. Starting from mechanical stuff like self-replenishing brass bearings to
electronical stuff like stepper motors and the difference between bi- and unipolar motors to soldering and etching
my own circuit board.

So enough talk. Let's get started.

The working area is 270mm x 200mm. Just about right do cut some flip-flops (thongs) for the summer.

It is able to cut :

foam rubber
tape
vinyl
paper (nearly every color but white/red)
several plastics (could require several runs depending on thickness)

It can engrave:

light wood (Balsawood/Poplar)

leather
bone
horn
plastics
some varnishes
Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 1
 blank cds/dvds (purple/blue)

The color is quite important. White and in general bright colors are hard if not impossible to work with.
Those colors reflect the red laser beam to much.
Red(ish) colors are a problem as well as they reflect all light in the red range spectrum.

The building costs (without mispurchase [easydriver clones were for the trash can]) is around 45-55 €.

Arduino(clone) 10 € Easydriver x 2 20 € Electronic bits and pieces 10-15€ Aixiz housing /w lens 6 € Alu-profiles 5
€ ------------------------------------- ---------- Total 46-56€

Well I forgot the Laser Safety Glasses (THIS IS A MUST!!):

--- SEE STEP 16 FOR LASER SAFETY GLASSES ---

Laser safety glasses 50 € New total100 €

Build time with knowledge acquisition and waiting for shipping was around 4 month...
I am constantly updating this so be sure to come back from time to time for further improvements.

UPDATES:
May, 9th 2013 : Updated Step 14 : The Laser diode (pictures and some focus hints) May, 13th 2013 : Added
Step 17 - Links and files section

Added Step 18 - Take it to the next step (Improvement - optional)

Updated BOM list. Now contains more stuff you need
May, 20th 2013 : Corrected mm/sec to mm/min ! Seconds would be very very fast.
June, 1st 2013 : Added Step 13 - Alternate laser driver shield (Easylaser Shield)
December, 4th 2013: Updated Alternative Easylaser Shield schematic/layout with the help of jduffy54.

http://youtu.be/uGduSO7wDZE

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 2

 1 1

3 3

2 2

1. Fan power with external power supply.

2. wood warped by moisture...
3. Motor cables and laser cable. This definitly will cause EMC issues. Keep them
seperated and for best results use shielded cables (USB cable)
1. Fan power with external power supply.
2. wood warped by moisture...
3. Motor cables and laser cable. This definitly will cause EMC issues. Keep them
seperated and for best results use shielded cables (USB cable) Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FOP/5RT9/HGIEVQ62/FOP5RT9HGIEVQ62.xls
…

Step 1: Indentifying the Salvage Loot

Before you go an a salvage rampage consider the following hints:

RULES OF THUMB
The older the printer the better.
The newer the scanners the better.

Scanner stepper motors are often superior to printer steppers. They do have more steps in general.

The newer the printer, the lesser is the chance of getting steppers out of it.
All scanners have stepper motors. The older the more likely you are getting a unipolar stepper which we can't use
in this project.

--------------------------------

Identifing the parts of old devices is often a pain but I had luck with at least the scanner stepper. For the printer I
had found a service manual. But this didn't helped me alot.

Scanner / X-Axis
The scanner is an old Tevion 2400 dpi scanner. Equivalent to a Microtek Scanmaker 5800.
The stepper is a 96 step bipolar stepper motor. It's description is NEOCENE 2T354207.
Do not believe anyone other that says this is a 100 step motor. It is not ! It has 96 steps. Not more not less.

I used the bed of the scanner as the basis of the whole construction.
The rail and the timing belt aswell as the sled which carried the photoelectronics is used.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 3

Though the sled needed to be trimmed to give more space for the laser.
There is something special about the stepper. It has a 4 gears mounted on its foreplate.
The gear ratio is luckly negligible.
If you are still curious how to calculate a gear ratio have a look at this page.
It is in german but the math shown there is a universal language (or use the google translator)
The scanner stepper serves as the x-axis.

Printer / Y-Axis
The printer was an old Epson Stylus Photo 925.
The stepper I salvaged is oddly described in the Service Manual.
It says it is a 4-phase 48 pole bipolar stepper motor for 42V (??) but as it is a bipolar stepper there must not be 4
phases but 2.
Turning the shaft by hand and counting the steps I came up with 48 steps.
This motor (and plates for printer head) serves as the y-axis.
In the end I realized that the 48 steps or the motor itself are the weak spot in this built. It moves slower than the
scanner stepper and clatters on the rod. No brass fittings here. Vaseline should dampen the negative effect.

Stepper motor specifications:

Tevion 2400 dpi / Microtek 5800 Epson Stylus Photo 925 Phase 2 2 Step angel 3,75°/Step = 96 steps 7,5°/Step =
48 steps Voltage 5 V 5-12 V Current ? ? Resistance 5,5 7 Holding torque ? ?

Later in the process I found out that both motors draw less then at least 300 mA.
The Easydriver V4.4 still has the bug with the silk print on it mixing MAX and MIN of the poti.
So in V4.4 they switched the print on the PCB but simultaneously replaced the poti with a reverse poti.
At least this is what I have read in some forums or the comments over at Sparkfun.
Smart :)

So long story short:

The poti is set to a low resistance that means the steppers get a fraction of the current the Easydriver can deliver.
Max 750mA per coil. The poti is set to roughly 25%. Just so that they dont scream in pain.

