askjerry

That is what I call a PRO LEVEL Instructable!Great layout, nice images, incredible project... the whole thing is first class!

This project is AMAZING!VOTED! AWESOME!

First, I really like the way you used the collet nut for the reflector. I'm working on a project where i am having issues with reflections off a cylinder at the top of my router... this could solve those issues for me.Next... you may want to consider this sensor... pee-manufactured, and because of the angle, it has a clearly defined focal area. (There are many similar ones... this is just an example.)https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/tt-electronics-optek-technology/OPB703/365-1675-ND/1638026

One of the best toolbox designs i have seen... definitely the best laser-cut box.Nicely done!

That is a great build!Since you like the large dot format... you will probably also be interested in this... so you can make full color wall art. https://rasterbator.net/ Happy Printing!

Not much to say except... IT WAS AWESOME!--> VOTED ! ! !

Well... if you need any help with the configuration... or implementing a custom panel let me know and I'll help as much as I can.

You may wish to consider using a 500w spindle instead of the dremel tool. They are not really designed to run for long periods of time, and they don't hold a tight tolerance as they were designed to be hand-held. Amazon has some really nice units with a power supply for about $135 or so. (110 Euro)https://www.amazon.com/Spindle-Cooled-Milling-Converter-Engraving/dp/B01LNBOCDAYou also have the advantage that you can program a PWM output and filter it to an A/D signal to allow full speed control from G-Gode. And... they are at least 1/4 the noise levels as the dremel tools.

https://www.banggood.com/18-Inch-Shank-Single-Flute-End-Mill-Cutter-Tungsten-Steel-CNCPCB-Engraving-Bit-3_175x22mm-p-1038973.html

Routers... let me just explain it this way... ROUTER vs. SPINDLE The router is similar to the dremel tool... designed with active air cooling... which is noisy. In the video above that is a 2.2kW spindle... the 500W I recommended is fairly powerful for it's size. We have cut 1/4 inch (6mm) aluminum with it... with pretty good results. If you ever want more control and features than the controller you are using now... take a look at LinuxCNC which is free. I have a whole series about that on my YouTube channel. (Frankenlab and Monster Mill) Jerry

Also... try one of these as a cutting bit. Be careful... they are EXTREMELY sharp... they cut aluminum pretty well also. (Use air assist.)

I absolutely LOVE the way you created the glowing parts... the diffusion of the paper is perfect. Sad to say... I'm stealing that technique for one of my projects!(Grin)

Very nice build.I have built several CNC machines, and I have a playlist on YouTube called Frankenlab where I pass along things I've learned. For anyone interested in making their own machine, one thing to think about is to lay out your controllers, power supplies, etc onto a "drawer". I have a plate that can be pulled out for maintenance. This means I don't need to fuss too much for maintenance or to add new features.I seriously wish i had used this method on my Monster Mill as getting to some of the wiring now can be a pain. When I build my next machine... possibly based very closely on your design here... I'll be sure to make the electronics accessible like that.By the way... I VOTED for you... good luck! ~ Jerry

I was looking over your plans again and saw one thing that you may want to pay some attention to... probably fine... but worth noting. In some areas you have steel directly bolted to aluminum. The difference in metals may lead to galvanic corrosion... caused by different electrical characteristics.In short... if using different metals in contact with each other... an insulator should be used to prevent issues. If interested, ADDITIONAL READING.

Nice small scale machine!I think it's great that you built a machine that is portable and yet ridged enough to do tasks like PCB, etc. There are a couple of things you may want to consider as options however... instead of a Dremel or similar cutter, you may want to consider a 500w Spindle. They are MUCH more quiet, marginally more expensive, and depending on the model you get, can be speed controlled from software for more accurate and consistent results.I'll post one example found on Amazon... but there are several others. This one uses a potentiometer for speed adjustment... so no further software changes would be required on your part.https://www.amazon.com/110-220V-Cooling-Adjustable...The other possible change is the use of LunixCNC as your drive software... it supports many more G...

