Darkly Labs emblaser - affordable laser cutter - review

[raymw]

Make a simple jig.  If panel is more or less rectangular, cut it to size first, then jig can basically an 'L' shape of ply/whatever, on a baseplate, located so that arms of L are // to x/y axis of machine. Set origin of x/y at bottom left corner, say. Engrave one side, and flip over when done for other side. Depending on the direction you flip it, the second side will need the drawing inverted or reversed - reset origin on drawing appropriately. Alternatively, use two locating pins into holes through panel, or waste material, instead of 'L' jig.

[Simond]

Ray

 

Thanks - if you look at the "sister" thread about CO2 lasers, you'll see that I've had the odd issue with datum loss, and part of my solution was to create an L shaped locator for the material, much as you suggest. As I have a laser, this was quite easy! On my laser the default "zero" position is top left.

 

Now the difficulty I see is that as soon as you flip your workpiece over, what was the top stays the top, so your "Y" positions are unchanged, but what was your "X" datum, the left edge, is now the right edge, and you are trying to find the position of your now-hidden etching relative to an unknown tolerance / measurement.

 

In principle, you could measure the sheet of material before you cut it, and calculate where the drawn shape should be within it, my guess is that there will be some discrepancies, which will lead to small, but visible, offset between the layers.

 

I think it might be possible to etch on side 1, and then cut the right hand edge off the material, thus creating a datum edge, as you would have a known measurement from the edge of your etch to the cut line. When you flip over to side 2, it should be possible to "find" the position. An exercise to carry out on cornflake packet material, I think.

 

The other solution, which might be ok for open wagons without much detail on the inside, say just planking, is that the etch for the planks can be over length, and parallel to the top edge of the sheet. As the Y datum is automatically correct, it's then easy to flip over, etch the external detail, and then cut any holes (eg for strapping rivets) and then cut the external shape. The holes will have come through in the right positions, relative to the exterior shape. Might try this at the weekend. Strapping can be card. Mmm.

 

Best

Simon

[peter220950]

As usual, talking about something I know nothing about!

 

When I saw the posts regarding registration I too thought it might be possible to 'burn' a mark through in the top LH corner, now not being a CAD man, I thought that a second mark, burned in the top RH corner, would give the appropriate registration mark for the inverted image, which would then again be in top LH corner.

 

Or am I, as usual talking carp?

 

Peter

[teetrix]

I had this problem when designing coaches with interior. My solution was: One part for the outside, one part for the inside, glued back to back. I made the openings for the windows bigger at the inside, so the windows could be inserted from the inside precisely and neat.

 

Michael

Edited April 21, 2016 by teetrix

[eldavo]

To engrave both sides try running the first side drawing including cutting the outline. Without moving the basic material pop out the cut item, turn it over and put it back in the hole it just came from. Run the other side drawing. The only registration error should be the kerf of the laser.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Simond]

Dave

 

Good thought for symmetric pieces (most pieces) - like that!

 

The two layer approach is also effective, but only if the material is thin enough

 

Best

Simon

[raymw]

 

Now the difficulty I see is that as soon as you flip your workpiece over, what was the top stays the top, so your "Y" positions are unchanged, but what was your "X" datum, the left edge, is now the right edge, and you are trying to find the position of your now-hidden etching relative to an unknown tolerance / measurement.

you reverse/mirror  your drawing, keep origin the same on machine. I've milled hundreds of ds pcbs using this method, or similar. If your machine does not consistently return to the origin position, then you need to fix that.  When you are doing the drawing, use a similar method as for  etching, a couple of different coloured layers (red and blue) then, when finished, mirror one layer and change both colours to black, say, if that is what you need. If you are concerned about locating off of burnt rough edges, then drill a couple of holes (with a twist drill) throgh the material and locate on a couple of pins. the 'jig' then consists of a base with two parallel/headless pins, say 3 inches apart, aligned on the x or y axis. When you do your drawings, ensure pin locations are shown,. prior to lasering, drill the holes in the workpiece/waste material. With a bit of thought, you could make the jigs removable, different pin spacing, whatever. It should not be a problem.

 

Not sure about you machine, but I would expect the steppers to mis-step/cogging if driven up to the stops, or there are limit switches or something. You can set the origin off of this position.

[BrushType4]

Simon, are you using Laser Script 5.3 Software?

[Simond]

Hi Phil

 

no, I have "Newlydraw" which is at the chocolate fireguard end of the spectrum.  Doesn't seem to handle multiple layers. I am currrently overlaying manually

 

I do not know if other software will interface with the board in the laser.  I suppose it might, I have drivers, so I should perhaps try. 

 

I should perhaps put this conversation into the CO2 thread.

 

Ray

 

thanks, you are right of course that the datum is critical.  I like the idea of the pins, and I understand about the mirroring of the image - I will continue to experiment!

 

best

Simon

[JCL]

Well, a parcel from Melbourne turned up while I was out. I'm certainly going to read the Emblaser instructions and take this slowly.

 

[JCL]

Well, it took me about 2 1/2 - 3 hours, but I think I'm there. The assembly instructions were great after I'd downloaded them, and I've only a couple of comments to make:

 

- you need a cross head screwdriver, the other tools are included

- if you can't find it, the ribbon is attached to the black aluminium bed of the machine - that might save you 5 minutes :-)

- it wasn't immediately obvious to me which way to inset the the ribbon into the laser assembly. You could read it either way.

- from my IT days, be really careful when inserting the ribbon into the connectors - it's v fragile and easily bent/broken

- when pushing the laser assembly slowly from side to side to lubricate the bars, the top rod fell out of the side bracket. The top of the side brackets splay slightly outwards. Hopefully I've assembled the correctly.

- the corner bearings at the front of the machine - don't forget that two have bearings then a sleeve, the other two have a sleeve then bearings.

 

Apart from my own inattentiveness on the bearings, as I say, it went together really well, and the instructions beat the IKEA ones hands down

 

I think it's time for a cup of tea before I turn the thing on.

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

Jason

[backofanenvelope]

Nicely done Jason.. looking forward to seeing what you do.

[monkeysarefun]

Well, it took me about 2 1/2 - 3 hours, but I think I'm there. The assembly instructions were great after I'd downloaded them, and I've only a couple of comments to make:

 

- you need a cross head screwdriver, the other tools are included

- if you can't find it, the ribbon is attached to the black aluminium bed of the machine - that might save you 5 minutes :-)

- it wasn't immediately obvious to me which way to inset the the ribbon into the laser assembly. You could read it either way.

- from my IT days, be really careful when inserting the ribbon into the connectors - it's v fragile and easily bent/broken

- when pushing the laser assembly slowly from side to side to lubricate the bars, the top rod fell out of the side bracket. The top of the side brackets splay slightly outwards. Hopefully I've assembled the correctly

- the corner bearings at the front of the machine - don't forget that two have bearings then a sleeve, the other two have a sleeve then bearings.

 

Apart from my own inattentiveness on the bearings, as I say, it went together really well, and the instructions beat the IKEA ones hands down

 

I think it's time for a cup of tea before I turn the thing on.

 

image.jpeg

 

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image.jpeg

 

Cheers

 

Jason

 

 

From memory when building mine, the rods were a bit of an effort to push into the left and right carriage mountings, there was a little bit of resistance - but once in they do have a little bit of free play, in that you can slide them about 5mm each way inside the mountings  - so it may be worthwhile rechecking this bit.  Hmm, but then again maybe you got it right and I just pushed too hard!

 

Also, if you have the 4watt unit I assume you set the dip switches on the PCB to all on because by default they are set for the 3W unit  ( I didn't do this so I'm making sure everyone else does!)

