July 9, 2015 | By Alec
While desktop 3D printers are fun, how many of you jealously eye all those construction tools in a maker’s lab? Fortunately it is becoming increasingly evident that you don’t need to spend thousands on your garage to make it multifunctional, as DIY construction guides are becoming more accessible than ever before. Just this week, New Zealand-based Thingiverse user Isolt has shared an amazing design for a 3D printable laser engraver. This cool Photon Printer was designed as an entry for the Light It Up contest and will be a perfect addition to any maker’s arsenal.
As Isolt explains, this Photon Printer is essentially a reprogrammed DVD drive setup in a 3D printed housing. At its heart is a laser diode. ‘The Photon Printer started out as a quick weekend project then quickly escalated when I saw that there was room for improvement in the current designs. The design turned out to be quite fun and I really enjoyed seeing it work at the end,’ the New Zealand designer explains.
Most important of the improvements incorporated into this design involve safety and 3D printability. ‘None of the designs I have seen have any sort of shielding around the laser. Given that even a 5mW diode can be dangerous any sort of engraver should have safety features. These include a full enclosure to block reflected laser light, a roller door access, a safety cut off switch on door and angled ventilation to prevent light leakage,’ he writes. All these features have incorporated into this improved design.
As for 3D printability, an attempt to include as much 3D printed parts as possible has led to a lot more features than previous version. These include easy assembly, customization options, low part count and more. All parts also have one large flat surface to make 3D printing itself as easy as possible.
The machine itself also works very well, as you can see in the clip above. Included among its features are laser adjustment options, a spring tensioned Z axis to reduce vibration, and of course a very low cost involved. All this obviously makes the Photon Printer a fantastic project to work on, though it is not entirely advisable to beginners. Isolt himself also hasn’t written up a very detailed tutorial, though he says a lot of steps resemble those from another similar project that can be found here.
If you would like to take the plunge, the most important tool there is is a pair of safety glasses as you will be doing some heavy testing. You can find all the downloadable files for this project on Thingiverse here, as well as a list of all the additional parts necessary. Also keep a very close eye on these schematics of the project itself. ‘This project is surprisingly plug and play. The aArduino is all ready to go, the stepper drivers are pre-packaged, the only thing you'll need to build is the laser driver,’ Isolt explains. ‘My simple driver design is only 3 resistors and a diode, you could build a better one or buy one though. You'll need some soldering experience.’
Key in this project, obviously, are a pair of DVD drives capable of writing DVDs. ‘I used light scribe drives out of old HP workstations, model GSA-H60L. The newer the drive the more powerful the diode will be. After about 2009 they changed the diode package making it harder to use, so aim for something before that,’ he advises. For full advise on disassembling these DVD drives, he refers to this guide here.
Isolt assumes users have quite a bit of engineering experience, but in any rate it will be very useful to keep an eye on his tips and all the guides he refers to. If successful, Isolt suggests you use GRBL software – installation guide can be found here – and follow this guide on generating Gcode for a laser engraver. All this makes it quite a challenging, but very worthwhile project to tackle. For why would you spend hundreds on a laser engraver if you can spend a weekend assembling one yourself?
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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