What was your first mod?

[Bryan Boyd]

I just got got my 50W blue & white machine about a week ago and am on Russ' video ~95. My machine has some differences compared to his (black mirror holders & head, no power Z) but I'm interested in a lot of the upgrades I have seen him do thus far.

Ive been happy to find that my mirrors were pretty well aligned by the OEM and I havent had any issues so far, other than a faulty water switch. I'm mostly interested in engraving and cutting thin material (I also have a cnc router) so I'm looking for consistency and reliability. I've also ordered a power meter to help quantify mirror & lens loss and to ensure machine repeatability.

What I'm thinking about is eventually:
-Adding needle valve to air assist line.
-Replacing existing tube holders with an adjustable version
-Upgrading laser tube to true 50W. Russ really liked his new tube compared to the original, but he was also overdriving it in the beginning. Do some of the more quality tubes provide better engraving consistency?
-Upgrading mirrors (copper?) and lenses
-Power supply, motorized Z table, etc etc

What have you guys done that was worth your time & money and what was a waste? I'm happy spending the next month or so using the stock machine, but I eventually want it to become something I can count on as a small business money maker.

Bryan

[Pete Cyr]

I added more light so I could see more clearly...and did need a flashlight in corners

[Bryan Boyd]

Oh yeah! I also want to add some LED strips inside of mine, good call. These cheap and non-destructive items are where I will start to get my whistle wet.

[Hank Morgan]

You got a mA meter in series with that tube yet?

That was my first upgrade. Before I even powered up the machine.

[Doug Fisher]

+1 on the mA meter, then Russ' Dohickey.

[Jeffrey Aley]

0. Table for the laser to sit on. I built it before the laser arrived.
1. Fire extinguisher & water spray bottle.
2. Power strip (I've talked about this before, so I won't re-hash).
[granted the above are not actual "mods".]
3. A "zero corner" so I can align materials to the exact same place every time, and align them squarely to the laser. Just two strips of acrylic bolted to the bed at 0,0.
4. A pin bed (steel plate, neodymium magnets, and deck screws. See also Pepsi's "Punker's Bed"). The pin bed also has a "zero corner". Technically not a mod, since it just sits in the laser.

[Bryan Boyd]

Great suggestions!!

I do have an ammeter but I wanted to make sure the machine worked before cutting any wires. What do you guys think about the gauge of wire that will be spliced in? The black wire coming from the tube doesn't specify and I can only find 450/750V but it is pretty thick (at least wire + insulation). I understand it should only need to carry low current, but I only have 22AWG solid core with thin insulation laying around. Does this wire need thick insulation like what appears to be installed or is the voltage low enough where it doesnt matter?

@Jeffrey great tips! Ive been thinking about some of these too now that I've used it some. I had a piece 12"x18" of steel sheet I put over my Al bed and made a pin table with acrylic and 3mm steel pins. I wish I would have bought a 3mm reamer instead of using a screw due to the pins being a little loose but it works for now. I do need to make a zero corner so I'll be looking at how I want to do that soon.

[Jeffrey Aley]

I do need to make a zero corner so I'll be looking at how I want to do that soon.

First ensure your laser is square. You can either use the laser to scribe a right angle on a large piece of scrap material (and then measure the angle with a roofing square), or you can cut a large sheet of paper and see what happens when you fold it in half.

Also ensure your laser beam is vertical (Z axis is square to the bed).

Once you're convinced the laser is square, use the laser itself to cut the zero corner. Mount the material to the bed and fasten it down. Then have the laser cut off the excess. This results in a corner that is exactly aligned to the laser.

[Bryan Boyd]

First ensure your laser is square. You can either use the laser to scribe a right angle on a large piece of scrap material (and then measure the angle with a roofing square), or you can cut a large sheet of paper and see what happens when you fold it in half.

Also ensure your laser beam is vertical (Z axis is square to the bed).

Once you're convinced the laser is square, use the laser itself to cut the zero corner. Mount the material to the bed and fasten it down. Then have the laser cut off the excess. This results in a corner that is exactly aligned to the laser.

I like the squareness check so I'll be doing that soon too - thanks for sharing. I also want to calibrate the steps/mm soon but it's on "the list".

I did the "machine square" corner on my cnc router where it was easy to cut the material away and into the wasteboard. For the laser.. do you just lase down to the aluminum/steel bed? I guess it shouldn't matter if it's just a small amount of material so maybe I'm over thinking it.


I've also been interested in modding my air assist like Russ did to reduce smoke during engraving & not have to apply masking tape. I plan to do a lot of repeated logo engraving and I could save some time if I didn't have to tape every piece.

It does seem like he changed the original drawing (shown in the video) to add a few things, one of them is an extra T connector in series with the "low-flow" line. I'm pretty sure one-touch fittings still exhale air without a poly-line installed, so is this just to vent the air better and prevent the compressor from stalling? I know that was a concern in the video, but I haven't seen him discuss the Mk2 design in a video/text yet.


Excuse the photobucket water marks (if you can)... Haven't used them in a while and looks like they want to mark everything now. I'll try something else soon.

[Gene Uselman]

What Russ added was to shut his air pump off when it was 'deadheaded' as he was concerned about it running with no air flow. I use a shop air compressor with a tank so have never worried about it. My daughter's laser has been going for 2-3 years without that mod with no problems. Russ sometimes over thinks things I believe. That schematic looks like the one with Cloudray's UAA kit that was set up with Russ' help I think.