Laser cutter, start slicing stuff for under 50 dollars

There are many out there that are making things to win a laser cutter. Here is a project for those 500 that don't win, but still want a laser cutter for simple stencil cutting needs.

This project was conceived during a chat with Alex where we wished we had a laser cutter and thought we could make one out of an etchasketch. Alex, this instructable is for you. Keep on inspiring me.

--Update: Samuel just built one of these things! He did a much better job t han I did ; P I can't wait for video!--

Here's a video showing the basic setup:

This project demonstrates a simple hack to create a large format laser cutter utilizing all the scrap electronics you may have lying around. If you have a broken scanner or two, the cost can be just about 30 dollars for the entire project.

Step 1 Get your supplies

I say that this costs < 50 dollars. And it does, you can even get it cheaper if you have a broken scanner.

Here's the list:
1x Laser diodes Ebay Store $36 dollars for 2
2x Old Scanners Salvation Army $10 Dollars each
2x ULN2003 Electronic Connection $5
1x Prototyping board RadioSchack $2
2x 3/8" Aluminum Rod Home Depot $3 each
1x 3/8" Aluminum Tube Home Depot $3
10x Brass Brackets Home Depot $1
1x 2" cube of wood Home Depot $1
A bushel of Patience

Here is a video showing all the supplies you'll need including the tools:

Comments

[sarveshk]

Aah! I dont have LPT port on my new PC, my older PC had that. I have an USB to LPT converter but it did never run.

Any other option?

[CoolKoon]

What a USB to LPT converter gives you is a LPT "tunnel" through USB: it'll end in an LPT port and on the computer it'll act like an LPT port, but all of its data travels through USB. Therefore you have to make sure you have the appropriate drivers installed for the converter and then select the appropriate LPT port (the one which belongs to the converter, although with no other LPT connectivity in view, it should be easy).

[eronjonson]

I have some projects that require acrylic pieces of various shapes that would be very difficult to cut with a coping saw or a jig saw, and was wondering if i could use this design to build a laser cutter that is capable of cutting i think 3/16th inch acrylic sheets. i have already found a nice free canon scanner, and am looking for another, but if this may not work, i will not continue.

Thank you for your time, Eron.

[CoolKoon]

AFAIK the reason you need the scanners for is to scavenge its stepper motors and the pulley it's fastened to. You need 2 scanners due to the fact that you need to be able to move the laser in 2 directions (x and y obviously), since scanners only need one.
Also, cutting acrylic with laser can be tricky because it's transparent and hence probably won't absorb the laser's energy as well as a black sheet of paper would (it's no surprise that he used black paper as a stencil, after all black absorbs the most light). This means that you might need a stronger laser or adjust the whole setup to account for the considerably longer cutting times. That's just 2 cents though.

[leemon69]

I want to play around free handed with aluminum like pop cans cutting them and aluminum sheeting for little crafts.Can someone explain to me how to hook it up so I can free hand laser cut?

[hannson]

This instructable inspired me a little.

Imagine you'd want to create laser-cut plastic stencils for surface mounted PCBs, you're not willing to buy them at $25 each and your room is lacking the floor space required for this otherwise elegant solution.

Would it be possible to create a laser cutting "printer" by converting a B/W inkjet printer by replacing the cartridge with a laser-diode - possibly a blue one?

That way you'd get the X and Y axes from the printer, plus the motors that are obviously precise enough for regular printing so you'd only need to mount the laser and most likely replace the circuits from the printer.

Am I on to something or am I on a wild goose chase?

ps. I'm talking about the thin transparent plastic sheets commonly used for projection on a wall.

[wwaggoner]

You make an interesting point...have you gotten any feedback on that?

Wes

[alex-sharetskiy]

Why use a blue diode?

those just 'look cool' and cost alot


get a high-powered red diode, it's cheaper

[Sir Colton]

 Blue cuts a wider range of colors

[TheBestJohn]

blue doesn't just "look cool" blue lasers are at around 400nm in wavelength meaning a lower mW laser could cut more effectively than it's red counterpart. As far as expense goes... 20$ for one powerful enough to light a cigar. plus they look cool.