Stepper motor pinout:

On my journey through the endless deepth of the internets I often stumbled over question as how to get the correct
pinout from the steppers.
You just need to take a piece of wire and connect the pins. If you connect the correct pairs you should feel a
resistance when turning the shaft of the stepper
ist

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 4

 1
1

1. scanner stepper motor with 96 steps / 3.75 degree (from 360°) 1. Stepper motor from printer. Used to cut paper. 48 steps / 7.5 degree

Step 2: Scanner Massacre

As I guess you don't have the exact same old and glass mirrors where removed. Use a screwdriver
scanner and printer this step is more like a rough and wear protective gloves.
lineout of what needs to be done and what must be
cared for in special. Different scanner or printers have So in the end just the bare plastic remained and
different mechanics but all in all they have similar afterwards was cut into form to have a slightly wider
structure. space for the printer head carriage which later carries
I reused the bed of the scanner and its slide that the laser module with fan.
contained the photo-electronics. All the electronics

1. this plastic was removed to give more space 1. sawed off here

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 5

 1

1. ...and here

Step 3: Printer Mayhem #1

This was the most tedious step in the whole project. the stepper.
Took me about complete 8 hours to complete with the
help of an advanced craftsman (Father). In the original printer structure there was a DC motor
where now the stepper resides. Often (hopefully) the
The plate of the printer which supported the print washer of the stepper, which is from the same printer,
head and rod was excessively treated with my has the same spacing so it fitted nicely into the DC
beloved metal saw. hole.
I had to cut out pieces of the L-profile to get room for

2
1

1. part of the carrier was removed. I kind of regreted it later on as it would have been 1. original printer plate where the DC motor and print head was
perfect for the of the laser/pen mounted on
2. aluminium L-profile. Cut out with hacksaw where needed.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 6

 1

1. printer plate
2. aluminium profile; L-shape. Mounted to the printer plate with 2 screws

Step 4: Printer Mayhem #2

The rod on which the led the print head carrier had could just plug the tips from both end through and
some decentered metal nobs on it. They could we mount both profiles on the L-profile. This step needs
easily removed by twisting them and pulling them off to be precise as possible as later on the y-axis might
with a plier. They revealed very nicely centered metal drift off. This might distort the whole drawing/lasering
tips. process as the Y-axis isn't right-angled to the X-axis.
Use a caliper is a must. Drawing by eye, too.
I used two T-profiles and drilled holes in them. So I

1 2

1. L-profile which supports the printer plate is screwed to the the scanner
sledge.
2. 90° nose cut away to fit the profile

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 7

 1

1. lucky me for having good connections to a local metal processing

company.

1. sawed off

Step 5: Cabeling #1

Y-axis cables movable Y-axis to the arduino.

I took the flat cable which used to be connected to the
As the motor moves with the Y-axis (obviously) I had scanner sledge and soldered some female pin
to think about how to do the cabeling. headers to it. Very crude job with room for
I used an salvaged 5-pin connector from an old improvement. If I would have been more cautious I
mainboard and simply soldered it to the stepper motor could have soldered 8 pins to the flat cable but this is
wires. A 4-pin ribbon cable served as an extension to a very fragile task. You will see why later.
a little piece of stripboard which I mounted to the L-
profile.
The stripboard is a "gateway" for all electronics on the

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 8

 7

6
5
4
3
2
1

1. pins from stepper

2. pins to Easydriver
3. pins from laser
4. pins to laser driver
5. from fan
6. to fan controller (relay)
7. used hot gun to glue the back of the stripboard so it can not make
contact with the alu by accident

Step 6: Getting the Black Magic Stuff on the Magic Black Brick

To control the EDs you need to get grbl up and To modify the pinout of GRBL you need to get the
running on your Arduino. sources from above link and manipulate the file
I used GRBL 0.8c which can be obtained from config.h and recompile it afterwards, of course. There
https://github.com/grbl/grbl you are able to relocate the pins as you like. This
Scroll down to 'Downloads' and grab the 0.8c version. might come in handy if you use another stepper driver
It is a precompiled hex file and can only be uploaded board.
to the Arduino with an hex-uploader. To recompile type in the shell:
I used http://www.ngcoders.com/downloads/arduino-
hex-uploader-and-programmer/ make clean
make grbl.hex
To avoid the 'out of sync' error you need to modify the
baud rate at whiche the uploader sends to the
Arduino from 19200 to 115200. See picture.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 9

Step 7: Prototyping on Breadboard

Before making a PCB you actually want to try out if The pinout from the Arduino is as following:
the stuff is working as you want it to.
So I put together all the electronics on a breadboard The steps/dir pins of the Easydriver are connected in
first. the following manner:
Only the motor part in this step.
Easydriver Arduino X-Step Digital 2 X-Dir Digital 5 Y-
Microstepping Step Digital 3 Y-Dir Digital 6
In the top picture you can see that the Easydriver pins For each Easydriver the pins MS1 and MS2 are
MS1 and MS2 are both connected to 5V. This means conntected and are both on 5V. This tells the
they are "pulled high". Easydriver to work in 1/8 stepping mode. The
The Easydriver is capable of doing mircostepping. Easydrivers have a seperate power supply. Any 12V
Microstepping means that the steps of the motor can 600mA+ wall wart should work. Later on the shield
be devided by either 2 for half stepping, 4 for quarter the EDs are powered by the Arduino. As is the laser
and so on. and the fan.

