Why i Built This Laser Engraver: 

The reason why i built this laser engraver is that normal laser cutters are often very expensive and hard to use.  One day I was setting in college Lab an idea comes to my mind that why not to make my own Lasser Engraver? I have decided to Start planning for a new Laser Engraver.  In the beginning, everything was difficult especially the Design Part. I faced many hurdles in both software and hardware level but I never quit my Research and later i found a solution and built my own Laser Engraver. This project is not a Rocket Science, i have explained everything in a simple way so everyone can build their own one. 

Technical introduction:

This Laser engraver is an Arduino based project. That means it is an open source Project and it is easy and cheap so you can build your own one. The total costs are amounted to about 100 dollars. The time required is about 30 hours. In the end, you will then have a fully functional 2-axis control. The laser used is inexpensive and can even process many different materials. These materials are paper, wood, and plastic. With the right setting, you can even cut through thin materials.

Required tools:

• side cutter
• soldering iron
• soldering iron
• drilling machine

Required Software

• X Loader v 1.00
• AB viewer 12
• GBRL Controller

Step 1: Cut the Profile Rail into the Right Length

To create the right size of the laser engraver you have to cut the profile rail into your preferred size. Personally, i didn’t want to make a big laser engraver so i decided to make it 25*25*25cm big. So you have to cut 12 25cm parts and 4 10cm parts fort he stabilization.

Profile Rail Cutter:

Step 2: Screw together the parts

First of all you have to make a threading into all oft he parts. After that you can screw them together to a cube.

Step 3: Fix the cube on a Wooden Plate

For a perfect balance oft he end product you have to make a wooden plate where you can fix the cube. For me personally, i took a 35*35cm with a thickening of a 1cm wooden plate from the shop. On the wooden plate, you can make some marking where you can drill the holes. The holes should be around 4mm wide.

Step 4: Attach the Stepper Motors:

On the stepper motor, you can now screw the toothed belt disk. After that, you can screw the stepper motor on profile rail. You can do the positioning by yourself.

Step 5: The switch box

Now we come to the heart of the laser engraver, the switch box. In the switch box, you can put the Arduino UNO and the Arduino shield v3.

Step 6: Circuit Diagram

To get the Arduino alive you have to do it just like the circuit diagram: 

• First Stepper Motor is Connected With X Axis 
• Second Stepper Motor is Connected With Y Axis
• The laser is Connected to the Z-Axis

Step 7: Source Code/Programming Tools:

First of all, you have to download these 3 programmes:

• X Loader
• Gbrl control (Download and Install this tool)
• AB viewer 12
• Inkspace ( Download to Draw or upload an image to make .nc file for Gbrl)

All these 3 programmes are for free that means you do not have to pay anything for hat.

How can I start the laser engraver?

Step 1: Start the X-Loader:

X loader is a simple tool that will compile your Arduino sketch (HEX file) to your Arduino board without using the Arduino IDE. Here we need to interface Arduino UNO with GBRL, for doing this we need to open x loader and upload a Hex file (Click here to Download hex File). Before going to upload HEX file kindly select proper Baud rate and Com port in Xloader properties otherwise, you will face errors. Now our Arduino Board is fully optimized for GBRL environment. 

Step 2: Draw your own or upload an image into inkspace for printing

Before going to Start GBRL control tool first, we need to make a source format file for it, to do this you need to open inkspace and upload image or draw rough text and it will convert your file into .nc format. Once you get .nc file then go and upload that file to GBRL and it will send your File in a Binary form to Arduino UNO and it will start operation. As an example, i am going to share a mini Printable picture of a wolf ( Click here to download Wolf.nc ) Upload your file and see the magic.

Kindly write in comment If you have any question regarding this project, Thank you!

Watch Video:

Read Next project: Home Made Model of Electronic Bat by Using Arduino Uno | Do it Yourself Project 

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Project Copyrights © Wimmer Daniel

 

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