Homemade laser engraver. A different approach to design. Making a laser engraver based on Arduino Cnc laser engraver with your own hands
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Attention! Be careful when using lasers. The laser used in this machine may cause vision damage and possibly blindness. When working with powerful lasers above 5 mW, always wear a pair of safety glasses designed to block the laser wavelength.
A laser engraver on Arduino is a device whose role is to engrave wood and other materials. Over the past 5 years, laser diodes have advanced, allowing fairly powerful engravers to be made without much of the complexity of operating laser tubes.
You should be careful when engraving other materials. So, for example, when used in working with laser device plastic will produce smoke which contains dangerous gases when burned.
In this lesson I will try to give some direction to the thought, and over time we will create more detailed lesson for the implementation of this complex device.
To begin with, I suggest you look at what the entire process of creating an engraver looked like for one radio amateur:
Strong stepper motors also require drivers to get the most out of them. In this project, a special stepper driver is used for each motor.
Below is some information about the selected components:
- Stepper motor – 2 pieces.
- Frame size is NEMA 23.
- Torque is 1.8 lb-ft at 255 oz.
- 200 steps/revolutions – 1 step 1.8 degrees.
- Current – up to 3.0 A.
- Weight – 1.05 kg.
- Bipolar 4-wire connection.
- Stepper driver – 2 pieces.
- Digital stepping drive.
- Chip.
- Output current – from 0.5 A to 5.6 A.
- Output current limiter – reduces the risk of motor overheating.
- Control signals: Step and Direction inputs.
- Pulse input frequency – up to 200 kHz.
- Supply voltage – 20 V – 50 V DC.
For each axis, the motor directly drives the ball screw through the motor connector. The motors are mounted on the frame using two aluminum corners and an aluminum plate. The aluminum corners and plate are 3mm thick and are strong enough to support a 1kg motor without bending.
Important! The motor shaft and ball screw must be properly aligned. The connectors that are used have some flexibility to compensate for minor errors, but if the alignment error is too large, they will not work!
Another creation process of this device you can watch the video:
2. Materials and tools
Below is a table with the materials and tools needed for the project " laser engraver on Arduino."
| Paragraph | Provider | Quantity |
| NEMA 23 stepper motor + driver | eBay (seller: primopal_motor) | 2 |
| Diameter 16mm, pitch 5mm, ball screw 400mm long (Taiwanese) | eBay (seller: silvers-123) | 2 |
| 16mm BK12 support with ball screw (drive end) | eBay (seller: silvers-123) | 2 |
| 16mm BF12 Ball Screw Support (No Driven End) | eBay (seller: silvers-123) | 2 |
| 16 shaft 500 mm long | (seller: silvers-123) | 4 |
| (SK16) 16 shaft support (SK16) | (seller: silvers-123) | 8 |
| 16 linear bearing (SC16LUU) | eBay (seller: silvers-123) | 4 |
| eBay (seller: silvers-123) | 2 | |
| Shaft holder 12 mm (SK12) | (seller: silvers-123) | 2 |
| A4 size 4.5mm clear acrylic sheet | eBay (seller: acrylicsonline) | 4 |
| Aluminum Flat Rod 100mm x 300mm x 3mm | eBay (seller: willymetals) | 3 |
| 50mm x 50mm 2.1m Aluminum Fence | Any theme store | 3 |
| Aluminum Flat Rod | Any theme store | 1 |
| Aluminum corner | Any theme store | 1 |
| Aluminum corner 25mm x 25mm x 1m x 1.4mm | Any theme store | 1 |
| M5 socket head screws (various lengths) | boltsnutsscrewsonline.com | |
| M5 nuts | boltsnutsscrewsonline.com | |
| M5 washers | boltsnutsscrewsonline.com |
3. Development of the base and axes
The machine uses ball screws and linear bearings to control the position and movement of the X and Y axes.
Characteristics of ball screws and machine accessories:
- 16 mm ball screw, length – 400 mm-462 mm, including machined ends;
- pitch – 5 mm;
- C7 accuracy rating;
- BK12/BF12 ball joints.
Since the ball nut consists of ball bearings rolling in a track against a ball screw with very little friction, this means that motors can run at higher speeds. high speeds endless.
The rotational orientation of the ball nut is locked using an aluminum element. The base plate is attached to two linear bearings and to the ball nut through aluminum corner. Rotation of the Ballscrew shaft causes the base plate to move linearly.
4. Electronic component
The laser diode selected is a 1.5 W, 445 nm diode housed in a 12 mm package with a focusable glass lens. These can be found, pre-assembled, on eBay. Since it is a 445 nm laser, the light it produces is visible blue light.
The laser diode requires a heatsink when operating at high levels power. When constructing the engraver, two aluminum supports for SK12 12 mm are used, both for mounting and for cooling the laser module.
The output intensity of a laser depends on the current that passes through it. A diode by itself cannot regulate current, and if connected directly to a power source, it will increase current until it is destroyed. Thus, an adjustable current circuit is required to protect the laser diode and control its brightness.
Another option for connecting the microcontroller and electronic parts:
5. Software
The Arduino sketch interprets each command block. There are several commands:
1 – move RIGHT one pixel FAST (blank pixel).
2 – move RIGHT one pixel SLOW (burnt pixel).
3 – Move LEFT one pixel FAST (blank pixel).
4 – Move LEFT one pixel SLOW (burnt pixel).
5 – move up one pixel FAST (empty pixel).
6 – Move UP one pixel SLOW (burnt pixel).
7 – Move DOWN one pixel FAST (blank pixel).
8 – move DOWN one pixel SLOW (burnt pixel).
9 – turn on the laser.
0 – turn off the laser.
r – return the axes to their original position.
With each character, the Arduino runs the corresponding function to write to the output pins.
Arduino controls engine speed through delays between step pulses. Ideally, the machine will start its engines with same speed, regardless of whether its image engraves or skips a blank pixel. However, due to the limited power of the laser diode, the machine must slow down at pixel records. That's why there is two speeds for each direction in the list of command symbols above.
A sketch of 3 programs for the Arduino laser engraver is below:
/* Stepper motor control program */ // constants won't change. Used here to set pin numbers: const int ledPin = 13; // the number of the LED pin const int OFF = 0; const int ON = 1; const int XmotorDIR = 5; const int XmotorPULSE = 2; const int YmotorPULSE = 3; //half step delay for blank pixels - multiply by 8 (<8ms)
const unsigned int shortdelay = 936;
//half step delay for burnt pixels - multiply by 8 (<18ms)
const unsigned int longdelay = 2125;
//Scale factor
//Motor driver uses 200 steps per revolution
//Ballscrew pitch is 5mm. 200 steps/5mm, 1 step = 0.025mm
//const int scalefactor = 4; //full step
const int scalefactor = 8; //half step
const int LASER = 51;
// Variables that will change:
int ledState = LOW; // ledState used to set the LED
int counter = 0;
int a = 0;
int initialmode = 0;
int lasermode = 0;
long xpositioncount = 0;
long ypositioncount = 0;
//***********************************************************************************************************
//Initialisation Function
//***********************************************************************************************************
void setup()
{
// set the digital pin as output:
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(LASER, OUTPUT);
for (a = 2; a <8; a++){
pinMode(a, OUTPUT);
}
a = 0;
setinitialmode();
digitalWrite (ledPin, ON);
delay(2000);
digitalWrite (ledPin, OFF);
// Turn the Serial Protocol ON
Serial.begin(9600);
}
//************************************************************************************************************
//Main loop
//************************************************************************************************************
void loop()
{
byte byteRead;
if (Serial.available()) {
/* read the most recent byte */
byteRead = Serial.read();
//You have to subtract "0" from the read Byte to convert from text to a number.