 

I have been up in Queensland with work so haven't had a chance to use the emblaser lately but before I went I did have a bit of an issue where on starting a job  the laser would occasionally get halfway to the origin point but then a groaning noise would happen and the laser would commence the job there, as though something had jammed it in its travel. On inspection I found that the strap that holds one of the bearings on the righthand carriage unit had become detached -

 

 

I got in touch with the support desk by email and when I got back from the 1950's - oops, I mean Queensland -  there was a package with both left and righthand brackets, and a little tool for focussing the laser, and an email from Domenic with some revised settings to put into the emblaser to smooth out its traveling to and from the work piece. . After sales support is first class.

Edited April 22, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[JCL]

Cheers Chris, I'll check the dip switches later. I'll also have another look at the bar brackets - I wouldn't say there's much of a friction fit on them. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

A couple of other things:

 

- There are two tiny black screws use do the motor. They are only 4-5mm long and easily lost - I put mine in a saucer on their own.

- Give yourself a lot of space - either the kitchen table or a workbench.

 

I'll fire it up later and test with some card after reading the user manual (which you also download).

 

Cheers

[Giles]

On the whole, I've found that movement in the bars is best avoided. Both my side bars were about 6mm short, and would sometimes move during action, so I packed out the empty space with Milliput so there is no free movement. That, the newer bearings (which I think you have) and slowing the carriage speed down appear to have solved all my problems.

 

Reiterating what has been said before - the after-sales service is second to none!

[JCL]

Thanks Giles - I'll send them a message and see what they think.

[monkeysarefun]

Thanks Giles - I'll send them a message and see what they think.

Note that it is the ANZAC day weekend here so you might not get a response until Tuesday our time.

 

I'll be replacing the two brackets on mine today with the new ones so I'll pay more attention doing it and let you know how it ends up.

 

  This is what Domenic sent me re slowing down the laser travel times:

 

Apologies for this part breaking. I will organise to have replacement sent to you asap.

We have made a small tweak to the Emblaser parameters recently which could help prevent this issue you have experienced. What is actually happening is that the motors are losing steps during very fast moves because of anything from the issue you have found to some tightness in the bearings.

A simple way to eliminate this is to make a small change to some Emblaser parameters. It will require you to run Universal GCode Sender to enter the new values. This is not complicated to run and explained in our User Manual.

When you have it running and are connected to the Emblaser, enter the following commands into the command prompt:

$110=6000

$111=6000

$120=750

$121=750

This slightly reduces and smooths out rapid-moves. It does not affect and speed while your machine is engraving or cutting.

 

And again at the risk of being repetitive, ensure those dip switches are all set to 'on' (ie all 'UP') because it makes a big difference to the cutting power of the laser!

[JCL]

Thank-you everyone. They were good to me before when I asked them to delay posting (because I was in, erm, Queensland), so I'm very happy with them already.

 

I thought I'd test the machine anyway (I couldn't help myself), and cut the default pattern you download from their site with the following result. Obviously the squiggles will be easily rectified once I have the bars sorted (I'll non-destructively wedge them in the short term). I sorted the dip switches out and my laser is firing on all cylinders as it were.

 

 

I will definitely be putting a sheet of chipboard or plywood underneath the aluminium workspace (between the aluminium and the table)

 

My view at the moment is that I'm impressed and excited. As is my lab technician (funnier if he was a lab), who has taken heed of the warning to wear orange glasses.

 

 

Interestingly, as soon as I put on the glasses I was transported to last summer. You'll see from my profile that I'm in British Columbia, Canada. Last summer I was working in some public gardens, and one morning the sky was a deep yellow because of a forest fire that was very close to us. You could only just make out the sun, which was blood red all day, and we spent most of the day indoors because of the poor air advisory. Well those glasses give exactly the same kind of colour shift that I experienced that day.

 

cheers

 

Jason

[JCL]

Ok, the aluminium base was taken off and I found a cutting test file so that I could try to ascertain the right settings for 1.5mm card - the type used for framing pictures.

