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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:

The Pegasus Touch team found out another use for their printer. UV laser can etch UV sensible PCB boards to make surface for electronic components. Pegasus Touch will get software upgrade to implement this function.
This could become standard feature in all UV laser equipped stereolitographic 3d printers, their software and drivers need some simple upgrades which will hopefully be provided by manufacturers or third parties.



One commentator on Hackaday noted:

Neat, but useful?
Currently I print my board on two transparencies, then aligning them on the UV-sensitized board, then placing whole thing under a UV light source. Two minutes of work followed by five minutes of wait?
This new method would have me remove the resin tank, align and mount the PCB to the build platform (double sided tape?), convert my gerbers to a jpg/bmp, then finally print to the 3D printer?
IF it’s saving time/money, it doesn’t appear that significant. Maybe if mounting and aligning the PCB was very quick and easy? Although I’m imagining a frustrating process involving double-side tape and wasted copper clad trying to correct the alignment.

So, this function could be useful in some situations and usage scenarios, but you will get the PCB etching job done faster if you are experienced user. This upgrade is simple software addon, so it is nice to have some extra features in a single machine.

Learn more about Pegasus Touch SLA 3d printer:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2014/01/pegasus-touch-laser-sla-3d-printer.html

If you want to print circuits on your FDM printer you can try this:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/12/3d-printable-electronic-circuit.html

or get http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/12/cartesian-co-ex-desktop-electronic.html

Laser Stereolithography 3d printers are getting more advanced and more developed for prosumer / DIY consumer market. XFab has some nice specs and several different materials choices which give broad spectrum of 3d printed object properties.






Technical Specifications:

• 3D printing method: Laser Stereolithography
• Working area: Ø 180×180 mm
• Laser source: Solid State BlueEdge® BE-1300X
• Slice thickness: 10-100 microns
• Minimum feature size: 80 microns
• Scanning method: Galvanometer
• Software: XFAB Controller, Nauta™ XFAB Edition (proprietary software)
• Input file format: .stl, .slc
• Machine size: 420x638x590 mm
• Operating Temperature and Humidity: 22°-25°C/60%
• Power supply: AC 230/115V/50-60 Hz
• Price: it is around $5,000, but the company will produce smaller version for some $2,500
• Proprietary cartridges priced between $200 and $400.

XFab DWS Lab Print materials:

• Standard acrylate, amber for general purpose
• ABS-like, grey, High-impact resistant, functional parts, snap-fit, casings
• ABS-like, white, High-impact resistant, functional parts, snap-fit, casings
• Polypropylene-like, Flexible, snap-fit, casings, components, lab equipment
• Rigid opaque, grey, Prototypes, toys, high-detail models, marketing models
• Transparent,Clear prototypes, liquid flow visualization, light cases
• Ceramic nano-filled, light blue, Static thermal resistance tests, high definition models
• Rubber-like, black, Handles, gaskets, footwear, ergonomic tests, functional parts
• Rubber-like, transparent, Functional parts, medical devices

It is not 3d printing if it 's not nano scale 3d printing.



From video description:

After his studies in mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology, Jan Torgersen started his phd work at the Insitute of Materials Science and Technology. Jan's field is Additive Manufacturing Technologies; the technology involved in 3D printing. He developed a new printer that is able to produce nano-scaled objects suitable for numerous applications in photonics, surface modifications and biomedical engineering. This printer is currently the fastest of its kind and brings the technology closer to industrial applications. How it works got illustrated recently by a video that went around the world, showing the construction of a racing car model in the scale of a human hair.

In the video, a race car with dimensions of 330x130x100µm3 is fabricated. The structure consists of 100 layers, each made of an average of 200 polymer lines. It is finished in 4 minutes and resembles the CAD file at a precision of ±1µm.

More details on TU Wien page:

http://www.tuwien.ac.at/en/news/news_detail/article/7444/








Here is Korean concept for 3d printing nanobots:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/09/3d-printing-nanobots.html

Video of a DIY project where a WickedLasers Spyder Arctic 3 laser is attached to the gantry of SeeMeCNC delta configuration Rostock Max 3D printer and used to etch patterns into leather. Cool!

Full Spectrum Lasers is developing this laser SLA 3d printer. Lasers are way to go. This is also a great example how advancements in one technology, like cheap blue ray laser diodes, leads to advancement in another technology like 3d printing.

Technical specifications:

• 3D Technology: 405nm scanning galvo laser liquid resin stereolithography
• Build area: up to 7”x7”x9” (177x177x228mm)
• Case Footprint: 11"x14"x22.5" (280x360x571mm) 
• Processor: Built in 1GHz Linux computer with 512mB memory and 4.3” Touchscreen LCD Interfaces: Ethernet, USB, WiFi (requires optional USB dongle) 
• On Board Software: Built in on-board Internet Connected 3D Printer App Store (no computer required) 
• Desktop Software: Tightly integrated multi-touch capable desktop software with automatic slicing and automatic breakaway support generation with manual editing support for Windows PC (Mac coming soon) 
• Speed: up to 3000mm/sec (>10x faster than most FDM, up to 6x faster than other SLA)
• Focused Laser Spot Size: ~250 microns 
• XY Positioning Resolution: 16bit precision, ~3 micron 
• Z Motor Resolution: ~5 micron (typical layer thickness 25-100 micron)

Habu is combination of dual extruder 3d printer and detachable laser cutter / engraver. It is home brew DIY printer made by Reddit user Ridgeback111.

























From the Habu description:

It's based on a hybrid Mendel90 / Prusa i3. It has dual extruders and a laser cutter. Took about two months to design and build. The plastic parts were printed on a Printrbot Jr.

Technical specifications:

200x200x200mm build volume, custom designed/printed dual filament extruders holding J-Head Mark-V hotends with dual 40mm cooling fans, 80mm print cooling fan/with custom bio hazard grill, 1.7W laser cutter(jtechphotonics)/(able to hack through/etch paper, plastics and 1/4" wood), MK3 aluminum heated bed, six(!) Nema17 stepper motors, Megatronics V2 computer with DRV8825 1/32 step motor drivers, all extruded aluminum construction, GT2 timing belts/gears, M8 Z drive screws on vibration dampening couplers, all axis movements are tracked by gantry plates with precision rails and matching (ball bearing) wheels. This printer will print PLA, ABS, HIPS, PVA, Nylon, etc... Foot print is 20 inches wide x 22 inches deep x 17 inches tall.

Habu cutting balsa wood:




Reddit thread about the printer:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Reprap/comments/1sbryk/my_home_brew_3d_printer_and_laser_cutter_combo/


Openbuilds page on the Habu:

http://www.openbuilds.com/builds/dual-extruder-3d-printer-and-laser-cutter-combo.291/

Smart people of Uni Postdam made this hand guided laser cutter. User draws with laser pointer and laser cutter follows the path. There are different laser pointer types for different materials which trigger different operations by laser cutter.







Project homepage:

http://www.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/baudisch/projects/constructable.html

Detailed paper in PDF:

http://www.stefaniemueller.org/wp-content/themes/f8-lite/images/constructable/2012-uist-mueller-lopes-baudisch-constructable.pdf

Some attempts at DIY laser sintering from 2010 with a 250mW laser, plastic powder and thermo-gel. It was noted that 1kg of powder costs about 3-5 Euro and 50ml of gel cost about 5-6 Euro. Since then some advancements were made by other in the field., but it is interesting to see early experiments.

Adding laser cutting or engraving to your 3d printer will make it into much more powerful tool and let's face it: everything is infinitely cooler with some lasers on it.

Here are two solutions if you want to transform your 3d printer into tabletop miniature Death Star and decide to laser cut / engrave some shapes or engravings into balsa, acrylic, Mylar or other suitable material ...