[boson research]

In picking the color of the laser, coolness is a side issue. As to which cuts better, you have to ask yourself, what color does your target absorb? If you think of a color wheel, you'll be on the right track. An object which looks blue (when you shine white light on it) is absorbing the orange and red part of the spectrum. An object which looks green is absorbing the red part. Something that looks white isn't absorbing visible light much, mostly just scattering it, and if it looks black (or brown), it absorbs most of the visible spectrum. This works until you get into much more exotic stuff light multi-photon absorption, but you don't want the grad-school optics lecture here. You can cut stuff that's clear (like plastic film) nicely using an infrared laser , such as the ones in DVD burners at 785 nm (but be careful, just cause it's invisible or you can barely see it doesn't mean it can't hurt you.)
The same logic goes with laser safety glasses--you have to pick the ones which block the color laser you're using (but then, you can't see the laser either, be prepared for that!). Remember, it this thing can cut even paper, it can hurt your eyes. We use webcams to look at our laser hitting things in my lab, they're cheap and don't get hurt.

[NastySpill]

Thats a great idea.. I have seen a guy who is doing that and is cutting foam sheet. I cannot for the life of me find it right now.. but it can be done.

[Splortched]

I would make one of these if you can do that.

[matroska]

lol, read my first comment, then PM if you're interested, I'll try to find out my "plans" and communicate with you for further project rendering.

[matroska]

That's exactly what I wanted to do. Let's just hope the printer motors will have enough torque. I tough of hooking up the laser power supply to the ink 'trigger', which means, instead of sending ink onto paper, the laser will be triggered. Thus, the surface, burned/etched/cut. I would suggest a potentiometer at the laser supply to adjust laser power. You could then just print a B&W image, where the black parts would be where to be etched/burned/cut. Sounds good to me, I made rough plans based on my inkjet printer here.

[eggplanthunter]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Have you gotten anywhere on that ink trigger? I'm also trying to figure out how to activate the diode when it "prints"

A problem I see is that every time the diode and the driver circuit turns off, the capacitor should/needs to be shorted out to protect the diode. Is there a way we can hook it up to the potentiometer so that when it triggers, it switches from low output visible to full 100-200mw. Thinking about this driver. Any thoughts?

[hintss]

2 problems:

how do you keep small bits from getting stuck in mechanisms instead of coming out

and

how will you protect the other parts of the printer from the rest of the laser that shines through

[zajactom]

"how do you keep small bits from getting stuck in mechanisms instead of coming out"

how about adding something that will blow the small parts and push into desired direction and be sucked by sort of small vacuum?
just an idea ;-)

[eggplanthunter]

well, 2nd problem first:
If you use an "ink" trigger, you don't really need to worry as it will only turn the laser on when "ink" would be applied, or, in this case, laser cuts made.  It shouldnt be on long enough to put a hole through plastic.

For the first question, hope and prayer?

[matroska]

Agrees with the first problem's solution lol. Just hope for me.

Or, you try it first. If it doesn't go through the printer correctly, well it won't while lasering.

[rumplesnitz]

You have to build an enclosure, and use a shop vac to create suction to pull the waste away from the cutter.  instead of a solid plastic sheet to place the paper on perhaps some kind of metal screen should be used to allow small waste to fall through and withstand the heat of the laser.

[matroska]

 Why, you are right. Plus I could use some steel sheet painted black, with a "hi-heat" paint (like the ones for high temperature parts in cars, like brakes and some engine parts). The black is to actually absorb the heat, cauz if I used some metal finish, it would actually reflect the beam and it might damage something else. 


Screw what I just said. ceramic. non polished finish. Heat cannot kill it.

[bigjeff5]

Or you could glue/tape on a sheet the laser can't cut through. The actual material you use would depend on the kind of laser you use and how powerful it is, but the principle idea would be like using a piece of black paper with the edges glued onto a piece of white paper. The laser cuts the black paper, but not the white paper. The pieces from the black paper are trapped between the black and white pieces of paper, so nothing ends up in your printer. When it comes out just cut off the areas you glued and you have a nice clean stencil and a nice clean printer. Sometimes the low-tech solution is the best solution. :) Also, for a cutting laser you can just use the laser from a DVD-R/RW drive - these are very powerful Class 2 lasers that are quite capable of cutting thin materials, especially black colored material. They should also go right through any clear plastic, so you can just use a transparency as your backing material.

[hintss]

use spray adhesive to connect the 2 papers...though, it may spontaneously combust :P

[ownerbuilderarchitect]

I work with lasers as a programmer. About your eyes.

