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Yes I did some test cuts & engraving....the one you create in Lightburn. The first thing that I wanted to laser was some Geometry manipulatives. I had 3D printed them, but laser will be quicker. And for those with text it will be better  Then there were some cute animals that someone had shared in the Cuttle.xyz community  Then there were some "keychains" for OpenM. I tried one with letters and icons, but didnt get it down to keychain size yet. Then I dropped off the icons and made the size 1.25"x3" - more like a keychain. And someone asked me about aluminum, so I tried some anodized aluminum The cut settings for this 3 mm basswood are 1000 mm/min at 95% power Scoring I am using 6000 mm/min and 80% power. I also did the M on one sample at 3000/80 to get it darker Then I tried out engraving the M (i avoid engraving because of the time it takes I engraved at 8000/80 then again at 12000/80 Finally I did the last settings on the anodized aluminum.  this was the 3.7"x2.2" file with icons included...the fork and that person climbing up will need adjusting on the engraving to not burn (double lines close together) (Lightburn was able to trace a screen shot of the logo for the "OPEN M" phrase to make a vector, but had difficulty with the icons. I had to do them individually. The cross i found an svg of the cross. I just picked a single line font for the saying) 
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The assembly was a little frustrating. The manual is okay and the YouTube videos were okay....but could be better.
Step 1 started the frustration - attaching the "drag chain bracket". It was hard to figure out the orientation. Then no matter which way I installed it , it still blocked the gantry - so I left it off. Install the belt was a little vague, "secure it to the front profile" - how??? Ended up you feed the belt through a slot in a piece of metal, have it hang out the bottom, then attach that to the frame. The final frustration was at the end when there are 2 power connections to make and they dont say which pin to plug which into....maybe it doenst matter or I guessed correctly the first time??? The drag chain is a problem that 2 videos pointed out. It likes to lock into place and be short of the full range of motion. One took the last link apart and cut off the lock. I jammed some cardboard in so it couldnt lock. The final problem was the 3 buttons on top....which position they need to be in. Nothing tells you (red safety up ; key to right ; power pressed) (the power button on the XTool gets pressed when you send a file to an XTool laser, so this was different) My final setup : 
As you see, the ventilation goes out the window. I used some of the packing foam to make a rectangle to block most smoke from blowing back in. The basement still gets a little smoky...The Creality enclosure is not "perfect. I ended up putting duct tape all around the bottom because it didnt touch the workbench everywhere. I also added duct tape around the fan to stop leaking. It sill leaks a little.
The exhaust fam that comes with the enclosure sound & feels fast - but I wonder if it is enough as some smoke is still in the encloser after a minute. Some pictures of assembly steps : I broke down and bought a diode laser. I got an ACMER S2 Pro 36 W (https://acmerlaser.com/products/acmer-s2-pro-laser-engraver ). It was $600 and came with a free rotary, (just in case, though I think I will need some risers to use it). Shipping was about a week (Amazon would have been 2 days, same price, but no rotary)
I also purchased some basswood (1/8" x12"x12"), a honeycomb , some pins for the honeycomb (which are slightly too small, so I added tape), and an enclosure that came with a fan. more to come... |
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