Nice small scale machine!I think it's great that you built a machine that is portable and yet ridged enough to do tasks like PCB, etc. There are a couple of things you may want to consider as options however... instead of a Dremel or similar cutter, you may want to consider a 500w Spindle. They are MUCH more quiet, marginally more expensive, and depending on the model you get, can be speed controlled from software for more accurate and consistent results.I'll post one example found on Amazon... but there are several others. This one uses a potentiometer for speed adjustment... so no further software changes would be required on your part.https://www.amazon.com/110-220V-Cooling-Adjustable...The other possible change is the use of LunixCNC as your drive software... it supports many more G-Code commands, is free, and is highly configurable to include custom function buttons, etc.If you are interested, I have an entire video series on that subject: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLa_L8q5vezB...Keep up the great work!Jerry

@davidj31 - Zinc can have bas side effects...https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-123/pdfs/0675.pd...Stainless steel is made with a higher carbon content and also contains chromium... therefore is more stable than regular mild steel. It is less likely to rust and remains shiny... therefore the nickname of "stainless" steel.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel

@davidj31 - Zinc can have bad side effects...https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-123/pdfs/0675.pd...Stainless steel is made with a higher carbon content and also contains chromium... therefore is more stable than regular mild steel. It is less likely to rust and remains shiny... therefore the nickname of "stainless" steel.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel

Clickable Links...Flighthttps://www.facebook.com/tara.holancinhart/videos/10214275566030003/Official Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dppeL1F9oA4Hint for others... type some text like ZIP LINE VIDEO then highlight that text... click on the link icon that pops up... and paste in your video link. Then you will have active links.

Honestly I don't recall. I went to Lowe's and looked for a heavy rubber hose. The one I found worked. It may not be the hose however... when I first put this together for Eve, she had a couple of hoses blow... the problem was that the hose made a tight bend after the pressure pot. The hose has to leave the valve as straight as possible.I actually took a piece of aluminum "L" stock and tie-wrapped it to the hose... this way it remained straight and made only a slight loop upward to the blasting area. That solved the issue.

It's called "ripstop" because every 5mm or so there is a thicker thread... it is used in parachutes... the thicker thread will stop the material from ripping. If you have a sewing machine, it is very easy to sew... one of my favorite cloth materials. (I sew) The colors are usually very vibrant too. More Information Here

For the work with the electric motor I salute you!I do however think that you should sew a new body from yellow rip-stop nylon or polyester material. It will be much more flexible, and reactive. The pattern would be pretty simple... just a rectangle with two edges sewn together... then turn it inside-out.I think tee-shirt material would be too heavy at this scale... but the ripstop would probably work well. If you make one like that... post it!

Sometimes you find an idea so simple that you wonder why you didn't think of it... this is one of those ideas!Outstanding!

Sand.I have used heated sand before... we had a metal container with about 1.25 inches (30mm) of sand in it... this was placed over a heat source to get the temperature up. The board is placed on the sand... wiggle it into it a bit... wear gloves... and use a pair of needle-nose to start pulling parts.Obviously... don't take a chance with the fumes... we did it outside.Once on the heated sand, the components will loosen quickly and may be pulled loose. If it is a large board... you may not want to leave it in there a long time. We were generally only harvesting a few parts. I'm passing this idea along because I thought you might find it useful.

A couple of options... print the tube running to the top with two chambers... one for fluid... one for the wires. The wire chamber doesn't need to be large... you can use 30ga for the LEDs.Or insert a smaller tube inside the larger tube... increase the larger tube by 1mm... brass or stainless tube inside.The other method... just string three 30ga up the glass at 120 degrees offset... it's so thin my would barely notice it... especially if the parts were printed in dark plastic.

My only suggestion... relocate the LED ring to the top... other than that...FANTASTIC JOB!

Yup... they came right up on AMAZON.

From Amazon

goo.gl/XWACOa

Very nice build!I like the way you handled the steering in your design, clever and a very clean solution.

