$366 on ebay

Thanks for your Feedback.

I think the jtech especialy because of the very good Service is a good choice, but if i mount a laser on my xc Iam limited in Z.

The laser “System” from laseraxe had more power and Iam not limited in Z, and I Can carve and engrave at the same time on different workpieces.

But i dont know how fast I Can engrave with it.

http://m.laseraxe-customize.com/en/pd.jsp?pid=225&mid=3&groupId=51&desc=false

Great find Joe :+1:

…which begs the question, why couldn’t someone just take the laser off a K40 and mount it on a X-Carve?

I think its possible. if you build a enclosure around the x carve that helps a little. a few custom brackets. maybe mount the laser on the backside of the z gantry so theres less stuff in the way when aligning the mirrors.

Forgot the K40 had mirrors. Thanks.

It has been done! See this thread; Shapeoko CO2 Laser (First Attempt):

That looks cheap and easy

I saw a different hackaday article about someone who bought the k40 and took out the guts and put them in a new enclosure and made it 700x700 iirc.

I ordered my k40, should be here by Monday. I won’t have anything to report right away, but my plan is to upgrade to ramps etc…so I can use gcode, then after sufficient testing ill either expand or build new and transplant. I’ll update progress here as work proceeds.

Pretty excited…

Hopefully this laser will work out for the X-Carve;

This is the best plug and play addition for the K40 IMHO to replace the stock controller.
There are cheaper ways but support and drop in simplicity is worth the extra $.

http://cohesion3d.com/cohesion3d-mini-laser-upgrade-bundle/

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So, the funny thing is, I’ve been on the Google+ K40 site since early this morning, I ran across their controller and spent time on their site and YouTube researching… I actually bought this about 30 minutes ago…

primarily for the same reason you mentioned above, the drop-in simplicity of this board and LaserWeb will eliminate that learning curve, which appears to be steep.

I’ve found that the $340 cutter is a drop in the bucket. The recommended upgrades are air-assist, exhaust system, tube brackets and the coolant pump. I figured those alone would be enough work, so the $99 for the Cohesion3d would be well worth it.

Laser gets here Monday, I’ll post my progress

Congrats!

Really looking forward to seeing this :+1:

@DarrylKegg There is a great group of people who hang out on the G+ group and love to help like the folks here do.

@RobertCanning You have my sincere apologies that the country of Canada discourages the use of CO2 lasers by the public! /sarcasm/

OK, Laser showed up early! Should have been here Monday, brown truck appeared less than an hour ago.

I’ve unboxed, and upon first inspection, I must say, the unit is VERY clean, everything is in English, no dents dings or anything like that.

Interior is clean as well. Working area is small especially if you’re used to the 1000x1000 XCarve. I’ve already started looking at how I would expand the work area.

The only issue is the X axis belting is broken, I can only assume it was attached and since the box arrived on it’s side, and the head wasn’t secured, that a jolt on one end broken the tiny belt. I’ve already contacted the seller.

I won’t get a chance to light it up tonight, hoping to start that process tomorrow…

I’ll get pics posted once I get back home later tonight or tomorrow mid-day.

Here is someone who took his cheap laser and made a cheap CNC!

Ok, long work weekend. Here’s a few pics…

The external case : Fit and finish is spectacular

The interior feels cramped for those of us used to the 1000mm XC :

The right side, under the control panel, is literally empty except for the power supply, and the control board. I’m thinking both will be moving soon. Extending the X carriage into this space is a common upgrade.

I purchased an upgraded head and lens, so I can add air-assist to the cutting, as well as a small air pump.

Pump was $59, nozzle was $22 and lens was $30. So, I’m plus another $100 to the base price right out of the gate.

I hope to have the nozzle, pump and lens this week.

Also ordered a drop-in replacement control board which will allow me to use GRBL instead of their proprietary configuration for controlling the laser with CorelDraw. Another $100.

I’ll post more as time allows.

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K40 Whisperer: Control software for the stock K40 Laser controller with M2nano controller board

http://www.scorchworks.com/K40whisperer/k40whisperer.html

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aJQZqAk_gY8/WWpFwb4zOQI/AAAAAAAAAKM/rGJfhF0yN0siRZweLJp8s2evhlR3BoKpgCJoC/w530-h298-p-rw/k40whisperer_thumb_small.png

K40 Whisperer is an alternative to the the Laser Draw (LaserDRW) program that comes with the cheap Chinese laser cutters available on E-Bay and Amazon. K40 Whisperer reads SVG and DXF files interprets the data and sends commands to the K40 controller to move the laser head and control the laser accordingly. K40 Whisperer does not require a USB key (dongle) to function.

K40 Whisperer is a free open source program released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

K40 Whisperer Features:

  • Reads SVG files and DXF files (DXF support is limited but will be improved shortly)
  • Splits SVG design based on color formating (red,blue)
  • Blue and red paths in SVG files are interpreted as vectors (everything else is transfered as a raster image)
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Thanks! I’ll have to check that out

This is my dream. To have a makerspace with CO2 lazer, 3D printer and my carver. Mabe a large one and a smaller one.