After much delay and I have to say patience from Banggood, I am now putting together this A3 laser engraving machine. Nearly done and today, the actual 500mW module itself has arrived complete with its own power supply (the laser which was not included in the basic kit). Meanwhile, assembling the kit looked like a day’s work so I figured I’d better get on with it. Mechanics all done but at this point I’m not seeing how to dim the laser.
Essentially the unit comes as a well-packed set of 3 motors, various aluminium tubes, a host of pre-cut Perspex pieces and an unfeasible number of nuts, bolts, retainers, wheels and various spacers. I opened the box maybe 9am Friday morning and spent the rest of the day constructing.
At first it all looks a little daunting but that apprehension soon goes away, It did not take long to reach the stage where a whole table was needed to hold all the parts but by mid-day I’d cracked the back of this. I also broke one of the Perspex fastener/tensioners however. Thank heavens for Gorilla glue. I hope it is strong enough. Seems to be up to now, days later.
Two of the three motors move the laser assembly forward and backward (left and right sides). The third motor is mounted with the laser and moves the latter left and right.
No documentation came with the unit but the Banggood site has construction info, software and drivers. What you see here are my own photos, in the link below, you’ll see the construction photos available, which I used to help me assemble the unit. The images in their docs are good but I was left in doubt as to where to mount the small electronic control box on the front aluminium support beam because other suppliers showed the box mounted vertically whereas in the Banggood-supplied revision, the box mounts horizontally. This box needs some trivial assembly which only takes a few minutes. I do not have detailed wiring information but it looks fairly simple. A power supply is provided. No info as to whether to mount this somewhere or leave lying on the bench (unless I missed something). Similarly (now the laser is here) I’ve no idea where to put its supply but I’ll figure that out as I go along.
http://wiki.eleksmaker.com/doku.php?id=elekslaser_a3_pro
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