axCut DIY laser cutter

Damian Axford is developing new open source DIY laser cutter. axCut is influenced by nopheads Mendel90, BuildLog 2.x and Lasersaur. It is still under development but it looks very promising. I'll follow the project since I'm getting more and more interested in laser cutters.

axCut project requirements:

• 40W CO2 laser (with space to upgrade to at least 80W - i.e accommodate a 1000mm tube with water cooling)
• Bed size to accommodate A1 stock - design files use 850mm x 600mm with 30mm margin all round
• Fully enclosed
• Allow for pass-through (i.e. very long items)
• Allow for high/tall items and "autofocus" via motorised bed (150+mm travel)
• Have unobscured front access for loading/unloading parts
• Bench-top design (may integrate a bench at a later date)
• Side connections for extraction and cabling (i.e. power, usb)
• Investigate using reprap s/w stack vs Mach3 - I'd really like to leverage as much as possible from the reprap community (e.g. modified sprinter firmware)
• Budget target of £1500 (max £2000)

http://axrap.blogspot.com/

axCut GitHub repository with all the files:

https://github.com/Axford/axCut

You can learn more about Lasersaur cutter that inspired axCut here:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/09/lasersaur-open-source-laser-cutter.html

Pictures of axCut: