Hi guys,
First post. My son bought a chinese 80w co2 laser for WAY too much. $3000. Yes. That happened. So we’ve been using it with inkscape and k40 whisperer but I’m tired of that path. Love the look of lightburn.
I’m told it’s best to go with a Ruida 6445. Is that correct?
So 6445G or the new 6445S?
Next, I need to pick out two replacement stepper motors and correct stepper drivers. What should I get? The motors in my unit seem very tiny. I guess I need to measure them. Perhaps nema17.
Currently have an m2 nano and rotary for that. So also need to find a good priced adjustable rotary to do bottles that will work with the ruida.
I’ll go measure my motors. Looking forward to all advice. Thank you.
Oh, and ordering from cloudray or steppersonline is best?
The G and the S are almost identical controllers. I have the G I put in after I got pissed of at the Top Wisdom POS. I do know the S is a single tube controller, the G will handle two tubes. Seems like there is a memory difference, may be a few small differences as well.
That said, I love mine. I use CorelDraw for my design work, then dump it into RDWorks for the final tweaking and such.
First, 3K for an 80W laser is not really way too much depending on what it really is.
For a controller, I have been really happy with my 6445G. Has been working great with Lightburn. The later ones are supposed to be able to support a rotary without swapping cables. I think older ones will with a firmware update.
I purchased a 6445 form LightObject and it was cheaper than the 6442 even with shipping. I e-mailed them and they said the rotary runs off the Y but I have not installed it yet to verify.
Thanks for the answers guys. @micrololin How do you like the lightobject one. Seems it has some better features like updates, etc. I can get the cloudray one with psu for $280. This one seems about $325. Might be worth it?
Thanks for the offer. Right now I’m connecting via usb to the m2 nano board. As soon as I switch it to the 6445g I guess I’ll connect to it via ethernet. Using lightburn.
With a firmware upgrade, if it doesn’t have it already, the controller will run the rotary on the U axis instead of the Y. You will have to purchase and install the stepper driver, but then it becomes a plug and play when you want to use the rotary.
Here’s the laser and motor sizes. Battery died on the calipers but it looks like 42mm on the physical measurement.
Thought I might use DM542 stepper drivers. Will those work?
If so, then which motors should I get that will work with the 6445G?
Thanks so much guys.
Oh, and that’s the cheapie rotary we got for like way too much money. Looking for something that will adjust front and rear for different shaped bottles as the struggle has been this unit is flat.
Oh, that sounds cool being able to use it on the U axis. Thanks for that.
So I just need one more stepper? For a total of 3?
My machine also has a z motor underneath. I wonder if I had 4 steppers if I could also control that via software? That would be nice.
Right now I’m building a PrintNC CNC and it comes with 4 DM542 steppers in the kit I’m getting from aliexpress. But I thought I might upgrade the CNC to DM556 steppers and use these 542s for the laser. Would that plan work?
This is my z motor underneath. It currently attaches to an up and down button on the right hand side of my exterior case. It’s VERY slow to go up and down though right now.
That is just a reversible electric motor, not a stepper motor controlled via the controller. If you are going to upgrade, get a stepper and controller for that when you get the controller for the U axis. That wold give you a total of four stepper controllers, but well worth it if you are digging into the machine.
Next fix, get that damn exhaust fan out to the wall penetration point. You have you exhaust under pressure instead of vacuum. ANY little leak or pin hole puts the exhaust back into the room.
Thanks. Yeah. So you’re saying the fan is blowing in? I was going to remove it once my big fan arrives. I’m building a BOFA AD 350 clone to use. Unless you have a better recommendation? I almost clicked buy on the two filters for it right when your post came in so I’m open to other options for fume filters.
My z axis motor label lists it as a Type 17HA704Y0-1A1.
Do I need to pull my Y motor and look at the label in case it is different? And can I use this info to determine a replacement that will work with the Ruida 6445?
The 6445 is not really going to care what stepper you use. What you have to identify is what stepper drivers you have. Generally you will find 2 phase and 3 phase drivers and then you need the corresponding stepper motor. The 6445 just sends a step and direction pulse to the driver. Somewhere in that chassis, probably near the power supplies you should find driver modules. Once you know what drivers you have, you can replace steppers,
Now, is there a reason you are replacing steppers? Do they not work?
The NEMA number is the physical size of the motor, and every size has a range of power depending on the model you purchase. You can get the same power draw motor in several sizes. For your Z conversion, measure the base mounting and see what you can find with a similar size mount pattern. You might get lucky and be able to bolt it right in. Double check your shaft size and type. I wasn’t paying attention, and ordered the wrong size shaft, and only a single flat. Luckily I could grind the second flat and add a bushing to make it work, but it was a lot of wasted time because I wasn’t paying attention.
