DaveyH

I got mine for $175 in the Black Friday saIes - thought this reasonable as it included international postage too. There always appear to be offers on with many laser module suppliers, might be worth asking some how much you could get one for? I chose Endurance as they have a good reputation for after sales support and the website offers a lifetime warranty on the unit I bought.

I have been an avid follower of this thread since its inception but could not justify the cost of the Emblaser. I have instead added an Endurance 3.5w laser module to my Wanhao Duplicator i3 whilst maintaining its ability to 3d print. I do not want to detract from this thread, so have started a separate thread here. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/140857-installing-an-endurance-laser-module-on-my-wanhao-3d-printer/ Happy to assist if anyone else fancies having a go!

Over the Christmas break I have finished a little project. I wanted to add a laser engraving/cutting module to my Wanhao Duplicator i3 v2.1, without losing its ability to 3d print. I had determined to drive the laser with the excellent Lightburn software and, in order to do this, I had to change the firmware on the Melzi board from the odd version of Repetier used by Wanhao to Marlin, thus allowing full integration with the Lightburn software. I bought a 3.5w laser module from Endurance Lasers, a reputedly reliable source with good customer support and, most important of all, simple electronic connections. I have succeeded in this ambition and thought it might be helpful to share the project here so that any interested members can gain an insight into how this was done. The Endurance Laser module comes with a whole range of mounting holes pre-drilled and threaded in the outside casing. The task is to secure this to the lower fan mounting on the Wanhao. I simply drilled appropriately spaced holes for M3 nuts and bolts in a length of 10mm x 10mm aluminium angle, mounted the bracket to the laser module and then bolted the bracket to the fan mount. This only takes a few minutes and provides a secure, reversible mount for the laser which means, of course, that the original fan can be reinstalled in an equally short time. The photo below shows the mounted laser module. The Endurance Laser can be powered by the 12v supply to the Wanhao Duplicator’s cooling fan and, as this provides a controlled Pulse Width Modulation supply, allows the TTL connection of the laser to be very simply wired too. As can be seen in the photograph, the cooling fan connector is wired to the laser positive and negative wires and the white TTL lead on the laser to the positive wire on the laser too. This simple wiring allows full control of the laser intensity through the cooling fan control which, as you will know if you have a Wanhao i3, normally controls the “percentage” of the fan’s power that is being applied. No other electronic connections are necessary, the amperage and current of the Wanhao being adequate to power the 3.5w Endurance Laser. Having downloaded a trial version of Lightburn to do both the design and laser control, it was discovered that this would not work with the unusual version of Repetier that Wanhao install on the i3. In fact, Lightburn will not currently work with any kind of Repetier. I wanted to keep the functionality of the 3d printer so I needed a firmware that would both integrate with Lightburn and the Endurance Laser and also perform 3d printing. The answer was Marlin. A version of Marlin was downloaded from Github and an attempt made to upload it to the Melzi board on the i3. At this stage, it became obvious that there was no bootloader on the Melzi board, so the Arduino IDE was used to burn one. Connecting the Arduino to the Melzi board was fiddly but eminently doable and, with the reset jumper firmly installed on the printer, the bootloader flashed over in seconds. With the bootloader burned on, flashing the Marlin version was easy and finished in short time. I would add here that if you are content to use some of the different free software available to run your laser, such as Inkscape for design and the excellent Endurance or JTech plugins to produce the g-code, the change of firmware is unnecessary. I wanted to use Lightburn so this was unavoidable, but very simple in the end. The integration of the Endurance Laser and the Lightburn software allowed a novice like me to produce some nice things very quickly. The module engraves on most non-metallic surfaces and cuts wood, card and paper with no issues. The thickest I have cut so far is 3mm birch ply. Variable power is applied automatically by the Lightburn software and responded to readily by the laser module, so picture engraving is practical too. The Wanhao runs beautifully on Marlin firmware, both as a laser cutter and as a 3d printer! I would be happy to try and assist any other member who may wish to do this.

