Converting an epilog laser into a 3D printer.

[birdman3131]

We have an Epilog laser laying around and I was wondering what all I need to look into to convert it into a 3d printer? Here are some pictures I took the other day. At some point this week I plan to get into the inside and get some idea on the motors and such it uses. What do I need to be paying attention to? I am pretty sure I will have to redo the control board but I do not know if the motor drivers are embedded in the main control or not. I am also not sure on how fine of a resolution I can get out of the Z axis. What should I be looking for there?

What would be a good extruder for me to look at?
Good control to look into?
Other thoughts?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ioeveoskr...q5jQl1BFa?dl=0

If I am in the wrong spot let me know. This did not really look like the right forum but the others looked even more ill-fitted.

[Mjolinor]

I would have thought that you would get enough selling it to buy a reasonable 3d printer, better than it would make and still have cash spare.

[richardphat]

My worries is if you got any proprierary hardware, it would be a pain to deal with. Pretty much I would keep the laser cutting and spent the money to buy a 3d printer. They are quite cheap now and you can get quite big build volume for around 3000$.

[birdman3131]

My boss is odd. I have tried several times to get him to buy a sub $1000 printer and he keeps saying that it would be a great idea but I never can get him to buy one. But I have managed to get him to ok this project.

As for the propitiatory hardware I will see more monday about the internals. But I am looking to skip most all of the electronics and hook directly to the motors and limit switches therefore making most of it a moot point.

As for keeping it as a laser we have a newer model and this one has been sitting around since before I came here 5.5 years ago. It was used for a couple weeks when the power supply went out in our newer laser about 5 years ago and as far as I recall had no issues other than the fact it only works with windows 98 (Not an issue when retrofitting of course.)

[birdman3131]

Ok had a bit of time time this morning to look at it. It is using a 48V DC motor with an encoder at 512 CPR (counts per revolution). for X at least. Later once I am done with actual work and back to playish time Ill follow wires around and probably drop an Oscope and indicator on it and see how that translates to control of the bed.

[Wolfie]

Does it work? I mean does it work as a laser etcher? And whats the power of the tube?

If so, look up OpenSLS. Its a project to take a laser like that and convert it to a SLS with a bed attachment.

[birdman3131]

Does it work? I mean does it work as a laser etcher? And whats the power of the tube?

If so, look up OpenSLS. Its a project to take a laser like that and convert it to a SLS with a bed attachment.

It works so long as your willing to use windows 98 due to the driver. But I am not really looking to do SLS. It looks way more complicated than the slight benefits would give for us.

We are a machine shop so many of the uses people would have for this are rendered moot because we have true CNC mills and lathes. That said there are many things we could use a 3D printer for as well.

To answer your other questions I believe it is a 25W tube and it worked last time we used it but that was 5 years ago. It is not networkable and requires 98 (or possibly 95. not sure.) And while we do have Win 95 computers in use around here Id rather not have to deal with another. It did fire up and move the axis's earlyier today.

[Mjolinor]

You should just stick a RAMPS board in there and then you can use standard Gcode on it. Leave it as a laser.

I am sure there will be people on here that will swap you their 3d printer for, it is much more valuable than your average 3d printer.

[birdman3131]

Ummm... I'd be surprised if you have any Z axis motion at all in that laser device and i don't see any evidence of it in the photos. Why would a laser need Z axis motion anyway? In theory, a laser works as well at 2" as 20'.

The encoder on the motor is an indication of a servo motor system. Most stepper motor setups are "open loop" (having no feedback). It's true that a stepper motor could have a closed loop feedback device attached, but that's not usually the case. If this uses servo motors, you have a few options:
1) figure out how to send your 3D g-codes to the current controller. This is likely to be a huge fail, since the controller firmware is probably not configured to accept all the proper codes.
2) replace the servo motors with steppers. This has a better chance of success if you can configure and mount them properly. This would likely require a change in controller card however.
3) Use a new dedicated 3D printer controller card with external driver cards that will accept the pulse/direction input from the controller and drive the servo motors on the output side. I've seen this written up somewhere (found it here).

Of course, you could always replace both the controller card and motors, which would probably save you a lot of time and headaches. At least you'd be able to get a lot of helpful advice from the guys here. If you're running your own proprietary setup, most won't likely be able to help.

And, if this thing doesn't have a Z axis, as i suspect it doesn't, you're probably better off buying a printer off the shelf. Depends how handy and comfortable you are at the nuts 'n bolts level.

It has Z (Not measured but im gonna guess about 15" maybe a bit more.). I would not have thought about it if it was not. My main worry is how accurate Z is. Lasers do have to have z because they focus the beam to a point but they do not need to be near as accurate as the x/y axis because you are just trying to get the item to be cut to a point 2" below the bottom of the lens. (Or whatever you laser focus depth is. I know our newer one is 2")

I am looking to do 3. It looks to be the easiest option. 1 is absolutely out unless I get deep into firmware flashing and thats not my cup of tea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7QDYCuVWw is a better walkaround. The table is towards the bottom here but I do not recall if it had further travel.

[Mjolinor]

Your biggest worry should be the moveable mass of the 3d printer. The laser mechanism is designed to have a very low moveable mass, in contrast it is huge (comparatively) with a 3d printer.