 

Bearing in mind that there are about four dozen forest fires in BC at the moment, and were only in April, armed with my FIRE EX fire blanket I ran the programs a number of times to try to home in one the settings I need. My first attempts barely scratched the surface, others caused charring and ash to float about (thank goodness for the big red button).

 

In the end, I managed to create a setting of 75%, 450, 3 passes that cut all the way through the card.

 

 

This photo shows the back of the piece that was cut out in the photo above.

 

 

My question would be, is this an expected amount of charring on the back, or should I look for better settings?

 

I've a couple of observations:

• If the Y axis bar was raised so that it was above the x axis double bars holding the laser, then the belt tension would keep everything in line.
• It's really awkward plugging in the power cable and usb cables - it would be a lot better if these sockets faced outwards, especially as that ribbon cable is also in the way.

Observations and support email aside regarding moving rods (Thanks Giles for your suggestion, I've temporarily wedged some kitchen roll up there) I'm loving this. I've a feeling my wife's not going to see much of me for the next few days. You see, there's this GNR coach that I've been thinking about...

 

cheers

 

Jason

Edited April 24, 2016 by JCL

[JCL]

It appears that there's going to be a big announcement next week... https://darklylabs.com/

[monkeysarefun]

For thicker card (1mm and over) I've been tending to leave the power at 100 and just fiddle with the speed. For 1mm card I've found 8mm/sec seems to cut through, and 6mm/sec for 1.5mm card. Both done in a single pass.If you can't cut through the 1.5mm card at these settings it might be worthwhile looking at the focus again - I fiddled with mine for around 2 hours until I got a line about a hairsbreadth, it was worth the effort, tedious is at was to continually remove the shield, quarter-turn the lens, replace shield, draw line, compare with previous line etc etc etc... But - it only needs to be done once!,

 

Reducing the number of passes will reduce the scorching on the rear - here is a test piece of the taskboard that I'm just starting to play with. This is the reverse  of a couple of tests I did at different speeds. The one to the left is 7mm/sec, the one to the right is 10mm/sec and the  middle one which cut clean was 6mm.

 

 

Once I've found that out, I write it down somewhere..

 

I replaced the gantry brackets this morning, and interestingly now I have NO free play in the rods,  even though checking with a depth gauge showed no difference in depth of the rod  holes in the old brackets vs the new.

Edited April 24, 2016 by monkeysarefun

[Giles]

I've not really tried cutting card, so I'm not best placed to comment - but my instinct is that much of it may be caused by the chip-board burning. I use a honey-comb under mine, so I don't get any scorching when I'm cutting ply, anyway.

 

I have found that cutting lettering is often disproportionately 'hot' as it often has too many vectors in it, and it slows the laser up - hence excessive scorching there.....

[monkeysarefun]

I couldn't get the honeycomb aluminium here, unlss I wanted enough to build a casino development and attached airport with, so I used chipboard and bought a cheap A3-ish sized photoframe and fixed the glass out of this to the top of the chipboard with a square of double sided tape at each corner to separate the work-piece from the wood. It seems to work ok, though you still get  the pattern etched through the glass and into the chipboard below.

It also  has the added advantage of being able to be wiped down - I've been doing a fair bit of ply while wearing my ship-modellier hat - and there is a sticky kind of residue built up, I guess from the resin or adhesive in the ply being melted.

[monkeysarefun]

 

Interestingly, as soon as I put on the glasses I was transported to last summer. You'll see from my profile that I'm in British Columbia, Canada. Last summer I was working in some public gardens, and one morning the sky was a deep yellow because of a forest fire that was very close to us. You could only just make out the sun, which was blood red all day, and we spent most of the day indoors because of the poor air advisory. Well those glasses give exactly the same kind of colour shift that I experienced that day.

 

cheers

 

Jason

 

Sunsets are particularly spectacular when laser-cutting in the evenings!

 

[SHMD]

I've just clicked on the darkly's (https://darklylabs.com/) website.

 

 

I don't think I will be able to hold out for too much longer!

 

 

Kev.