A 96 step stepper motor can do with a eighth I took a short film from the running prototype. The
microstepping 96 x 8 steps = 768 steps. Easydrivers can get quite hot. For continuously
running them, a fan is required.
MS1 & MS2 - low Full stepping MS1 high Half Ehem... The fan mount is a protoype as well...
stepping MS2 high Quarter stepping MS 1 & MS 2
high Eighth stepping
//www.youtube.com/embed/8sYq7_fUrvI
We want eighth stepping so both pins are connected
to 5V.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 10

 1

2
1

1. jack for external power supply. 1. beautiful lights

Do not cross the streams... 2. beautiful lights

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 11

Step 8: Calibrate

Before doing fancy stuff with the steppers they need I suggest to create an excel sheet to save you some
to be calibrated. This is an essential step and must headache.
not be left out.
I have found a nice and explanatory video tutorial You can use every kind of terminal tool to
over at BuildYourOwnCNC. communicate with grbl. I used CoolTerm.
I guess you know how to load a terminal and connect
In generall it says you need to calculate the estimated to your Arduino.
step/mm.
From that point you move your desired stepper via In the picture you can see my current calibrated data.
gcode (x200 for example). Then you need to take the
discrepancy and calculate your new step/mm until it
moves the exact range you commanded. But see the
video for more information ans some math.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 12

Step 9: First Contact

To communicate with (and send gcode to) the X50 Y50

Arduino and its stepper drivers there are several
solutions. This moves the 'spindle' to the absolute position of
You could check the GRBL Wiki. Scroll down and X50 Y50
you'll find plenty of software that deals with GRBL
and Arduino. G01 X50 Y50
There are even some nice GUI tools. Nevertheless I this would move the spindle 50mm on the X and
used Groovers Gcodesender. Can be found on 50mm on the Y-axis from whatever position the
Groover's Pocket Laser Instructable (Step 7). spindle currently resides. This is the relative
positioning.
Go ahead and try some g-code commands.
Get your steppers in the correct starting position For more information on gcode commands, check the
before powering them (e.g. zero position) and type wikipedia page (link).
G91 G28 X0 Y0

//www.youtube.com/embed/_jfHOCG_kco
This tells GRBL that the current position is the zero
position.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 13

Step 10: Mt. Laserdiode

To mount the laser diode (or a pen for first use) the The carriage was not in a 90° angle to the scanner
print head carriage needs to be modified. bed. Luckily a a little nut saved the day.
I found those cover plates from a desktop computer Before that I found a little pulley that used to hold the
quite nice that cover empty PCI slots. Besides, one tape in a walkman. I installed it but realized it bumped
cover just happened to lie in my line of sight. Poor against the x-axis rod. Had to remove it. But it is
thing. definitly worth to keep for later improvements.
Somehow I managed to bend, saw, drill and screw
the plate to the carriage. Just be creative in this step
and keep the precision up. Precision in building is
your friend but can be your worst nemesis once you
neglect it !

2
1

1. angular
2. u-profile. Did I mentioned I love alu profiles.
3. first drawing. and there was much rejoicing. yay.

1. M3 nut

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 14

 1

1. Walkman pulley. removed :( but will be included in improved version.

Step 11: Etching the PCB

NOTE: I added an alternate laser shield. See step 13 I also tried to use a thin permanent marker (acid-
for information and Eagly CAD layout. resistant / Edding 400 in Germany) but the result was
a thick ugly line.
After I managed to get my prototype breadboard Although with the overhead pen I just needed to draw
running successfully some sample g-code I went on the trace once and not several times to get a nice
to create a PCB. coating.
Never have done such a thing before but I am a
chemical laboratory assistant and chemicals do not To etch the layout I used Fe(III)Cl. Don't like the other
raise fear in me. stuff that is available. They could vaporate, they stink
and stuff that contains peroxid can explode when kept
Again I used Groovers lasershield layout. It comes in in sealed bottles. So Fe(III)Cl is the most convenient
EagleCAD format. solution to store and dispose.

I mirror printed the layout on ordinary paper and glued

it to a photosensitive copper board and used my Nevertheless : !! Don't pour it down the drain !! It
dremel clone to drill the holes. As I do not have a is going eat your drainpipe if it is made from
fancy exposure timer I took some alcohol and copper and it will definitely kill all the little usefull
removed the protective varnish. bacteria in your local sewage disposal facility.
With a overhead projector pen and a ruler I traced the
layout by hand. This pen gave a very nice shiny trace.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 15

 1

1. 1. drill the holes with layout glued to the blue protective foil. 1. 2. remove all photosen. varnish with some alcohol

1. traces were to dense so I had to draw some extra drill holes 1. Fe(III)CL
2. 3. use a overhead projector pen to draw the traces

1. some fat fingerprints 1. use alcohol again to remove permanent pen.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 16

 2

1 3

1. cleaned up PCB
2. used some edding. not nice
3. overhead pen. nice !

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 17

Step 12: Laser Shield

I do not know how to solder the pins (that connect to ARDUINO-NOHOLE ARDUINO-NOHOLE
the Arduino pins) from the wrong side so I just placed ARDUINO-NOHOLE Arduino
them on the top side of the PCB and pushed the tips Diecimila/Duemilanove/Uno
through.
I have also included an exported shopping list from
To safe some time I wrote on the PCB were the parts my electronic merchant as it is sometimes a bit
for the laser driver should go. Side note: for test runs daunting looking up all the parts with different
without laser you can leave out the circuit for the laser descriptions.
for now.
NOTE:
Partslist: I did order the wrong relay from my electronic supplier
so I ripped apart an old pc power supply I found in my
electronic chest of wonderments. I am actually quite
Part Value Device Package Description VR05R051 glad I keep alot of the "old stuff". Most of the
RR1A RR1A RR1A RELAY C1 0,1uF C-US075- electronics are still working. I rather keep them
052X106 C075-052X106 CAPACITOR C2 47uF instead of making the recycling depot happy. They
CPOL-USE2.5-5 E2,5-5 POLARIZED CAPACITOR sell it to Africa as "2nd-hand" which is not realy the
D1 DIODEDO-1N4148 DO-1N4148 Diode D2 SA15A truth.
ZENER-DIODEP1-Z12 P1Z12 Z-Diode FAN W237- Hence I have build this laser. Show people that "the
102 W237-102 WAGO_SCREW_CLAMP IC1 old stuff" is no junk. In the right hands it is as precious
LM317TS 317TS VOLTAGE_REGULATOR J1 as real money.
J30MM J30MM 30 Bridge JP1 PINHD-1X2 1X02
PIN_HEADER JP3 JP1E JP1 JUMPER LASER NOTE #2 (important):
W237-102 W237-102 WAGO_SCREW_CLAMP R1 When connecting the Arduino with installed board be
3,9 R-US_0414/5V 0414V RESISTOR R2 2K2 R- sure to connect the external power supply FIRST.
US_0207/10 0207/10 RESISTOR R3 51 R- I noticed that when connecting the Arduino to USB
US_0414/5V 0414V RESISTOR R4 1k R- first with out power supply the motors start to scream.
US_0414/5V 0414V RESISTOR R6 500 TRIM_US- This does not sound healty. Remember the movie
S64W S64W POTENTIOMETER SV1 MA04-1 "Screamers" ?
MA04-1 PIN HEADER SV2 MA04-1 MA04-1 PIN
HEADER T1 2N2222 2N2222 TO18 NPN
TRANSISTOR U$1 EASYDRIVER EASYDRIVER
EASYDRIVER Easydriver v4.4 U$2 EASYDRIVER
EASYDRIVER EASYDRIVER Easydriver v4.4 U$4

1. Heatsinks from old graphic card cooling upgrade. Made to fit. 1. This one is already pushed. The others not yet.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 18

 1

1. laser driver circuit. 1. never use superglue to fix pin headers. never. ever.

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FWQ/HC4Q/HFPTIDVO/FWQHC4QHFPTIDVO.csv
…

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 19

Step 13: Alternate Laser Shield (Easylaser Shield)

The Lasershield by Groover is great but I found some things that didn't satisfied my style of operating the laser.
The laserhshield isn't capable of switching the microstepping modes for the stepper motors.

With DVD stepper motors he used there was no need to do so but when using different motors from different
devices this can help to drive those motors correct.

The relay that controlled the laser to turn on and off I wasn't very happy with, too.
And lastly the wires from the drivershield to the laser diode were too long. Putting the driver next to
the laser would be better I guess.

So Tl;dr :

I redesigned the lasershield from Groover.

1. Removed the laser driver circuit - Replaced with a terminal clamp to attach a ready made laser
driver. I got mine from AixiZ at ebay (link).
2. Added jumpers beneath the Easydrivers to set the microstepping mode.

UPDATE:

User jduffy54 was so kind to fix the easylaser shield. I updated the Eagle Schematics and Layout. The jumpers to
adjust the microstepping mode should now work as intended.

1. Jumpers to set microstepping mode 1. Jumpers to set microstepping mode

2. TTL signal

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 20

 2

1. 2-pin header directly soldered to the driver.

Works pretty well.
2. White cable is the TTL signal cable from
Arduino Pin 12 to back of the driver.

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F8P/X6C4/HRWIF9LI/F8PX6C4HRWIF9LI.zip
…

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FC2/7Y58/HRWIF9LJ/FC27Y58HRWIF9LJ.rar
…

Step 14: The Laser Diode

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 21

The laser diode I used here is pretty strong. Aimed at increase the power while measuring the voltage
300mW this red laser is a Class 3b laser which without damaging the precious salvage diode.
means goggles must be worn at all cost. In the picture above you can see such a dummy load.
You will get pinkeye and a cataract. It is not like with This one simulates a red laser diode. If you are going
smoking were you could possible get cancer. No, to use a blue laser you simply need 6x 1N4001
looking into the beam will definitly get you a cataract. diodes.
Even the scattered light the diode produces when
bouncing of surfaces is stronger then directly looking Material:
into the sun. You don't want to risk you sight. Period. Red laser diode dummy Blue laser diode dummy
1N4001 4x 6x 1 ohm Resistor 1x 1x
BE CAREFULL !! Again use your breadboard and put the diodes and
the resistor in series. On the resistor I measure the
The laser goggles should filter 600-670nm (OD4+). voltage. It doesn't matter on which side you place the
Those glasses are not cheap but your eyes are resistor. Set your multimeter to 2000mV and put it to
precious ! the resistors' ends. Connect the laser pins from the
OD4+ means that it does filter 10^-4 of the incoming lasershield to + and - on the breadboard.
(red) light. Load up gcodesender or your terminal of choice and
Example: connect to the Arduino.
300 mW * 10 ^-4 = 0,03 mW. Send the command "M3" (Spindle/Laser on) and you
should get some value on your multimeter.
Laser diode pinout: Turn the potentiometer on your potentiometer
The first thing to do when having stripped the diode clockwise untill it reaches the desired voltage e.g.
from an old DVD Burner or got it from the internet is 300mV. This corresponds to the mW the laser diode
to get the polarity of it. will get.
I just took 2 AA batteries that were in a case with + CW = increase voltage
and - and tried the pins of the diode until it lits up. CCW = decrease voltage
Send "M5" to turn off the laser.
Laser diodes of this type are placed into an aixiz
housing with heatsink. They often come with a Focusing the laser:
focusable plastic lens. Glass lense are better as they To focus the diode I first turned the lens until I got a
give you about 10-20% more efficiency. very small dot on the wall. Then I tried to light a
match.
Adjust the power of the laser diode: To get a "rough" focus I taped a ruler to my desk with
Before we want to hook up our laser to the circuit we the laser housing at 0mm.
want to adjust the "power" it will get. A black sheet of paper (thicker paper like 450gr photo
With the blue potentiometer this is easy to do. carton) was placed in front of the laser and moved
The red DVD burner diode can handle just about until it burned.
300mV (respectively 300mA - with a load) but then I You may need to play around with the lens and the
don't know how long it will last. paper distance.
If you want to increase the lifetime you may want to
reduce the voltage the laser diode gets to around To do the fine adjustment I proceeded similar again
200mV (respectively 200mA - with a load). but this time I estimated the time it took the laser to
Anyways keep your eyes on cheap or donated DVD burn a hole through the paper. This way you get very
burners. Sometime the local recycling plant has some close to the perfect focus of the laser.
of these pearls in their trash. Kindly asking the
service personal may get you fresh meat for your
laser grinder.
You don't want to adjust the power of the laser diode
with the actual laser diode. Sounds strange but we