Universal Laser Attachment for 3D Printers Stand Alone System

Is freely available rough project with code and schematics published on Thingiverse. You will need more hands-on previous experience with Arduino programming, electronics, soldering, laser diodes and putting it all together.































http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:140663
by James Sesler (http://www.youtube.com/user/MrInventWorld?feature=watch).
It is work in progress and further upgrades and refinements are possible.

Laser-Bot Personal Manufacturing System by J Tech Photonics

This is more advanced finished commercial laser kit with laser diode and amp driver board that is compatible with several printers like some RepRaps, Makerbot Replicator 2 and 2X, Felix Printers and Makerbot Thing-O-Matic.
They provide their own G-code "LaserEngraver" plugin to convert Inkscape drawings.

Laser Bot hardware setup

Laser Bot workflow

Here is their laser kit cutting balsa wood:





Here is a video of it in action cutting thin Mylar transparency film sheet into soldering stencil.

Laser diode head

Kit is priced slightly over 220 USD.

Technical specifications from product page:

This kit is a combination of the popular 1.7W 445nm Laser Diode Component and the 2.0 Amp matching laser driver kit with a 12V adapter. This includes everything you need to get your laser up and running in your product or project. We now even cable the laser with a Mini Fit Jr. connector at 2.5 feet to make it even easier to hook everything up! The kit includes:
1.7W 445nm Laser Diode Component (now with 2.5′ Mini Fit Jr. Connector Cable included)
2.0 Amp Adjustable Laser Diode Driver Kit, 8V Compliance
Power Adapter 12V 2A, US Style Plug
Laser Specifications:
This multi transverse mode laser diode component is pressed fit mounted in an aluminum housing and has an aluminum mountable heat-sink. The front of the component contains a glass collimating lens for the laser output.
Absolute Maximum Ratings:
Item Absolute Maximum Ratings Unit
Forward Current (Tc = 25°C) 1.7 A
Allowable Reverse Current (Tc = 25°C) 85 mA
Operating Case Temperature 50 °C

Electrical / Optical Characteristics
Item Min Typ. Max Unit
Optical Output Power 1.6 W
Dominant Wavelength 435 455 nm
Threshold Current 80 220 mA
Operating Voltage 3.7 5.5 V
Beam Divergence Full Anlge (1/e^2) // 5 14 25 deg.
Beam Divergence Full Anlge (1/e^2) – Perp 30 44 50 deg.
Driver Overview:
2 Amp Version, 12V adapter Kit
This version of the popular High Current Laser Driver offers up a lot of current in a small package for an excellent price. The design team perfected several versions of this driver to give a quality current source with a large compliance voltages with both adapter choices to be able to work with most every laser diode. They packed it with multiple features and made it capable of interfacing with even the oldest of your equipment in your lab or the newest wiz bang in your product or system. This version includes a 12V power adapter that will provide 8 volts at maximum load of 2 amps. This can be used to power higher voltage laser diodes in the 4-7 volt range like the 445nm laser diode component. It can also power IR laser diodes in the 2-4 volt range, but it might need additional cooling fan if left on for extended amounts of time.
This driver will provide 1 amp of constant regulated and protected current to the diode. Configurable current limits with jumpers for 0.5 and 1.0 amp settings and adjustable output with an analog trim pot. It also can be remotely controlled with an opto isolated input with a super huge range of acceptable voltages for turning your driver on and off. Does your equipment in your project or system that you want to interface with have backwards logic? No problem! There is a jumper for choosing inverted or non inverted logic as well! Perfect for integrating into any final product or project.

Features:

High power current source for driving Laser Diodes and Light Emitting Diodes.
Current Range of 2 Amps.
Current Ranges are adjustable in 500ma increments.
No need for extra cooling at maximum load. (depends on power adapter and compliance voltage.)
Soft start for diode protection.
Reverse diode and ESD protection.
Thermal Protection and Over Current Protection.
Compact Size.
CW Mode and Input Control Mode.
Digitally isolated control input.
Control from CW to 5KHz.
Configurable Input signal: Inverting /Non-Inverting.
Multiple connector options for both Laser/LED output and control input.
LED status lights for input laser enabled and laser on.
Optional fan for extra thermal stability.
Specifications:
Specification HCDBSA 2 AMP
Current Source Range: 0 – 2 Amps
Current Limit Jumper Settings: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 Amps
Compliance Voltage w/7.5V adapter: 3.5 Volts
Compliance Voltage w/12V adapter: 8 volts
Current Resolution: 0.1%
Current Adjustment: Analog Trim Pot
Current Range Accuracy Always greater than limit, no more than 15%
Laser Diode Protection: Soft Start, Reverse Voltage, Current Limit, Thermal Shutdown
AC Adapter Input Voltage: 100 – 240 VAC
Control Signal Digital Isolation Voltage: 4500 Vrms
Minimum Control Signal ”Turn On” Voltage: 2.8 Volts
Control Signal Maximum Voltage: 36 Volts
Control Signal Maximum Current: 50 ma
Control Signal Maximum Frequency: 5KHz
Connectors: Screw Terminal and Molex Mini-Fit Jr™ Connectors
Operating Temperature: 0 to 40 °C
Storage Temperature: -40 to 70 °C
Dimensions: 2.85″ x 2.1″

Full construction instructions:

http://www.instructables.com/id/MicroSlice-A-tiny-Arduino-laser-cutter/?ALLSTEPS

http://thelittlebox.co/

From the source:

By caging bacteria in microscopic houses, scientists at The University of Texas at Austin are studying how communities of bacteria, such as those found in the human gut and lungs, interact and develop infections.
In a recent experiment they demonstrated that a community of Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause some skin infections, became more resistant to antibiotics when it was contained within a larger community of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria involved in various diseases, including cystic fibrosis.
The work was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers use a novel 3-D printing technology to build homes for bacteria at a microscopic level. Their method uses a laser to construct protein "cages" around bacteria in gelatin. The resulting structures can be of almost any shape or size, and can be moved around in relationship to other structures containing bacterial microcommunities.
The method should enable an entirely new class of experiments that better approximate the conditions that bacteria encounter in actual biological environments, such as those in the human body.

Source and detailed info:

http://phys.org/news/2013-10-d-scientists-bacterial.html

Moritz Walter presents his DIY laser resin 3d printer. Video shows first print and basic information about it, I hope more details will follow.




From video description:

The very first print on my diy 3d laser printer. It should be a cube but it's just a small quadratic mess ;) It's using a 500mw 405nm laser on a custom made stepper motor driven xy-mirror deflection system. Using steppers instead of galvos might be unconventional, but saves you the necessity of high accuracy DACs in addition to a row of calibration steps and DSP. Steppers work just fine OOB with optical endstops while delivering quiet good accuracy proven on many FDM-machines out there. The z-Stage works well with a 0.9° stepper motor, but the surface of the print stage's not sticky enough to pull out the printed part out of the ptfe-covered vat.

However, mind that this is only a very first test, I only spilled a small spot of the expensive Spot-HT resin in the middle of the vat for testing the basic principle and functionality. All stepper motors are driven by a TB6560 based driver board. Main power source is a 300W pc power supply. I have implemented a fresh but teacup-flavored gcode-interpreter and a fully custom firmware on a chipkit max32 board, which offers speedy 80 MHz of floating point calculations for high-resolution vectorial mapping, pre-warping of incoming gcode and of course the necessary look-ahead, that is necessary for acceleration/deceleration.

Eventually it could achieve far more than 10.000 mm/s travel speed while still being able to pulse width modulate the laser intensity corresponding to it's current travel speed. For that, I will have to replace the current diy op-amp powered level shifter between the Max32 and the stepper driver with a FET-powered version, but for now it's running quiet well. In the video it's running at a low speed 500mm/s with a slow acceleration setting. Right now for testing I am using slic3r and the repetier host. Repetier is great, but one should really use skeinforge for professional printing. As you might have noticed the housing is a red IKEA box, which apparently seems to perfectly shield the 405nm laser light when closed (no guarantee for that, be careful with your eyesight when experimenting with lasers more than 1 mw). Thanks for watching, leave your comment, I'll be glad to see similar builds out there!

My lasersaur inspired 80w laser cutter. from Isaiah Bellais on Vimeo.



Lasersaur cuts Lasersaur from jody culkin on Vimeo.



Lasersaur (open source laser cutter) assembly timelapse. Feb 2013 from colaborativa on Vimeo.


When you need to cut stuff with a laser and you just have to do-it-yourself ...

http://labs.nortd.com/lasersaur/

Some Norwegians decided to build a laser engraver from scratch. They did a good job! Lots of Solidoodle 3d printed parts and zip ties used ...



Building a Laser Engraver from Norwegian Creations on Vimeo.

3d printed laser engraver part
























http://www.norwegiancreations.com/2013/08/building-a-laser-engraver-part-1/

http://www.norwegiancreations.com/2013/09/building-a-laser-engraver-part-2-some-technical-insights/

https://www.facebook.com/NorwegianCreations

Via: Hackaday

Laser cutters cutting Printrbots




Video by: http://www.youtube.com/user/printrbot?feature=watch (Brook Drumm)


Printrbot+  plates lasercut in Printrbot head quarters:





3d printer farm printing Printrbot parts




Videos by: http://www.youtube.com/user/ceriand?feature=watch

Why is there no standardized, well documented and easy DIY laser cutter / engraver project? We need one! Those machines could add great toolset for desktop manufacturing community ... just sayin' ... I would do it if I knew how...

Prusa crew recently released a video of their printer with laser cutter:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/07/laser-cutting-with-prusa-mendel-i2.html

I searched around and found some more RepRap laser DIY projects:

This one with 2W laser diode from projector:



Video by:
http://www.youtube.com/user/burnsnu?feature=watch


RepRap electronics controlling a DIY laser cutter:




Detailed buildlog:

http://www.buildlog.net/buildlog/view_log.php?id=261

Video by:
http://www.youtube.com/user/engserve?feature=watch



























RepRap Mendel with 1w laser for circuit etching:




Source:
http://blog.reonarudo.info/

Video by:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MorwenReonarudo?feature=watch


RepRap Mendel with 1000mW laser head



Video by: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKibuz?feature=watch


here is a link to RepRap wiki about laser cutters: http://reprap.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Notes


REMEMBER:

WEAR EYE PROTECTION WHEN WORKING WITH LASERS!

Update:

here is a post with information on how to upgrade your 3d printer into laser cutter / engraver:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-upgrade-your-3d-printer-into.html


Update 2:

here is home developed hybrid dual extruder 3d printer and laser cutter - the Habu:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/12/habu-dual-extruder-3d-printer-and-laser.html

Update 3:

here is DIY laser upgrade of Rostock Max used for leather etching:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2014/01/rostock-max-with-diy-laser-upgrade-used.html

Video covers the broader goals of this research, namely the fabrication of vascular structures from sugar glasses for a rapid hydrogel casting process to create vascularized synthetic tissue.
Source:

http://opensls.tumblr.com/post/60147322561/id-like-to-share-my-final-presentation-as-a

Update:

http://www.andreasbastian.com/opensls/

SOLIDICA (Ultrasonic consolidation of metal sheets with integrated wiring)





POM (Direct Metal Depostioning - metal powder spray laser sintering and coating)






ARCAM (Electron Beam Melting)




Via:

http://www.youtube.com/user/manufactureornl/videos