Hello From Cleveland!

[Jim Hehnen]

Greetings!

I'm in the Cleveland area, and nearly finished with my initial setup and mods of an OMTech 700 x 500.

I rehabbed a used K40 in 2011, had a lot of fun with it, and outgrew it. I started working with diode lasers last summer, and designed and built a machine that performs well, but is, as you might expect, slow.

I'm almost finished shoehorning a Reci W1 into the OMTech, and will be aligning soon.

I added two regulators and gauges, along with two solenoid valves. Low pressure air assist is activated by the "Staus" output on the controller, and has an adjustable timer relay, so it starts when the job starts, and stays on for several seconds after the job finishes. High pressure air assist is tied to "Aux Air" as is traditional. The exhaust fan and chiller power up with the laser, and each have timers to keep them running for an interval after the switch is turned off. I replaced the back panel outlets and rewired it, aiming for automation wherever practical.

So far, it has been a really fun project, and I'm looking forward to using it as well as finishing up a couple other mods I have in mind.

[Pete Cyr]

Welcome Jim. You seem to have a good Handel on your build. Be sure to back up your vendor settings.