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 22

will be using a so called dummy load.
A dummy load is placed in the circuit instead of the
real diode. It acts as a load and you can steadily

1. 301mV = <300mW laser power. Set to range 2000mV on your multimeter.

2. Voltage measurement on the resistor.

1
3 2

1. 2x AAA batteries (fresh). 1. 12.4-12.5mm

This soldering broke my neck at the first laser test. and - were =0.492"
switched :) Took me 2 hours to find out.
2. The back of the laser housing is aligned at 0.0
3. The thread was secured with a drop of glue.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 23

Step 15: Inkscape

Defining the area: To get the gcode I always do these steps:

In Inkscape you need to set the dimensons of the 1.) Ungroup all your objects (maybe need to do it
working area. To do this hit: twice)
File - Document Properties 2.) Strg + a (select all) - Path - Object to path
and change the page to your size 3.) Sill selected all -> Extensions - Laserengraver -
Laser
One thing to know before starting the cutting 4.) Under "Preferences" insert your output folder
mayhem. 5.) Switch back to "Laser" tab. This is important !!
How to get g code for your models. 6.) Enter your desired speed. This can be overwrite
with Groovers Gcodesender later.
My weapon of choice is Inkscape with Groovers 7.) Enter filename +.nc. Hit Apply. Done
modified Gcodetools (Metalevel 8). 8.) Fire up gcodesender. Connect to your Arduino.
Inkscape can be downloaded from their page. Load the .nc file. Set speed if desired.
Groover'g gcodetool is available on his Instructable. 9.) Put on goggles. !!!
10.) Hit "Print"
The drawing needs to be mirrored before creating
the gcode.
If you just plainly select all and mirror it, it could give Inkscape cheat sheet
you a strange output inside Inkscape
so before mirroring, select all (Ctrl + a) group FunctionShortcut Select all Ctrl + A Group Ctrl + G
everything (Ctrl + g) and mirror it ('h'). Ungroup Shift + Ctrl + G Mirror (horizontal)
After it is mirrored ungroup everything (Ctrl + Shift + Vertical H
g) and convert everything to path again (Ctrl + Shift + V Convert object to path Shift + Ctrl + C Align dialog
c). Fill / Stroke dialog Shift + Ctrl + A
Shift + Ctrl + F
The gcodetools need to be copied to
"...\Inkscape\share\extensions".

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 24

Step 16: Igor !! IT'S a LIVE !!!

Just some cuts and engraves. rings were drawn with 100 mm/min.

The rocket model is from elabz. The calculator case was engraved with around 75
He has some nice models on his website, too. mm/min.

Here are some settings for cutting and engraving I have been a EvE player for nearly 8 years so this is
different materials: my tribute. The blue sculpture is a spaceship called
"Caracal / Cerberus" (Copyright @ CCP Games)
Craft foam - 2mm - black - 75 mm/min The model was sliced with Autodesk 123D Make
Software.
Balsawood - 1 mm - the dark lines were engraved
with 50 and afterwards with 10 mm/min. The outer

1. Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert Einstein

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 25

 2
1

1. 100mm/sec once 1. spray-on template for my father

2. 1. 75mm/sec
2. 50mm/sec
3. 10mm/sec.

didn't go through :(

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 26

 4
3 2

1. backplane of old picture frame

2. scanner bed
3. print head carriage
4. dvd laser 300mW
5. printer section with rod, belt and stepper

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 27

Step 17: Links and Files

Software Autodesk 123D Make - 3d model to sliced objects

Arduino Hex file uploader - used to upload the grbl (link)
hex file to Arduino (link)
Tutorials
GRBL - gcode interpreter for Arduino (Atmega328 Gear ratio tutorial (link)
compatible) - In this tutorial version 0.8c is used (link)
/ Wiki Stepper motor calibration video tutorial by
BuildYourOwnCNC.com (link)
Inkscape - open source vector drawing tool (link)
Laser safety
Gcodetools - Inkscape plugin to generate Gcode from
vector drawings modified Groover version (easy and README please !!!!
fast) (download)
Laserpointerforums.com - Thread about eye damages
original Gcodetools (complex) (link) done by lasers

Safety glasses - Shops:

Gcodesender - tool to send Gcode from PC to Survival Laser - Shop (US)
Arduino - by Groover (download) / (source) Insaneware.de (Germany)

Lasershield PCB layout - made by Groover

(download)

EagleCAD - PCB layout tool - free version available

(link)
Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FXW/4430/HGIEVOHL/FXW4430HGIEVOHL.zip
…

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FCW/XBBS/HGIEVQ7E/FCWXBBSHGIEVQ7E.xls
…

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FAD/PQY6/HH2VMW1P/FADPQY6HH2VMW1P.zip
…

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 28

Step 18: Take It to the Next Step (Improvements - Optional)

This steps are optional 3. Case for the hardware

I found a site that offers a script to generate nice
Since I finished the Frankenstein Laser Engraver I did boxes that can be cut out and put together using box
alot of engraving and made some improvements on joints. This laser is by far to weak to cut wood but it
the build. Or at least what I think could improve the can engrave it pretty good. I hammered in the
whole machine. dimensions of my desired box and got the pdf to
download.
1. Replaced working surface In Inkscape I realigned all the pieces to use the space
The back of the picture frame looks nice and does not more efficiently.
get burned to strong by the laser. With a fine wood saw I sawed the vertical lines and
But fixing work pieces requires tape. Don't get me used a jigsaw to do the horizantal lines.
wrong. I like tape. Especially duct tape :) but there is I drilled some holes for ventilation and the cables and
a better solution. put a small PC (southbridge) fan on top of it.
I took the side panel of an old metal PC case and cut One thing is important. The fan might cause
out a piece to fit on the scanner ground. interferences with the Easydrivers so they could
Using neodynium magnets helps fixing your work loose steps or stop in the middle of the process. It is
piece. therefore important to place the fan in a secure
Especially harddrive magnets are usefull as they are distance to the motor drivers.
strong and have a metal plate attached. I found some
from old harddrives with 3mm and 4mm thick 4. Laser diode replacement
magents. Just perfect to hold different wood Typically laser diodes found in DVD burners are
thicknesses. Small Closed Can-Types. Those should not exceed a
However if your motors are not well shielded these current of 300mA.
magnets could cause interefences with them. I have found some interesting threads over at
Laserpointerforums.com that talk about cheap red
2. Shielded cables laser diodes.
I realized that when putting the cables from the So a good alternative would be the LPC 826 red laser
motors and the laser to close together EMC troubles diode. It can be nicley driven at around 300mA.
can occur. Combined with a glass lense which delivers more
Re-lay the cables in 90° to each other (motors / laser) optical power to the work piece would be a great
minimizes these troubles. Anyway I stumbled over improvement.
some old USB cables. Those laser diodes are 11$ / 8,50€ (free shipping)
Those are often shielded (thick ones) and have 4 and might be worth it.
wires. The diameter of the cores are not perfect but (eBay link to LPC 826 diodes)
should work okay.
In the picture where the pins are soldered to the wires
I left out the shrinking tubes as it was too much of a
hassle to solder the wires to the pins. I later on cut
fitting shrinking tubes and sliced them on one side
and slid them over the wires.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 29

 1

1. HDD magnets.

1. Shielding made from triple wrapped aluminium foil which was isolated
with tape (2 layers on each side)

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 30

 1
1

1. Shielding. Can be pulled back. 1. Use shrinking tube !

It's alive! :)

Good instructable! Thanks for all of the details.

Nice project! The scanner base gives a very nice area to work with. I've dabbled with DVD-RW
based laser engravers/cutters (a lot) and their 1.5"x1.5" (38mm x 38mm) workarea is quite a
limitation - I'm sure having 270mm x 200mm is quite liberating!
What are the accuracies you are getting with this setup (96SPR + pulley) - what diameter is the
driving pulley and how close are you able to get to the max resolution with EasyDriver?

Having such a big work area is really quite nice !

I am getting an accuracy of 1/10mm (0,0039"). The x-axis driving pully (scanner) is 9,1mm in
diameter(0,358"). The y-axis pully has 6,4mm diameter.
For the resolution, the scanner stepper with 96 steps does very well with 1/8 stepping. The printer
stepper is running in 1/8 stepping as well but as it moves the motor doesn't sound very "clean".
Actually it has a nice accurarcy of 1/10mm, too. But 1/4 stepping would be better I think. Another

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 31

option would be to replace the stepper with another, bigger (in number of steps) stepper motor but I
havn't found any good replacement (slavage) by now. I am learning something new everyday and
things get clearer the more I read and try.

I'm coming up with (9.1mm x 3.1415)/96 = ~0.29mm as the max resolution for the scanner motor
with 9.1mm pulley in full step mode. I am curious if you're able to increase that by using 1/8th
microsteps. Did you measure 0.1mm?

I've done such measurement before by cutting a line at a very acute angle. Say, you want to cut a
line along the Y axis but have the X at the beginning to be 1mm off from X at the end. Doesn't
matter, 1mm more or 1mm less, just has to be off. The longer the line the easier it will be to see the
accuracy. Once you cut the line, you should be able to see quite clearly 10 saw-tooth like regions
that break the straight line (hold it toward a light source to see easier) if your accuracy is 0.1mm, 5
teeth if you accuracy is 0.2mm, 4 teeth if 0.25mm and so on.

