An interesting project for an open source laser. The "tube on gantry" design is different. Only 30 watt though.
https://vanillabox.myshopify.com/
[OP]
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An interesting project for an open source laser. The "tube on gantry" design is different. Only 30 watt though.
https://vanillabox.myshopify.com/
700mm x 500mm Ke Hui KH-7050 Laser
80W EFR F2
S&A CW5000 chiller
Chuck style of rotary attachment
Contributor
Looks to be vector-only...just curious: does that limit its market too much to be viable?
(And yes, I realize it's not intended to be a commercial-grade machine.)
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
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It also engraves, if it didn't I think that would be a problem.Originally Posted by Lee DeRaud
Shenhui 1440x850, 130 Watt Reci Z6
Gerber Sabre 408
Contributor
Looks interesting, as purely a beginner's tool (which they designed it to be). I'm probably the kind of noob they are targetting in addition to maker spaces. $1800 is an expensive tool for my home (hobby) shop, but I realize "real" lasers cost far more.
Should be fun to watch how this sells. Thanks for posting it Doug.
Fred
Contributor
I finally saw that down at the bottom...sort of. They use the term "laser cutter" everywhere; the only occurrence of the word "engrave" was in the speed specs. It's described more like a CNC box with a laser head mounted than a true engraver. Also, I'm having trouble getting my head wrapped around the idea of doing raster mode with G-code. All but one of the example photos they showed could have been done vector-only.
In any case, the listed engrave speed is only 12ips, which is a bit slow.
Last edited by Lee DeRaud; 04-09-2017 at 11:06 AM.
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Closer to $1900 and I'd rather buy the 6040 from Ray Fine for roughly that plus shipping and duty and have a machine that would work.
Not some toy, but if they could get funded, they might can make it work... And I agree they have a better chance than GF
Woodworking, Old Tools and Shooting
Ray Fine RF-1390 Laser Ray Fine 20watt Fiber Laser
SFX 50 Watt Fiber Laser
PM2000, Delta BS, Delta sander, Powermatic 50 jointer,
Powermatic 100-12 planer, Rockwell 15-126 radial drill press
Rockwell 46-450 lathe, and 2 Walker Turner RA1100 radial saws
Jet JWS18, bandsaw Carbide Create CNC, RIA 22TCM 1911s and others
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I get a kick out of how they just bolted up some guide rails to the sides of the enclosure for the Y axis movement.
That's okay if there's some extra support to insure rigidity, but I didn't notice any...
========================================
ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
FOUR - CO2 lasers
THREE- make that FOUR now- fiber lasers
ONE - vinyl cutter
CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle
Member
The two guys doing it haven't been in the industry long but have a fair reputation as decent fellas. They also run Just-Add-Sharks that came out of buying a machine for themselves then bringing in more "to order" for other folks.
The big problem is going to be support..UK wise buyers have a LOT of rights and the thing that kills laser companies pretty fast is warranty and service requirements than cannot be disclaimed in UK law.
Nice looking box, average control, a few novel ideas but a few that won't work well on a laser that small as well such as the case mounted rails (Kev noted above) and the fact the average buyer is going to know very little about lasers and is likely going to be quite a strain on resources.
Over here I've been asked so many times "with all the years you been going why don't you sell lasers Dave?"
the answer is always the same
I'm hardly the worlds sanest person but I'm not THAT crazy
The road to hell is paved with a lot of good intentions
You did what !
Member
Another nice looking box laser from Europe:
http://www.mr-beam.org
Might deliver something useful before Glowforge??!!
Sam Gardner Seychelles Islands, Indian Ocean
1xGCC Spirit GLS 80W, 2xGCC Spirit 25W, 1 GCC Jaguar IV vinyl cutter,
1 Shenhui 4x4 CNC router, Sublimation, Melco Amaya Embroidery
Unique by a thousand miles!
Member
Mr Beam is a 5W diode laser. You won't get much production done with that. $2000 US for a 5W laser is hard to swallow. It seems to have some neat features but it's limited to slow engraving or very slow cutting of very thin materials as best I can tell.
Member
Mr Beam sell a filter so you don't have to vent to the outside. Is that really a good idea? I'm not sure I would be confident that the filter would remove ALL harmless fumes/particles. Knowing how much gunk is produced by laser cutting MDF I'd think you would need to swap filters very frequently.
G. Weike LG900N 100W RECI RDWorks V8
Leiming LM2513FL 1kW Raycus fiber laser cutter
Wisely 50W Raycus engraver
Contributor
Not really a problem...
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Member
The original Mr Beam was routed by export control and resulted in big fines for the maker over their use of a 445 diode.
You did what !
Member
We're making a machine for tinkerers and hobbyists alike, we're not very good at marketing but it is a neat little machine and it works relatively well. It's functional and vanilla, if you have any questions then we're happy to answer them.
The rails themselves are supported by the walls and bolted in a dozen positions along it's length. The gantry is 2mm aluminium angle which offers sufficient support across the entire length (and why we're only using a 700mm long tube)
G-Code is not best for efficient engraving but once we get the ethernet upgrade working the overhead isn't a big deal.
We're not shipping outside the UK so dollar exchange rates aren't particularly relevant.
Last edited by Martin Raynsford; 04-11-2017 at 3:09 PM.
Contributor
Aside from bandwidth/efficiency issues, I seem to be getting stuck on needing to use Z-axis coordinates for two fundamentally different things: (1) actual up/down motion (i.e. focusing) and (2) modulating beam power.
Or is focus strictly a manual operation?
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
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