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A project log for 12V Lasercutter

This laser cutter is made of a wooden base and some metal rails. It's very cheap and uses RaspberryPi for all, data and control.

jack-pearseJack Pearse 08/26/2015 at 10:260 Comments

The first version is working . G-Code interpreter can read G-Code now. However, just linear interpolation is implemented yet. I used a pen and paper to make the geometry visible. The free software InkScape was used to generate the g-code. Inkscape is delivered with a gear generator. I taped a pen to the laser mounting to see the results. The laser will be turned on if I have laser protection glasses.

My spindle is a threaded rod which I purchased at the hardware store. It's a cheap one with a very small thread pitch. Therefore I use the steppers in Full step mode (speed). Right now the software comes without acceleration ramps. Because of the setup this doesn't matter there is no measurable step loss. In future there will be acceleration ramps, too. My Hackerspace Digitac celebrates it's 7th birthday this weekend. We will show a small exhibition. Therefore I try to finish the arc's of G-Code till friday, so that visitors can play around with it. My g-code implementation will stay very basic, I am more interested in the png-burning module and the implementation of logo and svg. This will be a huge load of work, therefore I will open source the project if the first setup is working. I am using arch linux on raspberry pi because of its minimalism.

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