This is the future. We live in the world of 3D printers and laser cutting machines. Have you ever thought about buying yourself a laser cutting machine? Well [Erich Styger] just bought a 50-watt laser cutting machine from AliExpress and wrote a detailed guide for his experience.

[Erich] I have been troubled by the idea of ​​buying one for a while, but it was delayed due to operational difficulties. This situation changed when [Scorch] released the K40 Whisperer control software to better control these machines. With the hope of an interesting weekend project, [Erich Styger] achieved a leap of faith and spent 900 US dollars to purchase a 4040 laser cutting machine.

In his blog, he detailed the steps to set up the machine and calibrate the laser. With a large number of images and detailed introduction to all aspects of leveling and testing, [Erich Styger] spent a fulfilling weekend and used a working K40 laser cutting machine for his workshop. But perhaps the more valuable part of the story is the overall experience.

This is not a "what you see is what you get" command, but it turns out that it is indeed a hacker's "what you want is what you get" adventure. The machine is not the same as the picture. Inside is a burned CD-R, which is filled with small parts (in addition, a USB flash drive and silicone sealant are shipped separately), and there are some mechanical modifications and stuck switches that need to be reassembled. He has done an excellent job of recording from order to trial run, and these photos alone are worth seeing.

Add value to cheap laser cutting machines in projects that often appear nearby. If you are looking for more detailed information about these great machines, be sure to check out more stories about cheap laser cutting machines and our report on the K40 Whisperer software released last month.

For this price, is there any evidence that it is actually 50 watts? I don't know much about lasers, but I know its power is quite high, and if I remember correctly, $900 is also very cheap for one.

Generally speaking, the beam width of the laser cutting machine is very narrow, while the power of the laser engraving machine is low.

In fact, the energy output of the laser tube has reached its limit before the power dial reaches 100%. Obtain an 80W tube and slowly increase the power from 10% to run it below the optimal depth penetration setting. This value is far from the label on the machine, and is usually about 60% for a 50W power supply.

If the tube is operated beyond the actual power limit, it will only shorten the life of the tube.

Reminder: The machine with rated power above 100W should have a pipe nearly one meter long, which protrudes from one side of the shell. Small desktop computers are usually too short to fit a real 60W tube.

Labels in China say what customers want, but there are more honest sellers than organized crime scams. I would rather pay a small factory that does a good job than pay to a local middleman. However, invest $10 in GFI... Please add your own additional grounding wire before plugging the water cooling unit into a GFI plug purchased from a local retail outlet.

I just checked the pictures in the blog post carefully, the laser PSU is huge. Much greater than the power required by a 50W (25W) machine.

I upgraded my machine to a 100W high-spec electronic tube, and its power supply is smaller than that.

The problem with buying this type of machine is... Unless you only want to cut thin wood, paper, and acrylic, you will soon exceed the capacity of the machine, and it will be difficult to upgrade the mechanical structure of the machine to be larger and more powerful Of the tube.

My 100W RECI tube (it is twice the diameter of the original "50W" tube, I doubt it is possible to install the width of the larger tube into this chassis. I do have to make some modifications to my machine, but only to adapt to the new The length of the tube (approximately 50 cm long, which is 60% length), because my machine has a larger laser cabinet.

These types of laser cutting machines are never really 50W.

If you watch Russ (Sarbar Multimedia) video on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQDCy-mPNqA

Especially this video "RDWorks Learning Lab 22 50 Watt Fraud Lessons"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQDCy-mPNqA

Russ explained that these machines, even his bigger and more expensive machines, are not 50W

I have a bigger machine, its tube is basically the same, can only be pushed to about 35W output

God knows which corners they cut to reduce the price to $900. Remember these things have a power supply that can generate 15kV...

Russ's video is well worth the time, although he is a bit long-winded. Some may not be suitable for this particular tool, because it does not have a Ruida controller, which is actually not bad.

Ha, old CRT monitors can also output 15Kv, and those you can buy at a fairly cheap price. Oh, think about it, they also have a big glass tube, I want to know whether a decent TV tube is more difficult to manufacture than a laser in terms of manufacturing.

Yes. CRT color TV uses 24Kv, which is higher than the voltage that the tube will use.

However, the regulation of consumer electronics means that the TV you buy will comply with the electrical safety regulations of your place of residence.

These laser cutting machines violate many safety regulations unless you modify them.

There are many posts on the forum, and people found that the HT connection with the pipe is just winding the wire around the metal pin and applying some glue on it. This is very loose and you will end up in a fatal situation.

The blog states that "the high-voltage connection of the tube looks the same as many other connections I've seen: the connection is made with silicone-filled wires (very strange, but this seems to be the standard way):"

If you also take a closer look at the photos in the blog, for example

https://mcuoneclipse.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/laser-tube-high-voltage-connection.png?w=584&h=458

You will see that the red HT wire is not far away from the water pipe.

If you know what you are doing, these machines are fine, but if you don’t know, they can be fatal

Erich's blog is a Cortex-M post worth visiting. His article on Kinetis tools saved me from frustration at work.

Can you post a link to that blog?

https://mcuoneclipse.com/?s=cortex&submit=Search

Does anyone remember that "K40" refers to a very good car CB antenna?

You can still get them: http://www.k40antennas.com/

Imagine I have to read 1,001 uses of laser cutting machines.

Does anyone know what the import tariffs are for these things?

In Sacramento, California. Purchased a 500me 405nm diode, and there is no tariff. But the friend who sells clothes said that it depends on whether the customs has opened the box. But he is also a Chinese manufacturer.

thanks. Well, I think the laser cutting machine is a big box, won't they open it systematically or perform X-ray inspection on it? Also, given the content of the report, wouldn't they check the box? Or are you randomly suggesting customs check boxes, even if they know the contents?

As far as I know, they don’t check pure freight traffic so much, and of course they don’t have the time and resources I expected, because the amount of goods arriving every day is staggering, and they spot checks and use known suspicious indicators, such as source and type tags, etc. Is the only way. The focus is on drug (recreational and non-recreational) and human trafficking as well as large-scale expensive brand counterfeit and chemical products, and a large number of counterfeit machinery/electronic parts for mass sales. In addition, they should also conduct inspections in the country of origin before boarding the ship. They will do so to prevent major incidents from happening, so as to avoid the consequences of being hit by sanctions and being kicked out of the WTO.

I am ordering something to be delivered to MA. It turns out that free shipping is to the seaport, you have to arrange the delivery yourself and pay customs duties. I have no experience in this area. Or pay another $650 and DHL will deliver it to your door. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

Would love to know the result of your transportation dilemma...

Short story: I finally chose DHL, which increased by $650. To make a long story short: I have been warned by experienced people that taking things from customs can be a risk. Four days later, the DHL guy had no sense of ritual. He rolled it onto my garage door and threw it away with a bang. Although the most fragile plywood box was opened and there was no filler, the whole thing looked good and the tube was intact. I started to power it up... This was when I realized that the guy had sent me a 220V version! Okay, after spending another $90 a week later, I have a step-up transformer. To my surprise, the laser worked well from the first attempt. I used Inkscape and Whisperer. What a happy story! Wait... to make a long story short: now I am thinking of something useful, I can use it.... wait! Why not mess up the software a little bit? I tried to load some things they had on the disk, but a hundred strange Chinese websites appeared. I panicked and gave up. Now I'm on the radar! In all of them! A day later, when I proudly showed the laser to my friend's children, I noticed a drop in power. So I turned it up...and then...up. It turns out that even with severe vibration, the pump did not pump anything and the tube was overheated. The output mirror fell off, and there was a terrible hole in its glass shell that was blasted by a laser. Water is everywhere... sad. But I don’t think it can work without that mirror! That's the so-called science... don't go there. After $250 in three weeks, I have a brand new 82cm tube. The same size, but the mirror is now installed in a beautiful shiny stainless steel end cap. It looks great. I took out the old tube, but the new tube is really not 82 cm but 85 cm. It does not fit! After another week, a 4-inch hole was drilled on the positive end of the tube, and a large bump was printed to protect and isolate the tube that is now happily protruding from the laser body. I also learned my lesson and added water flow meters and temperature sensors to both ends of the pipe. The giant Arduino and 3-inch screen make it look as cool as a Tesla on track. I also added an analog ammeter, so I do not exceed 20ma. I don’t know why it’s 20, but I’ve heard rumors about people overheating and blasting mirrors... crazy stuff. Now I am ready! Turn it on...and...and...where is the beam? ? ? The new tube is seriously inaccurate and may be trying to blast another hole somewhere. They fixed the pipe with tin cans and straps made of rubber blocks. It's cheap and smart, I can connect with it, somehow it even worked. But it is really difficult to align. So I spent another week designing and printing a suitable adjustable bracket, and now I can slide the tube back and forth. Finally everything is ok, I was wondering what useful things I can do with it? How about a cool beer mug for my friend? Ah! I need a spinning thing! Yes!

To be continued. Work is in progress.

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