if (byteRead!="r"){
byteRead=byteRead-"0";
}
//Move motors
if(byteRead==1){
//Move right FAST
fastright();
}
if(byteRead==2){
//Move right SLOW
slowright();
}
if(byteRead==3){
//Move left FAST
fastleft();
}
if(byteRead==4){
//Move left SLOW
slowleft();
}
if(byteRead==5){
//Move up FAST
fastup();
}
if(byteRead==6){
//Move up SLOW
slowup();
}
if(byteRead==7){
//Move down FAST
fastdown();
}
if(byteRead==8){
//Move down SLOW
slowdown();
}
if(byteRead==9){
digitalWrite (LASER, ON);
}
if(byteRead==0){
digitalWrite (LASER, OFF);
}
if (byteRead=="r"){
//reset position
xresetposition();
yresetposition();
delay(1000);
}
}
}
//************************************************************************************************************
//Set initial mode
//************************************************************************************************************
void setinitialmode()
{
if (initialmode == 0){
digitalWrite (XmotorDIR, OFF);
digitalWrite (XmotorPULSE, OFF);
digitalWrite (YmotorDIR, OFF);
digitalWrite (YmotorPULSE, OFF);
digitalWrite (ledPin, OFF);
initialmode = 1;
}
}
//************************************************************************************************************
// Main Motor functions
//************************************************************************************************************
void fastright()
{
for (a=0; a
6. Launch and setup
Arduino represents the brain for the machine. It outputs the step and direction signals for the stepper drivers and the laser enable signal for the laser driver. In the current project, only 5 output pins are required to control the machine. It is important to remember that the bases for all components must be related to each other.
7. Functionality check
This circuit requires at least 10VDC power, and has a simple on/off input signal provided by the Arduino. The LM317T chip is a linear voltage regulator that is configured as a current regulator. The circuit includes a potentiometer that allows you to adjust the regulated current.
The time has come when the hyperboloid of engineer Garin from the novel by Alexei Tolstoy moved to the kitchen table of an ordinary Moscow apartment.
A couple of years ago, you could find inexpensive laser engraver kits in Chinese online stores. At first, the laser power was 100 mW, then 500 mW... Recently an engraver with a power of 5 W appeared, this power of a semiconductor laser already allows not only to burn pictures on plywood, but also to cut plywood.
The laser cutter assembly kit arrived in high-quality packaging. Polystyrene foam in a cardboard box.
The laser engraver 5500mw A5 Mini Laser Engraving Machine is supplied as a kit for assembly: aluminum guides, stepper motors, control board, glasses to protect eyes from laser radiation, housing parts for assembly and control board with fittings. It took one evening to assemble the device.
The design of a laser CNC is simpler than that of a 3D printer; the same guides along which stepper motors drive the head. Only the 3D printer has three of them, and they move the head in three dimensions. In our case, it is enough for the head to simply move along a plane in two dimensions. No force is needed to move it, since there is no mechanical contact with the workpiece material. The laser engraver connects to a computer via a standard USB port.
The part you want to cut out or the image you want to burn must be drawn in a vector program. The program must save the image file in wmf format.
A file in this format can be imported into the program that controls the engraver.
It is better to use the free SketchUp program for this (a fairly simple program for creating 3D models). The BenBox program that controls the engraver is downloaded free of charge from the seller’s website.
The laser power, unfortunately, is not adjustable. The program sets the speed of movement of the head - the faster it moves, the less it burns.
If you want to cut, set the speed lower. To regulate power, you need to order an additional board; Once installed, you can adjust the power manually. For engraving, 100-500 mW is enough and for cutting material - 2000-5000 mW.
The engraver smokes slightly during operation. With the window open, the smoke didn't bother me much. But smoke delays the laser beam, reducing its power and, accordingly, the cutting depth.
Everything would be fine, but laser cutting experts write that the lens can become smoky. Therefore, immediately after purchasing a machine, you need to make a powerful exhaust hood or at least install a fan on the engraver head.
HOW A LASER CNC MACHINE CUTS
As you know, a laser does not cut, it burns. The higher the laser power, the more resistant the material it can process. The essence of laser cutting is this. that the material has time to “evaporate” in the laser beam before the edges of the material adjacent to the cutting point begin to burn.
When cutting deep, the edges of the upper layers of the material burn, so a deep cut with a laser has a trapezoidal shape with the wide side on top. When cutting material with a weak laser, the edges of the material heat up and ignite. This can be combated by blowing a thin stream of air at the cut point and multiple passes along one and the other the same trajectory.
Only here there is not a linear relationship between laser power and number of passes. That is, if you can cut through a thin sheet of balsa or plywood with a 5W laser. then to make a cut with a 2 W laser you will have to make not 2-3 passes, but much more. So it’s better to give up hopes of “buying it cheaper and just driving along the cutting lines several times.” You need to take a more powerful laser, preferably with a power reserve.
LASER FOCUSING
Laser focusing is manual.
Place the object to be engraved.
When turning on the laser at minimum power, in order to focus it on the engraved object, you must manually rotate the adjustment of the focusing lens until the size of the spot turns into a point and becomes minimal. In this case we get maximum power.
When cutting plywood, the laser beam, having cut a couple of millimeters, is already out of focus, weakens and does not cut the plywood to the end. It turns out that the deeper we cut, the weaker the beam. In this case, it makes sense to focus the laser on the surface on which the plywood piece will lie.
Practical use of the engraver at home
The engraver is ideal for cutting leather. You can apply any design to the skin and immediately cut out patterns with a laser. The big advantage of a laser when cutting synthetic fabrics and leather is that the edges are burned and then do not become shaggy. Plastic is easy to engrave. You can make the cover of your favorite smartphone stylishly engraved.
Good time everyone!
In this post I want to share with you the process of creating a laser engraver based on a diode laser from China.
Several years ago, I had a desire to purchase a ready-made version of an engraver from Aliexpress with a budget of 15 thousand, but after a long search, I came to the conclusion that all the presented options are too simple and are essentially toys. But I wanted something tabletop and at the same time quite serious. After a month of research, it was decided to make this device with our own hands, and away we go...
At that moment I did not yet have a 3D printer and 3D modeling experience, but everything was fine with drawing)
Here is actually one of those ready-made engravers from China.
Having looked at the options for possible mechanical designs, the first sketches of the future machine were made on a piece of paper..))
It was decided that the engraving area should be no smaller than an A3 sheet.
The laser module itself was one of the first to be purchased. Power 2W, since this was the best option for reasonable money.
Here is the laser module itself.
And so, it was decided that the X axis would travel along the Y axis and its design began. And it all started with the carriage...
The entire frame of the machine was made from aluminum profiles of various shapes, purchased from Leroy.
At this stage, sketches no longer appeared on notebook paper; everything was drawn and invented in the Compass.
Having bought 2 meters of a square profile 40x40 mm to build the frame of the machine, in the end only the carriage itself was made from it..))
Motors, linear bearings, belts, shafts and all electronics were ordered from Aliexpress during the development process and plans for how the motors would be mounted and what the control board would be changed along the way.
After a few days of drawing in Compass, a more or less clear version of the machine design was determined.
And so the X axis was born..))
Sidewalls of the Y axis (sorry for the photo quality).
Fitting.
And finally the first launch!
A simple 3D model of the general appearance of the machine was built in order to accurately determine its appearance and dimensions.
And off we go... Plexiglas... Painting, wiring and other little things.
And finally, when everything was adjusted and the last part was painted black, the finish line came!
Now some beautiful photos))
Good day, brain engineers! Today I will share with you a guide on how to how to do laser cutter with a power of 3W and a work table of 1.2x1.2 meters controlled by an Arduino microcontroller.
