It's Still Alive!

Thank you. That will help alot.

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I just wrote a small g-code as a test that runs the router around the perimeter of the machine then diagonal from corner to corner, up the side then diagonal in the other directionā€¦followed by a series of concentric circles. It flies at 1000 IPM on the straights and diagonals, then slows down to 650IPM on the circles (due to acceleration settings). The new belts and motors really made a huge difference. The big test will be tomorrow when I run a few test carves. I plan to start with a roughing pass with a 0.25" endmill at 250 IPM :slight_smile: we shall see.

I am charging my camera now so I will do a video of the test moves in the morning and post it.

What do you think @Zach_Kaplan? 1000 IPM travel on an X-Carve :slight_smile:

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So if you had just changed motors and kept the smaller GT2 belts, what do you think you would be expecting speed-wise? Iā€™m debating about upgrading my motors when I switch to the linear Z axis but the belting hadnā€™t necessarily crossed my mind.

I ran it at 750 IPM on the 6mm belts. IT seemed to run fine, I did no test to see if the belts were stretching or anything, so no idea how accurate it was. I was concerned about the 6mm belts not being able to hang at those speeds which is why I upgraded to 9mm belting.

Will the G-Shield controller or X-Controller run at those speed? No ideaā€¦I have the Gecko G540, so I have no idea if they will push it around at those speeds.

Also, I did run the Z-Axis at 200 IPM, but that was just ridiculous, so I turned it back down.

What kind of steppers?

I am using 269 oz/in nema 23s now.

True. Iā€™d hope the Xcontroller could do similar since itā€™s got a 4A rating. I might experiment. Iā€™m interested to see your cutting results as Iā€™d be more interested in being able to cut deeper and faster if I upgraded.

Your upgrades are impressive though.

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Ok, I was not able to do a test carve today as the wife had me busy doing other things. I did manage to do a quick video of the machine runningā€¦here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmj2mArlQoQ&feature=youtu.be

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Today I finished up the black acrylic dust shields with a strip of LEDs across the topā€¦

I may have to get some sort of diffuser for the lights as they are actually uncomfortably bright to sit in front of the machine.

I also wanted to try etching a slate coaster with the laser, I was not sure if it would work or not, but I was pleased with the test.

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Depending on the led, you could sand the lens (or whatever you would call it) of the led with fine sandpaper to diffuse the light

These are the tiny surface mount onesā€¦there are 60 per sideā€¦no way to sand these :slight_smile:
Iā€™ll find some frosted cover for them if I can find some.

I have done the same with a 10" 1x0.5 bit if pine I had. Just stapled some sandpaper to it and sanded them. It took maybe 5 minutes to do 2x 2.5 metre strips of LEDs, but thatā€™s just because Iā€™m a maniac and kept checking they were even

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@jasonDorie - Did the Harry Potter coasters with his 100W laser, so I had to try it with the J-Tech, I was pleased. He also said he just ordered them from Amazonā€¦I grabbed a set of round ones for testing, I think it was $12.

How thick was your acrylic and where did you purchase it?Thank you.

I ordered it from: http://www.professionalplastics.com/

It is extruded 1/4" thick.

You could possibly use the spray for frosted glass.

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ā€œSlate coastersā€ on Amazon will turn up a bunch, as will ā€œblank slate coastersā€ in Google. There are variations in the extras, like some have felt backing where others are just little dots of EVA foam for feet, but the slate itself seems reasonably consistent.

The round ones I am using are from Amazon, they have nice felt ā€œfeetā€ on them, seem like they are decent quality.