Is enlarging hardware - Sculpfun laser - possible?

Hi, I upgraded Sculpfun to 900x400mm. For a special issue (cutting a nylon sail) I now want to enlarge the laser size to 2000 x 600 mm. Hardware is available.
Does someone know if the controller and the software (GRBL, lightburn) can handle this or if I get problems, e.g. to a too small memory or something like that?

Will work as long as whatever hardware you use can be driven by the stepper motors driven by the onboard stepper drivers.

If you need higher current drivers you could use something like a MKS DLC32 with some external drivers instead of the Sculpfun controller board. Depending on the laser power draw, you’ll probably want to take power and ground directly from the power supply (rather than through the board).

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Thank you very much for reply, i really appreciate this (thinking about posdible problems I would’t have thought in THIS direction…). As you say the controller can handle this, and you think the motors (probably especially the y-motor) might be too weak, right?

So I’ll try to do it as it is and if it looses accuracy or stops or doesn’t work at all I know a possible reason. I should start with quite low speed maybe.

Do you know if anyone else tried this? Didn’t find something in the forum…
Will take some time but if successful or not I’ll post it in the forum.

Hi.

There has been a few mentions about larger DIY X-Y tables -even one vertical- but since the possible variations are endeless and after all it’s “just” buying rails, carriages, motors, drivers, etc. and connecting them together, there’s really not that much to talk about.
The vendors that supply the stuff usually have -and give- experience based recommendations about what works and what probably doesn’t, so unless one is repurposing or recycling older stuff from various sources, there’s no guesswork involved in that either.

Since there’s no tool loads (except for inertia) to speak of, in theory there’s no mechanical limit how large a diode laser X-Y table can be.
Sure, there’s bound to be mechanical restrictions at some size-point forward, but if someone want’s to go even bigger, money usually takes care of that issue :wink: .

Regards,
Sam

:finland:

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Thanks for answering - that’s what I wanted to know (could have been that there was a limitation of size values / steps in SW or controller).
I try now and anyhow will report :slight_smile:

There will be some limit in size where the firmware won’t get along with integer calculation, but not at 2000×600. That should be perfectly fine. Many people did such extensions with Sculpfun lasers, you can see them in the official Facebook group (though the search function of FB is really bad). I have seen quite some interesting designs.
As with the official 900Ă—900 extension that Sculpfun offers, an additional y-axis motor might be beneficial but is easy to be added. Some documentation is here: Workspace extension kit - Diode Laser Wiki

That again was very helpful- thank you.

I’ll study the content if I am ready to do the extension - and also looking for FB- groups.
Btw, I want to cut a nylon sail of a scale hangglider model 1:3, so I don’t need much energy and have to cut just one time - I’m shure this will work.

Thanks again!

Any axis you add mass or friction to may end up requiring a stronger stepper motor, or if borderline capable, a reduction in acceleration (which may necessitate configuring a minimum laser power % when using variable laser power and/or using lead-ins).

So it’s really dependent on what “hardware is available” to you to make the modification, and how it affects the above.

2000 x 600 mm is well within the realm of doable and not too expensive if you need another low-end controller, drivers and steppers. You may need things like mounting brackets, intermediate pulleys/shafts/bearings/housings, too, though, depending on the physical hardware design. Presuming a 600 mm wide gantry, rigidity should be easily achievable… not that that is too important if you’re only wanting to cut fabric on it.