This brain trick was born to create a coffee table in the style of “pixel art”. It was necessary to cut the material into cubes, but this is difficult manually, and very expensive through an online service. Then this 3-watt cutter/engraver for thin materials appeared. Let me clarify that industrial cutters have a minimum power of about 400 watts. That is, this cutter can handle light materials such as polystyrene foam, cork sheets, plastic or cardboard, but it only engraves thicker and denser ones.
Step 1: Materials
Arduino R3
Proto Board – board with display
stepper motors
3 watt laser
laser cooling
power unit
DC-DC regulator
MOSFET transistor
motor control boards
Limit switches
case (large enough to hold almost all the items listed)
timing belts
ball bearings 10mm
timing belt pulleys
ball bearings
2 boards 135x 10x2 cm
2 boards 125x10x2 cm
4 smooth rods with a diameter of 1cm
various bolts and nuts
screws 3.8cm
lubricant
zip ties
computer
a circular saw
screwdriver
various drills
sandpaper
vice
Step 2: Wiring Diagram
Laser circuit homemade products is presented informatively in the photo, there are only a few clarifications.
Stepper Motors: I think you noticed that the two motors are driven from the same control board. This is necessary so that one side of the belt does not lag behind the other, that is, the two motors work synchronously and maintain the tension of the timing belt necessary for high-quality work crafts.
Laser Power: When setting the DC-DC regulator, make sure that the laser is supplied with a constant voltage that does not exceed the laser specifications, otherwise you will simply burn it out. My laser is rated for 5V and 2.4A, so the regulator is set to 2A and the voltage is slightly lower than 5V.
MOSFET Transistor: This is an important part of this brain games, since it is this transistor that turns the laser on and off, receiving a signal from the Arduino. Since the current from the microcontroller is very weak, only this MOSFET transistor can sense it and lock or unlock the laser power circuit; other transistors simply do not respond to such a low-current signal. The MOSFET is mounted between the laser and the ground from the DC regulator.
Cooling: when creating my laser cutter, I encountered the problem of cooling the laser diode to avoid overheating. The problem was solved by installing a computer fan, with which the laser functioned perfectly even when working for 9 hours straight, and a simple radiator could not cope with the cooling task. I also installed coolers next to the motor control boards, since they also get quite hot, even if the cutter is not running, but just turned on.
Step 3: Assembly
The attached files contain a 3D model of a laser cutter, showing the dimensions and assembly principle of the desktop frame.
Shuttle design: it consists of one shuttle responsible for the Y axis, and two paired shuttles responsible for the X axis. The Z axis is not needed, since this is not a 3D printer, but instead the laser will alternately turn on and off, that is, the Z axis is replaced by the piercing depth . I tried to reflect all the dimensions of the shuttle structure in the photo, I will only clarify that all the mounting holes for the rods in the sides and shuttles are 1.2 cm deep.
Guide rods: steel rods (although aluminum is preferable, but steel is easier to get), with a fairly large diameter of 1 cm, but this thickness of the rod will avoid sagging. The factory grease was removed from the rods, and the rods themselves were carefully sanded with a grinder and sandpaper until perfectly smooth for good gliding. And after grinding, the rods are treated with white lithium lubricant, which prevents oxidation and improves sliding.
Belts and Stepper Motors: To install the stepper motors and timing belts, I used ordinary tools and materials that came to hand. First, the motors and ball bearings are mounted, and then the belts themselves. A sheet of metal approximately the same in width and twice as long as the engine itself was used as a bracket for the engines. This sheet has 4 holes drilled for mounting on the engine and two for mounting to the body. homemade products, the sheet is bent at an angle of 90 degrees and screwed to the body with self-tapping screws. On the opposite side from the engine mounting point, a bearing system is installed in a similar way, consisting of a bolt, two ball bearings, a washer and a metal sheet. A hole is drilled in the center of this sheet, with which it is attached to the body, then the sheet is folded in half and a hole is drilled in the center of both halves for installing the bearing system. A toothed belt is put on the motor-bearing pair thus obtained, which is attached to the wooden base of the shuttle with a regular self-tapping screw. This process is shown more clearly in the photo.