That is a really nice build!I was wondering if you printed a new cover that directed the air from the center plenum outward to each laser... and had a 10mm hole for each... printed slightly conically inside... if that would cause the air to exit at a very slightly higher pressure... and be more coherent. If it worked... the fog would stay together longer enhancing the effect more. Just a thought... all theory... but the only modification would be a new cover plate. Might be worth experimenting with?

Using hard drive platters... wow... that's impressive. When I saw the first picture I thought you were going to say old CDs... that's pretty inginus my friend!

Nice design... great job!

Look closely an you will see TWO regulators... the pot is set about 35-40 PSI, and the footswitch is set about 60 PSI... about 20 PSI higher... just don't go over the rated pressure for the bladder... you know... don't run it at 100 PSI for example.

Yes... the pressure settings are too close. the footswitch needs about 20psi more than the pressure pot. It needs to be able to really smash the pinch valve closed quickly... and likewise, it needs to be able to release quickly. When you let go of the footswitch, the air must be able to leave the bladder compartment to the atmosphere unencumbered.

I was VERY EXCITED to see this Instructable... After experimenting with an ESP8862-201 module, I was able to get a single LED to turn on or off... and I wanted to be able to pass more than just "ON/OFF" to the device... to be able to specify a few things. I just downloaded your code and I'm hopeful that I can get it to where it has a series of CASE routines... if so... then I can do even more complex things. (Trigger robot sequences, etc.)If I do manage to build off your code... I will DEFINITELY make sure to credit you with the core code. Up until now... this was as far as I got.Simple ON/OFF project video.Thanks,Jerry

If you look at the setup the way I have it... there is a main valve that supplies air to the entire system, then one for the pressure pot, and one for the footswitch/pinch valve.the reason is that you shut off the main air supply... and if you did nothing else... the system would bleed down and equalize... then all the air... and grit would shoot out the hose.The way i designed it... you go like this...1) System air2) Pinch Valve3) Pressure potThat way the pot isn't pressurized until the pinch valve is ready.Shutting down...1) Pressure pot... allow it to bleed down slightly bleed valve open if you have one. (Both pots are connected in my system... so I crack the second open and air bleeds out there.2) Pinch valve3) Main pressure valveHope that helps.

That is awesome! When I had to design and build this... I thought to myself that someday... someone else is gonna want to do it... and that I may as well post the details and try to help them.So I'm really glad I was able to help!

Very nicely done! I like the way the cables interact with the light and the transparent epoxy... great visual!One small suggestion... if you do that again... typical cables have a cord in them... grab it with a pair of pliers and pull... it will zip the insulation off in no time... then cut to length. (Save yourself some time.)

First the conversion... 2.2kW is just under 3HP. WATT to HP GOOGLE CONVERSION If you look at my Frankenlabs series, I'm using a 500W spindle. It depends on how aggressive you want to cut... the 2.2KW are very powerful. And the prices have really come down. Yours looks about the same as a 1.5Kw or 2 HP spindle. I saw some 1.5KW water cooled for about $220. including the drive electronics. You send out PWM and get full speed control from LinuxCNC or Mach. The 500W that I'm using cost me about $150 including all the electronics... and it's air cooled. (Much more quiet than a router.) Check out my video of it in action... Remember... if you need help usually (unless I'm traveling for work) I can set up a Skype or Google hangouts to assist you. Good Luck!

Very nice job... and the enclosure holds much of the mess as well. I will point out one thing you may be interested in however... at some point you may want to switch to a spindle instead of the router. I have a short video to show the difference... I'm showing a water cooled version... but the air cooled are just as quiet. They use the holding fixture as a heat sink. Is there really a big difference in sound? SPINDLE VS. ROUTERI think so.Jerry

diverdale: I'm actually thinking of getting this one... 12 watts.12 W LASER

I am surprised you didn't mount the LED panel to the back of the frame to help protect the LEDs. This would also allow you to place a frosted sheet of acrylic to the front to help diffuse the light if needed, or to add color gels for different effects.Flicker: I saw the flicker at the 56 second point that was described below... it may have been caused by the panel, or by other light sources as it was not apparent in the video comparison. Installing a large capacitor across the output would help smooth the power out a bit more if needed.Overall... given the very low cost of this project... I think he did an outstanding job.

