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laser

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 4:20 pm
by gpeck
How hard would it be to install a laser to the shark HD?. I do not know much about laser cutting or what power it would need or where it would get its power from.

Re: laser

Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:43 am
by WoodEraser
Check with next wave as there are now selling the Piranha with a laser and 3D printer heads.

Re: laser

Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2015 11:30 am
by tonybell9699
Did Next Wave ever reply to you?

Re: laser

Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:29 am
by gpeck
They said they were thinking about it .

Re: laser

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 10:59 am
by Jim@HeirloomTable
We're definitely interested in adding laser capability to our shop. Seems to me that it might be possible to attach a laser head to the system, define the offset from the center of the router, and run that, not having to buy another table, guide and motor movement set.

Anyone heard of this being possible? Thx!

Re: laser

Posted: Tue May 24, 2016 4:55 pm
by Rando
Jim@HeirloomTable wrote:We're definitely interested in adding laser capability to our shop. Seems to me that it might be possible to attach a laser head to the system, define the offset from the center of the router, and run that, not having to buy another table, guide and motor movement set.

Anyone heard of this being possible? Thx!
Jim: I sent you a PM regarding this question ;-)

Re: laser

Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 6:38 am
by NewAgent45
If you are running a Shark there is an interface for the laser http://shop.nextwaveautomation.com/shop ... itemid=160 that is available for interfacing the Piranha laser module. Check to make sure your controller is compatible with the interface.

I'm away in vacation. Please excuse the lack of detail.

Hope this helps.
... Rod

Re: laser

Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 11:57 am
by Rando
Good find, NewAgent45!

Looks minimally invasive, so not that hard to connect up. I called Tech support and got the low-down. The multi-colored cable plugs into the controller board's router on/off connector (in place of what now goes to the solid-state relay), and then the cables and such go up to the laser controller block. I'm guessing they also say to drill a 1/2" hole and mount the connector in that. The small PCB with connectors attaches to the laser controller board. It does On/Off, but not PWM intensity control, but in many cases that's not so much an issue.

Regards,

Thom

Re: laser

Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 3:15 pm
by NewAgent45
Thom

I'm seriously thinking of adding the laser to my machine. But, it probably won't be in my buget till later this year.

As I understand the laser power/intensity is modulated from the spindle speed signal.

There are some other posts on this forum that discuss this.

Have a great day!
Rod

Re: laser

Posted: Thu May 26, 2016 2:33 am
by Rando
NewAgent45 wrote:Thom

I'm seriously thinking of adding the laser to my machine. But, it probably won't be in my buget till later this year.

As I understand the laser power/intensity is modulated from the spindle speed signal.

There are some other posts on this forum that discuss this.

Have a great day!
Rod
You're right, normally the spindle speed PWM signal sets the laser intensity. Unfortunately for we HD2/3 users, the controller card's PWM output doesn't work. I worked with Joe for several weeks (he does the control panel programming) trying to get the PWM signal to work, and we were not able to make it work on the HD-series controllers. Piranha controllers I believe do have this, so maybe that's what they're talking about.

Regards,

Thom