Step 4: Soft
Fortunately the software for this brain games free and open source. Everything you need can be found at the links below:
That's all I wanted to tell you about my laser cutter/engraver. Thank you for attention!
Successful homemade!
Many of those home craftsmen who manufacture and decorate products from wood and other materials in their workshop have probably thought about how to make a laser engraver with their own hands. The presence of such equipment, the serial models of which are quite expensive, makes it possible not only to apply complex designs to the surface of the workpiece with high precision and detail, but also to carry out laser cutting of various materials.
A homemade laser engraver, which will cost much less than a serial model, can be made even if you do not have in-depth knowledge of electronics and mechanics. The laser engraver of the proposed design is assembled on the Arduino hardware platform and has a power of 3 W, while for industrial models this parameter is at least 400 W. However, even such low power allows you to use this device for cutting products made of polystyrene foam, cork sheets, plastic and cardboard, as well as perform high-quality laser engraving.
Necessary materials
In order to make your own laser engraver using Arduino, you will need the following consumables, mechanisms and tools:
- hardware platform Arduino R3;
- Proto Board equipped with a display;
- stepper motors, which can be used as electric motors from a printer or DVD player;
- laser with a power of 3 W;
- laser cooling device;
- DC-DC voltage regulator;
- MOSFET transistor;
- electronic boards that control the laser engraver motors;
- limit switches;
- a housing in which you can place all the structural elements of a homemade engraver;
- timing belts and pulleys for their installation;
- ball bearings of various sizes;
- four wooden boards (two of them with dimensions 135x10x2 cm, and the other two - 125x10x2 cm);
- four round metal rods with a diameter of 10 mm;
- bolts, nuts and screws;
- lubricant;
- clamps;
- computer;
- drills of various diameters;
- a circular saw;
- sandpaper;
- vice;
- standard set of locksmith tools.
Electrical part of a homemade laser engraver
The main element of the electrical circuit of the presented device is a laser emitter, the input of which must be supplied with a constant voltage with a value not exceeding the permissible parameters. If this requirement is not met, the laser may simply burn out. The laser emitter used in the engraving installation of the presented design is designed for a voltage of 5 V and a current not exceeding 2.4 A, therefore the DC-DC regulator must be configured for a current of 2 A and a voltage of up to 5 V.
The MOSFET transistor, which is the most important element of the electrical part of a laser engraver, is necessary in order to turn the laser emitter on and off when receiving a signal from the Arduino controller. The electrical signal generated by the controller is very weak, so only a MOSFET transistor can sense it and then unlock and close the laser power circuit. In the electrical circuit of a laser engraver, such a transistor is installed between the positive contact of the laser and the negative contact of the DC regulator.
The laser engraver's stepper motors are connected through one electronic control board, which ensures their synchronous operation. Thanks to this connection, timing belts driven by multiple motors do not sag and maintain a stable tension during operation, which ensures the quality and accuracy of the processing performed.
It should be kept in mind that the laser diode used in a homemade engraving machine should not overheat.
To do this, it is necessary to ensure its effective cooling. This problem can be solved quite simply: a regular computer fan is installed next to the diode. To prevent overheating of stepper motor control boards, computer coolers are also placed next to them, since conventional radiators cannot cope with this task.
Photos of the electrical circuit assembly processPhoto-1 Photo-2 Photo-3
Photo-4 Photo-5 Photo-6
Build process
The homemade engraving machine of the proposed design is a shuttle-type device, one of the moving elements of which is responsible for movement along the Y axis, and the other two, paired, for movement along the X axis. For the Z axis, which is also specified in the parameters of such a 3D printer, the depth to which the material being processed is burned is taken. The depth of the holes into which the elements of the shuttle mechanism of the laser engraver are installed must be at least 12 mm.
