This makes diode lasers a less attractive option for projects that require faster processing times.Īdditionally, the price of K40 laser cutters is incredibly low compared to higher-end CO2 laser cutters, like a Glowforge or Glowforge alternatives. As a result, diode lasers have slower cutting speeds and can only make thin cuts. A 40W CO2 laser tube is adequate for most non-metal laser machining applications and has much better cutting capabilities than diode lasers.ĭiode lasers typically only go up to 10W, so they can’t match the performance of K40s. There’s hardly any significant visual difference between them, except that sometimes the red ones feature an analog meter dial.įrom a laser cutting perspective, the K40 sits at a sweet spot between price and performance. It’s easy to use these machines for various applications, including engraving and cutting materials like wood, acrylic, leather, fabric, paper, and more.Īlmost every K40 laser cutter comes in a red or blue color aesthetic. There are also K40 laser cutters with a bigger work area out there, however, which we will get to shortly. This is enough for cutting and engraving smaller objects. Most of these K40s have a standardized, rectangular design featuring a 300 x 200 mm work area. The K40 tag in these machines denotes the 40W laser tube that is located in these laser cutters. To get the best engraving performance, check out our latest Mini Gerbil K40 controller.K40 laser cutters are inexpensive CO2 laser machines often used by hobbyists, beginners, and other users on a budget. More information about the Inkscape Plugins can be found here Of course there other styles of engraving, as a young lady showed me her works during the Maker Faire. The above instructions have focussed on traditional maximise-the-dynamic-range-of-gray-scale style of engraving. If you see stutter then it means you’re driving the controller a bit too fast! Reducing the gray scales or lowering engraving resolution allows you to run the controller faster than 1000 mm/s. It takes me around two hours to engrave this kestrel bird. Some G-code senders like cncjs allow you to change the laser intensity and speed on the fly, so you can play around with it until you’re happy. The picture above shows the engraving being out of focus, notice the faint tree stump details with the pictures below. To darken the engraving, decrease the $30 setting. To lighten the engraving, increase the $ setting $30 to 1700. Typical lens focus on these machines is 50.2 mm. If the engraving is out of focus then position the work piece (plywood) higher or lower. Step Three: Review and adjust the darkness and focus. The Inkscape engraving settings are shown below. I tend to use a picture of an object like an animal rather than a grayscale chart since it gives me a better result. Tip: engravings can take a long time so start with a small picture. Then we load that generated file into the G-code sender (any will do) and run an engraving. The engraving speed setting is between 7 mm/s for that grayscale and resolution (highest quality and slowest of all settings, others allow you to go faster). I set a Gray scale of 256 and a resolution of 15 pixel (380 dpi). Load a picture into Inkscape and generate an engraving file from the extensions menu. The standard laser tube that came with my K40 worked beautifully with a value of 1024. The $30 setting value depends on the quality and age of your CO2 laser tube. The laser power value is set in the controller by setting $30. Step One: Set the laser power in the Controller. Iterate the following three simple steps until you get the desired end result. Nick kindly lent me his machine so I didn’t have to bring one from Australia or buy one online in the US. While I was at the Makerfaire in San Mateo, I realised during the conversion of Nick’s K40 machine that I hadn’t written instructions on engraving calibration. Engraving calibration by trial and error can be tricky – let’s cover how a reliable process to get your K40 in the right range.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |