Auto Leveling Laser Cross

So this Lazy Old Geek purchased a Laser Cross. I created a manual leveling Laser Cross to use for aligning stuff on my drill press:
http://www.instructables.com/id/ManualLevelingLaserCross/

Well, being a Geek I decided to make an automated platform that adjusts automatically with an Arduino.

Well, the picture may look a little scary but I’ll break it down into little bitty parts.

Step 1 Parts Lists

Parts List Laser Assembly
650nm <5mW Laser Cross Module Diode $4.85 ebay
The laser diode in the module is an HLM1230

I made my laser current source using this:
http://www.rog8811.com/laserdriver.htm

Parts List Laser Current Source
LM317 regulator $0.24 TaydaElectronics.com
100 Ohm potentiometer $0.21 TaydaElectronics.com
1N4001 diode $0.01 TaydaElectronics.com
10uFd 50V capacitor $0.03 TaydaElectronics.com
47 Ohm resistor $0.01 TaydaElectronics.com
            (used instead of the two 10 Ohm resistors)
PCB I used a hunk of the following:
            5* Breadboard Bread Board Prototype 432 Points 5*7cm
            $1.39 ebay
Did not use a pushbutton

Parts List Tripod Mount
6 x AA battery holder with 2.1mm plug AdaFruit.com $5.00
            http://www.adafruit.com/products/248
1 used plastic cutting board
1 discarded music CD player mechanical assembly
1/4 x 20 nut
Miscellaneous 6-32 and 10-32 hardware
2 Mitsumi M35SP9 stepper motors salvaged from old printers. These are unipolar stepper motors. If you have or get different stepper motors, you may have to design your own interfacing and modify the software accordingly.
1” 7/16” vinyl tubing
Hot shoe bubble level $0.99 ebay.com Hot shoe is a camera term.

Parts List Arduino-clone
L.O.G. $10 Arduino (modified)
http://www.instructables.com/id/LOG-10-Arduino/
1 ULN2003 Darlington driver $0.20@ TaydaElectronics.com
2 BS170 FETS $0.26@ TaydaElectronics.com
1 Dip switch 4 position piano $0.34@ TaydaElectronics.com
1 FreeScale MMA7361 Module inclinometer accelerometer. I got my in an ebay auction for $9 but they’re available for $10-$14 from ebay.
PCB I used another hunk of the following:
            5* Breadboard Bread Board Prototype 432 Points 5*7cm
            $1.39 ebay.com
Totally cost is less than $30, most for Arduino-clone and battery box.
I am not going to go into the details of making the Laser drive current source as it is explained in the above website.

The HLM1230 is designed for 25mA or less. This is how I determined the 47 Ohm resistor value. (See picture) I added a 2.1mm power plug from my scrap pile.

Comments

[red 20]

dude your a genius

[msuzuki777]

Thanks,

[Ralphxyz]

Great project, thank you, but how does this apparatus help you aline stuff on your drill press?

Seems like it needs to be turned 90Ú to aline with a drill press table.

It looks like you are projecting against a wall.

Ralph

[msuzuki777]

Yes, for the picture, I am projecting it against a door. It shows up better.
Since I built the automated version, I haven't actually used it with my drill press. I did use the manual version to line up some PVC I was drilling.

LOG

[sgiambruno]

Cool. Lots of technology and and know-how all coming together in a rather complex project. You gave me a good idea on how to make good mechanical use out of stepper motors (rotary motion into linear motion via the screw and nut).

Hope you can tweak this project to make it reliable and work for you . . .

Thanks for sharing.

[msuzuki777]

Thanks,

Actually, I got the concept from a lot of the DIY CNC Instructables. Most of them use steppers with a threaded shaft.

LOG