The finest nib is 0.25mm which equates to 0.75 inches in the real world in 4mm scale (my maths?). Fine enough for me, but I model for me, not for exhibiting etc., so if it looks right to me, it is right! Davey

I struggled with a bow pen and bought an Easi-liner pen from Chris Arundell. Might be worth considering - I found it much easier to use. http://www.mylocosound.co.uk/?page_id=12 Davey

I am wary of teaching granny etc., but you have have configured GRBL to your cnc machine? When I cnc’d my Proxxon mill I had to invert some of the axis (axes?) to achieve machine homing in the location where I wanted it. The work coordinates system are different... I found the configuration and faq pages of the GRBL depository on github really helpful. If you haven’t read these, I would recommend them. https://github.com/grbl/grbl/wiki/Frequently-Asked-Questions Davey

Dave Before loading the G-code and running the job, you will need to zero the X, Y, and Z axis. Have a look at this page which will explain how to do this on a cubic workpiece. http://www.kronosrobotics.com/cube/ Good luck Davey

Nigel is correct. I used a Digitrax DS64 to Power Kato Unitrack point motors. Quite an expensive solution as the DS64 only has four outputs. I think up to four Unitrack point motors can be powered by each output though - assuming any route setting allows that kind of set up. Davey

I’m in, just a bit late though! Davey

Great stuff, and so quick! Many thanks Davey

This was seen at Penrhyn Castle a few weeks ago but we were unable to find anyone to tell us what species of tree it was. Can anyone here tell us please, we think it gorgeous? Thanks Davey

Angry sky over Snowdonia.

Pontllyfni sunset.

It may be worth looking at DCC++. Simply an Arduino, a motor shield and some very clever free software? You can control locos and accessories and there is a very helpful forum supporting the system too. Some reference to it on Rmweb, but the majority of stuff is at Trainboard.com Davey (Edited to correct spelling)

Encouraged by the skill and invention of others, I had to have a go at this. So here is a cruel close up of a bog standard Hornby Teak after I had completed the pumpkin undercoat and the Oil paint and Liquin top coat. Several coats of Klear for the finish. Despite the somewhat clumsy finish, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed doing it and can, as they say, only get better! Thanks to all for the inspiration.

If the Lenz system has been upgraded to the current version 3.6, you press the “+” or “-“ keys to move between function groups. Function group 1 controls functions 0-9, function group 2 controls functions 10-19 and function group 3 controls functions 20-28. Dave

The existing hole is 2mm internal diameter and I want to add approximately 0.5 mm to slacken off the motion.

I have recently started building brass and white metal locomotive and rolling stock kits in both 7mm and 4mm and have found the whole process really satisfying. I have hit a snag though and I now have the need to file the hole in a 4mm nickel silver coupling rod in order to slightly enlarge it in one direction only. If it was simply to be enlarged all round I would use a broach. I have found the existing files I have are either too large or too soft and I wondered if fellow RMWeb members could advise what files they use for such work and where they may be bought? Thanks Dave

I paid a touch under £11,000 for my current season ticket from Stafford to London. This increase will probably take it over £11,000 when it is next renewed :-(

Not jealous at all - honest :-)

In the last few days I have become aware of a new Silhouette software release called Silhouette Modelmaker. This software allows the user to create using 3D shapes, rotated splines etc, which then are "flattened" by the software and can be cut in card or paper. Shapes can be manipulated through the GUI or using numerical input boxes, whichever you find easier. I downloaded the trial, which will not allow you to save your creations and switches off after every 15 minutes but does allow you to cut straight to your machine (without using Silhouette Studio), and tried some simple shapes. The accuracy of translation from design to cut model was very accurate. It is also possible to add textures to the whole model or to individual faces (where appropriate). I would suggest it may be worth some consideration? Download the trial software https://www.silhouetteamerica.com/modelmaker here and the manual here https://www.silhcdn.com/m/d/software-guides/mm-en.pdf Just a "bodger" with no connections to the company etc................... Dave

Staffordshire Summer 2013.