I've done it for DVD-RW steppers with the stock 3mm pitch lead screw which in theory should have
0.15mm resolution (3mm/20SPR = 0.15mm per step) and I cannot see any improvement
whatsoever in any of the microstepping modes. I've also played with the current setting of the
EasyDriver - nothing I did could create any better resolution than what's available in full step mode.
I chucked it up to my stepper being overloaded. I wonder if you get any different results from yours.

By the way, I actually found 0.15mm accuracy to be quite bad for my tiny cutter. The details I would
want to cut were so small that I needed them to be extremely accurate and 0.15mm just didn't cut it
(pardon the pun). See if you can cut yourself a tiny 1:212 scale model of Lockheed P-38J
Lightning from here out of 3mm craft foam - it only holds together without glue if the accuracy is
better than approx 0.05mm. Same with the tiny rocket model there - if it holds together, it's at about
the maximum resolution that you can get from this laser cutter. It will be really difficult to focus the
laser into a spot less than 50 micron anyway.

Cheers!

Okay trying this one but I think the printer stepper is the crucial point or it's microstepping mode. I
did the rocket you coded on your page and I needed some glue to hold it together.

you should be able to see quite clearly 10 saw-tooth like regions that break the straight line (hold it toward a light
source to see easier) if your accuracy is 0.1mm, 5 teeth if you accuracy is 0.2mm, 4 teeth if 0.25mm and so on.

You mean like "M3 X100 Y100". Cutting a diagonal line ?

M3
G1 X1 Y100
M4

I think this would be the right Gcode as interpreted by Grubl (if M3 turns the laser on, M4 off). In
other words, the X travel should be minimal, ideally 1 mm.

I don't know idiosyncrasies of Grubl's processing of the Gcode. Perhaps the construct you gave
Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 32
 will work but even then it would read as
M3 X1 Y100

Cheers!

I had a chat with elabz and here is the result of his Gcode from above
http://imgur.com/ehNSXsP

Top lines show the accuracy of the Y-axis.

Bottom, that of the x-axis. The x-axis is pretty clean so far. But the y-axis lacks accuracy for now.
Switching the stepping mode could help. Or some dumpster diving.

picture

(9.1mm x 3.1415)/96 = ~0.29mm as the max resolution

Ah okay now I understand what you mean by 'max resolution'. The more I think about it, the more
my "measured" accuracy cracks. I measured it with a ruler that has 0.5 mm steps (0,01968 inches)
and I just estimated this 0.1mm.

can you be more speciphic regards the J1 Bridge on ???

Step 13: Alternate Laser Shield (Easylaser Shield)

hello can someone help me to wire this module laser and driver to my cnc machine? i have the
laser module and laser driver but i don't know how to wire to arduino uno. look the pictures please.
if someone know how can i make it please i need a wiring diagram

Hi,
does the laserdriver works with a 1w laser too or did i havet o make some changes for it?

good work

Question!
Why does 200mV over the 1 ohm resistor make it so the laser is <200mW ? I tried to calculate it
using ohms law but that did not work at all somehow. I got
Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 33
P = (200mV+4*0,7V) * (200mA) = 0.6W = 600mW. Do you have to calculate the rms value instead
and divide by sqrt(2*pi) ?

Agree. In the picture, the current is passing through 4X diodes (each with a forward voltage drop of
1.0 - 1.1V). It also appears that the supply voltage is from the Arduino at 5V. Not sure why the 4X
or 6X diodes...why not a resistor, potentiometer, or use the PWM function of the Arduino to give
you the ability to adjust the laser strength in the text file.

I don't know what I am doing there but I found this setup somewhere on the internetz. And then it
must be true. Anyways works for me :)
Also I switched from this driver to a ready-made driver board you get from Aixiz for 5$.

Awesome, Awesome instructable!

I have a question regarding the Aixiz driver. Did you use that same 4X diode dummy load circuit to
set the potentiometer to 300mA on the Aixiz driver? And if so, How? I have been trying this and
can only get to maybe 130mV on my multimeter before addition turns on the pot drop the voltage
like a rock only to increase again to a max of maybe 130mV. I have even reached out to Aixiz
about this problem and they sent me a replacement driver saying that that was odd that I couldn't
reach the full 500mA they quote. The replacement had the same issue. I have the Arduino Uno
driving the driver when I test it and I have pin 12, GRD and the 5V going to it. Any help would be
greatly appreciated. I'm so close to my own laser engraver!!!

You dont need to connect Easy Driver pins MS1 and MS2 to 5V.
The default setting is 1/8th stepping.
Quote from Easy Driver website:
The Easy Driver is able to operate in 1/8th, 1/4, half, and full
step (2 phase) modes. These four modes are selected by the logic
levels on the MS1 and MS2 input pins. Normally, the pull-up
resistors on the Easy Driver hold MS1 and MS2 high, which results in
a default setting of 1/8th microstep mode. You can pull either
or both to ground to select the other 3 modes if you want.

Hello, you thought to add a Lcd display i2c 16x02 to the machine?
Thanks, Stefano

Hi all, i have a similar laser (2.8 w, 450nm) engraver but I'm slightly worried about the safety. It
came with goggles but im not sure whether they suffice.
Is an indirect beam of this laser dangerous?
Which type of material wouldn serve as a good safety screen for such a laser?
Thank you! *
Joris

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 34

 This is something i have been looking for! I think about upgrading my 3D printer with laser cutter
and this is just what i needed!

Hello this is very nice project i like it and now i try to make it i read and make step by step. But
have a problem i upload 0.8c hex file on my arduino but with default settings how to change
settings like yors. I want to make like yours settings because i take printer and scener liker youra
model. Or if is possible to send me file will be great for me. Thanks in advance.