Desk frame - dimensions and tolerancesPhoto-1 Photo-2 Photo-3
Photo-4 Photo-5 Photo-6
Aluminum rods with a diameter of at least 10 mm can act as guide elements along which the working head of a laser engraving device will move. If it is not possible to find aluminum rods, steel guides of the same diameter can be used for these purposes. The need to use rods of exactly this diameter is explained by the fact that in this case the working head of the laser engraving device will not sag.
Manufacturing of a movable carriagePhoto-1 Photo-2 Photo-3
The surface of the rods that will be used as guide elements for the laser engraving device must be cleaned of factory grease and carefully ground to perfect smoothness. Then they should be coated with a lubricant based on white lithium, which will improve the sliding process.
Installation of stepper motors on the body of a homemade engraving device is carried out using brackets made of sheet metal. To make such a bracket, a sheet of metal whose width approximately corresponds to the width of the engine itself, and the length of which is twice the length of its base, is bent at a right angle. On the surface of such a bracket, where the base of the electric motor will be located, 6 holes are drilled, 4 of which are necessary for fixing the engine itself, and the remaining two are for attaching the bracket to the body using ordinary self-tapping screws.
To install a drive mechanism consisting of two pulleys, a washer and a bolt on the electric motor shaft, a piece of metal sheet of the appropriate size is also used. To mount such a unit, a U-shaped profile is formed from a metal sheet, in which holes are drilled for attaching it to the engraver body and for the output of the electric motor shaft. The pulleys on which the timing belts will be placed are mounted on the shaft of the drive electric motor and placed in the inner part of the U-shaped profile. Toothed belts placed on pulleys, which should drive the shuttles of the engraving device, are connected to their wooden bases using self-tapping screws.
Installation of stepper motorsPhoto-1 Photo-2 Photo-3
Photo-4 Photo-5 Photo-6
Software installation
Your laser grower, which must operate in automatic mode, will require not only installation, but also configuration of special software. The most important element of such support is a program that allows you to create the contours of the desired design and convert them into an extension that is understandable to the control elements of the laser engraver. This program is freely available and can be downloaded to your computer without any problems.
The program downloaded to the computer controlling the engraving device is unpacked from the archive and installed. In addition, you will need a library of contours, as well as a program that will send data on the created drawing or inscription to the Arduino controller. Such a library (as well as a program for transferring data to the controller) can also be found in the public domain. In order for your laser homemade product to work correctly, and for the engraving performed with its help to be of high quality, you will need to configure the controller itself to the parameters of the engraving device.
Features of using contours
If you have already figured out the question of how to make a hand-held laser engraver, then it is necessary to clarify the question of the parameters of the contours that can be applied using such a device. Such contours, the inside of which is not filled even if the original drawing is painted over, must be transmitted to the engraver’s controller as files not in pixel (jpeg), but in vector format. This means that the image or inscription applied to the surface of the processed product using such an engraver will not consist of pixels, but of dots. Such images and inscriptions can be scaled as desired, focusing on the surface area on which they should be applied.
Using a laser engraver, almost any design and inscription can be applied to the surface of the workpiece, but to do this, their computer layouts must be converted into vector format. This procedure is not difficult to perform: special programs Inkscape or Adobe Illustrator are used for this. A file that has already been converted to vector format must be converted again so that it can be correctly processed by the engraving machine controller. For this conversion, the Inkscape Laserengraver program is used.
Final setup and preparation for work
Having made a laser engraving machine with your own hands and downloaded the necessary software into its control computer, do not start working right away: the equipment needs final configuration and adjustment. What is this adjustment? First of all, you need to make sure that the maximum movements of the machine's laser head along the X and Y axes coincide with the values obtained when converting the vector file. In addition, depending on the thickness of the material from which the workpiece is made, it is necessary to adjust the parameters of the current supplied to the laser head. This should be done in order not to burn through the product on the surface of which you want to engrave.