Bright Light Circuit
This page is a development stub. Please enhance this page by adding information, cad files, nice big images, and well structured data!
These are good resources for creating wiki pages. Very Messy Example and Columbus --Sebastien Bailard 07:23, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
Release status: unknown
| Description | laser cutter circuit
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| FILE ID# | TYPE | DESCRIPTION | AVAILABLE FORMATS | CREATED/RESERVED BY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your-File-Name | SOLID MODEL ASSEMBLY | These are CAD files for the Solid Model Assembly | .xml.zip, .stl.zip | --Example User 12:00, Today's Date 20xx (UTC) |
| Your-File-Name | CAD FILES FOR PARTS | These are CAD files for each part. | .xml.zip, .stl.zip | --Example User 12:00, Today's Date 20xx (UTC) |
| Your-File-Name | EVEN MORE FILES | These are are even more files. | .xml.zip, .stl.zip | --Example User 12:00, Today's Date 20xx (UTC)|- |
| Your-File-Name | SOLID MODEL ASSEMBLY | This is the final finished machine | N/A | --Example User 12:00, Tomorrow's Date, 20xx (UTC) |
Please edit this and click the links to put in your own files! --Sebastien Bailard 08:34, 10 September 2010 (UTC)
Just to put the gist of it in writing: OPA569 as a high-current unity-gain buffer, driven by a DAC7571, with an ADS1113 to monitor the current-feedback from the OPA569. It'd provide sub-millivolt control with power feedback and PWM(via the current monitor and enable pin on the buffer, respectively.)
The whole toolhead would be directly controllable via a single I2C bus, or, with an added ATMEGA, via the same CAN bus as all other toolheads.
Any thoughts?
It's better to control laser diode current more-or-less directly, rather than indirectly through voltage control.
20 W and 40 W laser diode modules are becoming available at surprisingly low prices. A typical 40 W laser diode requires 2 V at 100 A (!). Merely 2.1 V will kill the module; so it seems a bit tricky to get enough power to the laser diode: 100 A * 2 V gives 200 W of input electrical power. Even more tricky is getting rid of the 160 W of waste heat that remains after 40 W of optical power comes out. A heatsink that can handle 160 W of heat energy seems like it will be far too heavy to mount on a moving RepRap tool head -- is there a better way?
Are there any real advantages to spending time and energy designing and building a new custom "laser diode driver" electronics rather than buying one off-the-shelf? [1]
Bill of Materials/Parts List
More Examples
Further reading
- Laser Cutter Notes
- SLS Printer: might be able make a single machine and a single tool head both (a) do laser sintering when aimed at a powder bed, and (b) do laser cutting when aimed at a sheet of acrylic, etc.
- Protospace wiki: OpenSource Laser Cutter driver project [2]
- The Lasersaur Project, an open-source laser cutter[3]
- RepRap: Builders blog: "selective laser sintering part 8: reciprocating laser cutter"[4] uses a 1 Watt IR laser diode, and successfully cut some flat black plastic about 1mm thick at around one inch per minute, and 3mm mdf at the rate of about 1cm / 3 minutes.
- Is it possible to get *visible* (and hence safer and easier to align than IR) laser diodes at high power (at least 250 mW, preferably closer to 20 W) and reasonable cost?