Hello this is verrt nice project i like it and now i try to make it i read and make step by step. But
have a problem i upload 0.8c hex file on my arduino but with default settings how to change
settings like yors. I want to make like yours settings because i take printer and scener liker youra
model. Or if is possible to send me file will be great for me. Thanks in advance.

what program you use to draw?

Ian, have you seen this?

http://www.banggood.com/300mW-Mini-DIY-Laser-Engraving-Machine-Picture-Logo-CNC-Laser-
Printer-p-958368.html

Also for 129$ I would not expect to have the laser glued with a hot gun to the sled.

yea mate I bought one of them its pretty limited as to what it will do, the unit dosent work at the
moment some thing stuffed up in the board some where and it hasnt done a lot of work as for the
hot glue well at least you can reglue it easy the base board has fallen off a couple of times but it
works

LOL I thought the same!

Woah 129$ including safety googles. My safety googles were already 60$. Anyhow looks nice and
once again proves that no one can beat chinese pri....wait they used my picture !
Should I know feel honored ? Actually all of their sample cut pictures are downloaded somewhere
from the internets. Doubt the T-Rex fits on the working surface.
Thanks Andrea !

Very good work .

Very good work .

Hi,

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 35

Having made a Groover-based laser engraver of my own, I like to see how others go about it too. I
really like how you have used the printer/scanner to increase your work area. Well done.
I thought I would add a few things I have found in playing with my engraver.
I use the LPC826 laser diode. I believe that was the LD that came in the DVD burner I hacked up.
After I zapped it by not treating it well, I bought some online. I have been driving them at about
380mA for a while. They seem to be quite happy there.
I found that when I thought my laser was best focussed with the smallest dot, I was wrong. I did
some tests where I would repeatedly try to cut a shape from foam and incrementally raise the laser
each time. The best cutting at the highest speeds was not where I thought it would be. I think that
although the laser 'dot' at that height was larger, the tiny center-point was better focussed.
Another thing I did was have a steel bed (like you). I drew up a grid in Inkscape the same size
(approx) as my work area and saved it as a template. I then covered my steel plate with white
masking tape and burned the template into the tape. Now I can position things accurately before
engraving or cutting. (To burn the template into the masking tape, I laid down a piece of black
paper for the laser to burn through, otherwise the white tape would not burn). I only burned small
crosses at the grid crossings. If you burn the grid lines you will get a whole heap of little black
paper squares that will move as you cut and stuff things up!
Also, you can set the grid as a separate layer to your designs in your Inkscape file, so when it
comes to converting to code, you first hide the grid layer.

Wow save $2000+ from buying the http://glowforge.com/ and build your own!

I see you cut Vinyl , Warning do not cut vinyl with any laser as it omits a toxic gas.

Yeah smelt pretty hazardous. Don't do this!

Me and my friend are planning on building this for a senior project and maybe building some for us
as well as long as we get the first one working. Would you be willing to videoconference or email
with us or something so we could talk about techniques? We would really appreciate it. I am a bit
rusty with pcb's but i have all the most common electrical components and a couple spare
arduinios laying around, and plenty of tools available. I have several areas i can check for the
stepper motors, and the other parts. Your instructable is fairly clear but i just want to make sure we
do this right the first time. It's hard to be the salvage king I am because my parents don't like
clutter. If the first one or two work we will be donating them to our school to work in tandem with
the 3d printers they have but then we also want to make our own, so hopefully we can get the first
to work. My phone is currently broken because my cousin ran it over in my 3/4 ton truck but i still
have skype, email, and a webcam with audio so whatever works for you! I live in NM currently.
Thanks!

Great work dude great project !!!

hi,thank you so so much for nice job.i make it and now i have a
problem.i can not Conversion my picture to g code .please give me a
softwar for Conversion any picture to g code and sending g code to my
Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 36
arduino.
please tell me how i can conversion text to g code with inkscap softwar

just wondering would this work on the uno r3 version of arduino as thats the one i have and also
different driver too i also have a laser driver my mechanical setup is almost the same as yours but
my electronics are all different will this make much of a difference in getting it to work
?

when I hit ratnest on eagle the entire image turns blue apart from the traces and then the holes
don't show up either. am I doing something wrong?

Can you provide a link to where you bought your laser driver? I'd really appreciate it.

Excuse me for my dumb question but why can't i just use a relay to power the laser?

This is by far the most comprehensive and best tutorial on the subject of laser cutters on
instructables!! Good on ya! I'm just learning about this and wow, am I glad I found this tutorial.

hi
what the type of laser can i use
i want to know if the laser removes the powder coated paint from the surface of the Zippo Lighter to
reveal the bare brass metal underneath.
like this video on youtube

//www.youtube.com/embed/-Zjwc1OIHZU

Hi
I managed to engrave a vanished metal sheet of an old PC case with my diode.
The result from that shown in the video may vary though.

thanks
can i see The result from a vanished metal sheet of an old PC case with your diode
ad image pleas

I don't understand how the laser diode can stay on for so long. Normally laser diodes die after 10
minutes if only cooling is simple heatsink.

i'm trying to make somethin some similar with my small desktop cnc, and this my first question ,
how do i adjust the lense , just an error and trial ?. i'm talking if there's a way to get an optimal
result on laser wood burning, i bugth a 1w 445nm blue laser
Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 37
Almost all of the motors I am reclaiming are 5 wire steppers. Is there a way to make those work for
this with the easy driver? Sorry but this is my first Arduino project.

Frankenstein Laser Engraver: Page 38