laser engraving was Re:Smart Box / Dumb Box

Wally wrote:
<snip>Hi Greg, I have some interist in laser engraving. A friend of

>mine is trying to build a Co2 laser and we wanted to do some
>engraving and cutting with it.
>What software are you talking about. Do you have any other info
>that would be of help.

Wally,

I'm not Greg but do have something to add. Commercial laser engraving
systems 'tie' the power level of the laser to the feedrate. This is
so you don't 'burn wider' when you slow down at curves/ corners. Much
of our lower end CNC software will not have provisions for this.

You could add a circuit that sits between the stepper pulse output
and the machine. It would pass the pulses through (for the motor
drives) and use the RATE(s) of the XY to determine a suitable setting
for the laser.

Of course if you are writing your own control, you would do this in
the S/W.

Many years back, I built a Co2 laser (from resource unlimited plans,
the LC5). It worked ok, but was a bear to operate/maintain. I sure
like the sealed tube synrad lasers when there's work to be done! MUCH
more expensive, but reliable as the Sun. YMMV.

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

P.S. nowadays you can sometimes find older Co2 laser tubes, and
sometimes the whole thing, through the surplus market. These will
often be old medical lasers in the 10-50 watt range. OK for plastic
and wood.