Tip: You can click the little marker on your comment and select "EDIT" if you make a mistake.

OMG! Someone else knows about Letraset... today's "kids" will never know... HOURS to lay out a board... trying not to get the little cracks which meant you had to flow solder over them... Did you know that you can STILL GET them?

EXCELLENT INSTRUCTABLE !I've made circuit board for years... but have not done the solder mask or tinning... I didn't know you could get a solution to coat the copper like that... excellent tips!Thank you!Jerry

I have a suggestion... before attaching the legs to the project, cut two identical lengths of black heat-shrink tubing and slide over the lower parts of the lamp. Heat to shrink, then install the legs. This will give a clean black to silver transition to the project, and help to hide the wires leading into the lamp.An alternate idea... which would perhaps look better, would be to fabricate legs from a nice hardwood stained a dark color. The leg on the side of the electrical connections could be routed to conceal the wires and contain the power switch. It could be held on with small wood screws and would facilitate easy repairs if needed in the future.

Nice idea... looks great in a shop!

That is pretty neat... and with as much CNC as I do... i never would have thought of mounting an assembly to my saw... until now. Very impressive!

One reason would be the material used... some filament is flexible like rubber... it would never take a tap. You may still want to secure it tight, to make a seal or something. This way you could install nuts at regular intervals, and without the possibility of loosing them. Possibly in a hostile environment, to protect them from rusting for example. It also opened the door for other things, like embedding a circuit board, an LED, a switch, a magnet for sensing, etc. I could see this method being very useful.

It sounds like you have an incorrect serial port referenced... so it is attempting to send the commands, but not to the correct location. If you are using BASCOM, then try looking for information on the BASCOM forum.http://www.mcselec.com/index2.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=59

Yup... drip only... the PVC is not pressurized, with holes drilled in it at regular intervals... strings carry the water to the ground. I don't live there anymore... but it has been in continuous use since about 2001 or so. (I think that's when I built it... LONG time ago,)

Perfect timing... I need to get my car inspected this week... so tomorow... off to the auromotive store.

You may want to look at the Tiny-26 processor which has 4K of memory. I have been using BASCOM for decades as my compiler of choice... I have an instructable on that as well. MY BASCOM INSTRUCTABLE (The demo / free version goes to 4K) If you are not limited to 4K of memory, try the Mega-328 chip which has 32K of memory. Have fun... it is very interesting to work with microprocessors!Jerry

You may want to look at the Tiny-26 processor which has 4K of memory. I have been using BASCOM for decades as my compiler of choice... I have an instructable on that as well. MY BASCOM INSTRUCTABLE (The demo / free version goes to 4K) If you are not limited to 4K of memory, try the Mega-328 chip which has 32K of memory. Have fun... it is very interesting to work with microprocessors!Jerry

Ok... I'm an electronic tech (CET), I've been doing computer in one form or another since 1978, and I'm a bit of an all-around geek. Never heard of a switch tester before today. Seriously. So I researched... and found out they were for testing the feel of the Cherry MX type switches... I saw a whole bunch of different colors and thought, "What's up with that?"So... I finally found out about the differences: CHERRY MX SWITCH TYPES.Now I got it... and I've learned something for when I go looking for switches in projects... so thanks for that! Overall... great instructable! I like the ability to hit one key and have it type some text. Could be useful for other things like frequently typed commands, logon names, or similar things.

This is probably the most professional Instructable I have ever seen. Your photography is excellent, the text is well thought out, and everything is very well organized. The project its-self is great too. Outstanding job overall!

Hypertufa is a great material to work with... you can be very creative in your design.

Sandblasting works very nicely for rock and/or concrete. My wife has done sandblasting in different materials... and it comes out very nice. While the masking material is still in place, spray paint a contrasting color into the marks. When the masking is removed, it comes out very nice. Likely there are places that do sandblasting nearby and it should not be overly expensive.