Hello From Staunton Virginia USA (Staunton Makerspace)

[Josh Lotts]

Hello everyone,
I started my laser ventures a little over 5 years ago. I joined my local makerspace here in Staunton Virginia because of 3D printers.
At the time there was about 7 members and they only had two 3D printers, a couple laptops, tables and chairs.
Being part of the founding membership I was able to convince them we needed a laser. None of us had any experience with lasers what so ever, so we began a long road of searching for an affordable machine. Being a Makerspace, one of the members figured we should look into the opensource scene and check out their "lasersaur" group on google groups. At the time it seemed like a good idea to just purchase one from a guy that had already built one. He was moving to another country and couldn't take the machine, so we bought the unit and drove states away to pick it up. So it began...

Once we got it home and finally figured out how to run the thing, it didn't take long to start seeing the short comings of the unit and it's dead in the water opensource board. Fast forward a couple years later we had a total-loss fire that gutted our shop and smoked most of the laser.
At first we where devastated and nearly closed the doors permanently. But once the initial shock and grief subsided, the maker community decided to rebuild everything from scratch and repair all the machines one by one. This took a solid year.
Luckily the extrusion and most of the internal components of the lasersaur survived and was mostly repairable outside of the main PSU and 100watt RECI tube that was shattered by the fire department when they had to hose the place down.
Realizing we had the opportunity to rebuild everything, I thought this was the perfect time for me to rethink the design flaws and take advantage of having it torn down for repairs.
The Irony of the great loss from the fire was that it had brought a lot press to the makerspace and local community that ultimately donated funding while simultaneously bringing a boat load of new members with it.
Fast forward another year and the only things that remains "lasersaur" about the machine is most of the original extrusion framing.
Now with over 80 members we decided it was time to become a 501C3 (Non-profit) organization for legal reasons and thus the idea of dividing up our niche groups into self managed guilds. Being the member with the most time and interest in the machine I was appointed head of said "laser guild".

Now that I had the appointed power of the our funds regarding the laser guild, I immediately increased the case dimensions by building extension frames to the rear and side and installed a lightobject 1200x900mm outer rail gantry to replace the rickety old 4040 roller rail setup.
From there I installed a 100 watt SPT tube, 3 phase nema 23 steppers/drivers and powered them with a 48v PSU. Then I installed a LO 150 watt PSU and LightObject T9 DSP Controller. At last! A machine that runs reliably and very accurately!

With all of that out of the way, I am currently building my own machine at home.
This time I am building the entire thing from the bottom up the way I would have the first time if I'd have known what I do now.
I am setting it up with a 1300x900 inner rail gantry, that will be modified with PBC RR30 Redi-Rails, clearpath servos, 75v PSU/servo drivers, steal reinforced belts, 3:1 reductions and a Ruida 6445G controller DSP. I will post up when I start building this unit

[Gene Uselman]

Welcome Josh- quite a story you have there. You have had a very real self-education and I believe that is the best way to learn and retain what you have learned. We have a subforum for self built lasers and it is getting to be very popular, it would be great if you would document your build. I have experience with a 900x1300 laser that I converted with a LightObject controller four years ago and dearly love [altho I can only access it on weekends now with the shelter in place adventure we are in now]. Let us share our experiences and we will all be better off. Gene