1.) read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety
2.) Get the model number of the laser then contact the manufacture for a data sheet that tells the light spectrum in use by that laser.
3.) Get laser safety glasses for that spectrum.
4.) Even with the glasses don't look directly at the source.
5.) If possible, make a light tight box with a door. Watch your laser work with a camera, even a cheep usb low res camera will be able to tell if your laser is on and hitting the mark.
6.) Put a disconnect switch on the door that cuts power to the laser when opened.
7.) Any questions? [e-mail]

[torey91]

I'm in the process of doing this for a class project, but the links to Modatti don't, work, can anyone assist me in finding something that works, or finding what the original poster wrote. Thank you

[dlemke]

As an addition to my comment about the class 2 lasers, I have three of them and one could be had just for helping me out with someone that knows what they are doing. I think these are too dangerous for the casual tinkerer.

Dan

[dlemke]

I have been taking class 1 lasers out of old CD drives, and thought I had something when I found that I had taken apart a re-writable CD drive. That is, until I found some hand held laser scanners from a store checkout system I got when I picked up all the GX1 Dells for free. I took apart the handheld scanner and it has a class 2 laser in it, but I don't really know what to do with them. They are powered through the ethernet connector on the bottom of the handle, so I would assume, it would be easy to power up, and I have all the parts to make it work, I just don't want my ignorance, to cheat me out of my eyesight, etc....

If you have any ideas that these could be used for, or have any links to information on this type of laser, I would appreciate any info. The lasers appear to work with a reflective piece of mylar type sheet, that must move to scatter the laser towards the UPC codes, as the screen is fairly wide, and not pin-point like you would expect. Any help could be forwarded to me at [e-mail]

Dan

[Pizzapie500]

I bought 10 of those chips. I'm not sure if they're the right ones because they seem smaller than the one in your video. Printed on top of it says: 07ARQLKG4 ULN2003A

Here's the best picture that I can take with my camera and it compared to a Quarter:

[UberNoober]

Looks like you got surface mount IC's. They work the same way as their larger cousins, but are infinitely harder to use without special tools and experience. If you ordered online from a place like Digikey, it's an easy mistake to make. You need to get DIP chips, and probably some sockets for them to make replacing or swapping them easier.

[bears0]

i got a temperature sensor like that before, i wish i could find it. maybe i could hook it up to my arduino. (i think i lost it because its soooo small. lol)

[Pizzapie500]

Thanks, and yeah you're right. Luckily my dad soldered wires to them so I can use it. I should've bought the DIPs

[Madgophers]

What is the exact laser diode used?

[UQONYX]

You should be able to create classes in the files for different types of materials that will also control the speed of the cutter. That way you can have an even cut on the material. You should also focus several dvd or bluray diods at a central ppoint or even get a burning laser diode(link)----------> (http://shop.ebay.com/items/?_nkw=200mw+laser+diode+650nm+Kip+Kay+project+suitable&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=&clk_rvr_id=249109212700&satitle=200mw+laser+diode+650nm+Kip+Kay+project+suitable) and magnify it with lenses. Either way, its an awesome project and it looks real cool.

[tinker234]

is this powerfull enough http://cgi.ebay.com/2-Watt-808nm-Infrared-Laser-Module-Industrial-Cutting-/170658981835?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bc1167cb#ht_2779wt_906

[tinker234]

wonder if i got a more powerfull laser and motors if i could make 3-d objects out of tougher marteils

[BigTW]

FRKN SWEET

[morriganfaye]

lol your cute. This was funny helpful and money saving I was curious if there are any lasers that could be powered by this to cut white

[bwang]

1W of 445 nm *might* do it, but those have awful beam quality (=larger spot size and less accurate cut), being multimode diodes and all that.
Serious cutters use multiple WATTS of CO2 laser (anywhere from 10 to >5000).
You can purchase a sketchy Chinese 40W CO2 tube for ~$100 + $100 shipping, a mirror set for the resonator for ~$80, and an NST to power it all with for ~$50. You'll also need at least one ZnSe lens and some CO2 wavelength coated mirrors (~$100 together). All in all, it'll set you back about $400...

[mpandersen]

God Bless Our Throw Away Society !!! This is a wonderful hack ! I was wondering if I could use optical isolators to protect my PC from transient voltage spikes ? If so, what would you recommend ? I was planning on etching PCBs. [I'm tired of using the resist pen, that and I'm no draftsman ...]