I’ve had a big CO2 China Laser for a few years and enjoy it very much, but I’d like to get a smaller and more portable diode laser to play with. I see some popular options like Ortur and AtomStack, do any of them provide a rotational option?
What would the community suggest for a small diode engraver for flat and rotating objects? I realize it’s probably best to get a 5W diode (20W model from my understanding).
Any opinions, thoughts, and advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
5 watt Diode’s run from 20-40 watt input and you get from 4-5.5 watt output. You can get up to 7 from JTech and there’s some more powerful out there I am sure.
I have an AtomStack A5 pro and I wouldn’t recommend it. Lots of play in the gantry with no way to adjust it, no factory way of adding a roller. You cannot permanently write to the controller. Anything you write will be reset when powered off and on again.
Ortur has a roller you can buy and their support hangs out in this forum to provide some support. There seems to be a grounding issue with them so I don’t know if they’ve fixed/addressed it yet.
Just giving you my two cents.
Thanks Willie, the rollers aren’t eccentric like they are on the 3D printer? On all the 3D printers I own with those 3 wheel set ups you can rotate them to be tighter on the rail to take up any slop, is that not the case here or it is, but still doesn’t resolve the issue?
I just assumed it would be as stable if not more than my 3D printers because it doesn’t have a giant Z-axis.
Mike
Atom Stack has no connections for that roller at all. in my opnion.You could solder onto the board I’m sure but it’s just not worth it.
EDIT: Got ya, am a wee bit hungover. No, the wheels are not eccentric to take up any slack, they are simply fixed.
Willie is Wrong. On the Atomstack A5 the bottom rollers on each the three sets of rollers are mounted on eccentric centers. The installation manual explains (in Chinglish) how to adjust them so that if the machine is tilted to a 45 degree angle the brackets slide at a constant speed.
I ended up finding a deal on a similar laser 5W for $200 and received it last week - the wheels are identical to all my 3D printers and are eccentric. The center carriage was quite wiggly as Willie describes, but a quarter turn with the wrench on the bottom eccentric and it’s all tight and amazingly stable. I also found you can connect the a by disconnecting the y-axis to the motor and using the included jumper to drive the roller.
Willie take a look at your lower rollers, they should have wrench flats on the internal surface if you rotate that wrench flat you will tighten up your gantry and make it very stable. Don’t adjust the hex keys, those do nothing, it has to be the wrench flat on the hub - if you look at the 3 wheels one of them has the flat and the others don’t. It could greatly improve your machine!
Mike
Perhaps on yours, not on mine.
Weird, every 3 wheel set up I’ve seen from China on 3D printers and lasers are like this. Really sucks that they didn’t copy that feature on yours, without it any object you make is going to be terrible due to a loose axis.
Wonder why they have it in the manual.
I’ve taken that roller off and inspected it and it doesn’t have it. But the thread that holds the laser module on stripped as I was tightening it. Not very well made and I am sure there were a few models that went out that had flaws. Mine might be one of them. Made by the cheapest maker and all that.