You're reading from A Tinkerer's Guide to CNC Basics

Product typeBook

Published inJan 2024

PublisherPackt

ISBN-139781803247496

Edition1st Edition

Concepts

3D Printing

Author (1)

Samer Najia

Project: Building a CNC Laser Cutter and a Plotter

As we have already seen, CNC machine use cases involve more than just shaping workpieces with a spindle. We can also convert our 3018 machines into laser cutters, plotters, and drag knives. However, because the 3018 uses leadscrews to handle the rigidity requirements of working on blocks of material, it is generally slow when used as a laser cutter. Most commercially available machines use belt-driven systems for motion. This is because the toolhead typically does not experience a load from the workpiece.

In this chapter, we will build two machines. The first one, a laser cutter, will be built using an adaptation of a commonly used frame, which we will adapt from a plotter design so that we only use off-the-shelf parts. While it is possible to buy a unit commercially, building one will give you a better appreciation for the mechanics of a belt-driven motion system. It will also allow you to customize the machine to your specific...

Laser cutter/engraver

The frame we are going to be building is based on carriages that use V-wheels. These are commonly available online from a variety of sources. Let’s begin with a brief discussion of the general design. Like the plotter, the laser cutter uses a cantilever arm for the Y axis on which the toolhead moves. The entire arm moves in the X axis and the toolhead can be any desired laser head you desire. You can use exactly the same type of board you have on your 3018 as the motherboard for this machine and you can flash GRBL on it, just like the 3018. In addition, you can also attach an LCD controller to operate it offline (i.e., without a computer). You can also attach some other commonly available boards such as the MKS DLC 2.0, for which you can acquire a TFT controller flashed with firmware specific to laser cutter operations.

Here’s a bill of materials for the laser cutter frame:

Endstops and electronics

A distinct item you have not seen added to this design is endstop switches. You can use exactly the same switches that you acquired for your 3018 and mount them on the extrusions as you see fit (do not use the switches that come on rod mounts; those switches are fine, but their mounts are not). I haven’t done this here as they are not essential, and installation will depend on what you buy. I suggest you place them at the 0,0 position, and so the switches are at the left at the rear of the machine if you are looking down the Y axis from the X-axis tensioner. If you look at Figure 8.1, this would be the corner of the machine at the bottom left.

For electronics, you will need the usual components – notably, the board, power supply, and optionally, an emergency stop switch and LCD controller. You can 3D print or fabricate a box to enclose the electronics and mount the box against the feet of the machine. If you enclose your machine, you can run...

Plotter

The biggest reason I like this machine’s architecture is its versatility. The same mechanical platform can be used for your plotter. There are plenty of designs on Thingiverse and YouTube that detail plotters of various capabilities that use the same cantilevered system we have here, but the biggest difference between them will be the toolhead. For the plotter, you can fabricate exactly the same machine or modify the same machine as previously to have a different mount for the toolhead. The plotter toolhead will need a small servo motor to raise the pen up and down as it draws on a sheet of paper. If you are feeling creative, you can create a mount for both toolheads. In preparing for this chapter, I actually made two machines and 3D printed the toolhead for the plotter from a design I found on Thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5149959. I determined that you could easily hand-cut the same toolhead out of a piece of 3 mm plywood or MDF. If you do go down...

Summary

In this chapter, you have seen a design for a versatile type of purpose-built CNC machine that runs faster than a 3018 for laser cutting and plotting. The same machine also can be applied as a drag knife cutter. Because this is a belt-driven machine and the toolheads are very light, they can operate much faster than the 3018 for these functions. That is not to say that the 3018 in all those modes doesn’t work, but you get added utility and the ability to run parallel, unrelated jobs rather than tying up your machine to run those same jobs in series. More importantly, this kind of machine can have its work area adjusted by simply changing the dimensions of the two larger extrusions. The limit to this is how much the machine can take the way it is without tipping over (the Y-axis mount stabilizes it). However, I built a machine recently that adds a second 2040 extrusion, feet, and X-axis carriage that supports the Y axis on both ends and there is no change in the software...

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Author (1)

Samer Najia

Samer has been extremely interested in things that fly since he was six years old. An avid pilot, flight instructor, rocketeer and plastic modeler, he has been building things that fly or look like they might for as long as he can remember, including a full scale aircraft in the garage. Samer has a background in Mechanical Engineering and is a CNC and Laser hobbyist, but currently is working in IT – specifically software development. Samer resides in Alexandria, VA with his wife and two children and participates in his local maker space by teaching metal shaping techniques, rocketry and homebuilt aircraft construction.
Read more about Samer Najia

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