3D Printing Forum

Folks, its wonderful! And its Lance from UMForum!

Lasers scare me. As they should. If I mess up some electronics / software, it might ruin a bit of hardware. One mistake with a laser can cost you permanent eye damage.

Safety should be in the first place, it is undeniable. I wonder if he could engrave on metal?

Do you just have the video or did he also publish more details on how he did it? I assume it uses a custom firmware and some driver circuit instead of a feeder motor.

Just saw it in twitter. Nope, but would love to know the details.

UPD:

We should invite him over here

nallath wrote:Lasers scare me. As they should. If I mess up some electronics / software, it might ruin a bit of hardware. One mistake with a laser can cost you permanent eye damage.

We have plenty of lasers at work and I fully agree!

Lasers that are more powerful than class 3B, which engraving lasers most likely will be, are really unsuitable to play with unless you are absolutely sure what you are doing. Both direct and reflected beams can damage your eyes, and you need safety goggles for the actual wavelength of the laser to protect your eyes (most people think that any "laser goggles" will protect your eyes, which is wrong)

It is a really cool project that Labern has there though!

If I played with lasers like that I would build a non transparent hood with ventilation to cover the whole printer. It should have a wavelength-filtering window at the front of and switches that turns of the laser if the hood is removed.

It is definitely a cool project, but I totally agree with what you are saying: laser beams are not toys...
Also beyond the laser light aspects, depending on what you engrave, fumes might not be healthy.

And for myself, I would be more interested in cutting than engraving and that is a completely other game.

Guys, youre right - lasers are damn dangerouse so I DONT want to see a upgrade kit or something like this...
BUT:
I also created a 3W-laser head for my UMO and in the meantime I laser cut a few parts mainly made of paper/cardboard/balsa.
Regarding safety, my recommendation/the way I do is to
1.) mount a fan duct leading from the diode down to the cutting place
2.) close the sides/front of the UMO with some kind of ply
3.) close & lock the workshop door but open the window - and
4.) MOST IMPORTANT: wear protective googles fitting to the wave lengh of the diode

That´s the usual way I work... honestly... I´m really scared how some people play with lasers these days as high power lasers are available at ebay for a few bucks...
Anyway, just my 2 cents

I am actually for some reason more scared by these small 1-3W laser engraving heads for 3d printers than what i am fiddling around with our 100W co2 laser at Stockholm Makerspace in service mode (i.e no safety switches engaged)... probably because with these small lasers people seem to use them as if they were not dangerous at all, but with a large laser tube in a large machine people seem to understand that it is dangerous...

As a pilot I am worried about them being available so widespread. Granted, only a handful of people are irresponsible with lasers. But from an aviation perspective we have a lot of instances of people thinking it is "fun" to aim a laser at an aircraft and blind the pilot

LePaul wrote:As a pilot I am worried about them being available so widespread. Granted, only a handful of people are irresponsible with lasers. But from an aviation perspective we have a lot of instances of people thinking it is "fun" to aim a laser at an aircraft and blind the pilot

You must be abe to drop some bombs in retaliation.

There's only so much a small Cessna can do

If I could afford a military aircraft, I would love one. There's actually a 2-seat MiG-29 for sale! Someday!

Yeah! But you cant rent it! Something like this: