Laser Upgradable?

[The_Critter]

I know Peachy has said that they plan on using some pretty affordable lasers, in order to keep the price at $100. I'm wondering how easy it would be to purchase a better laser and replace the cheap laser with a more expensive, precise one. Is this something that is feasible?

[DrLuigi]

I am sure they will make the consumer version good enough so you wont be needing to upgrade it,
I am also pretty sure they wont sell a worse Laser that isnt focused when you can get a better one for 50 dollars more.

But i guessing replacing it wouldnt be a huge problem, I didnt see it in real life yet but i can't think about a real problem right away.

[JamesCooper]

We plan on making it easily upgradeable. I'm not sure if we will be offering better models for sale or not, but the entire design is meant to be easily modified, so it shouldn't take much to replace the laser with a different one. That's all I know at this stage of the design.

[nka]

The problems with replacing laser is that the result may change and you may need to ajust the software!

[The_Critter]

The problems with replacing laser is that the result may change and you may need to ajust the software!

Hmm, that's a good point. I hadn't even thought of that. James do you think we could easily replace the laser without haven't to worry about adjusting the software? If we have to adjust the software, what type of adjustments would be required?

[rylangrayston]

One of the strongest underlying concepts of the peachy printer is Hack-ability.
Yes you will be able to enter your laser power and aperture right in blender! The software will attempt to calibrate for your unique hacks of the printer.

Other strong concepts that have had huge effects on the design of the printer are

-Kit-ability
-Freedom Respecting
-Ubiquitous accessibility
-Community
and ill say it again
-Hack-ability
The peachy will be well documented and is designed to be EASY to hack!

Rylan Grayston

[nka]

wow... very nice!

[Nisei]

Will replacing the laser with a stronger one mean you'll decrease printing time?

[Anuvin]

Perhaps. With just a laser replacement alone, the prints will not speed up, because the z level is calculated by drips, not print completion. However, if you accelerate the z rate, and change the laser to a more powerful variety, in theory, the print time should reduce (assuming you can modify the speed of the x and y axis too).

[JamesCooper]

Yes, in theory a more powerful laser will mean faster prints. We are currently doing prints with a 20mW laser, but we are placing a small aperature plate over the laser to make a smaller spot and reduce the amount of light, so it's probably more like using a 2mW laser. We are currently limited by how quickly we can move the mirrors: dwell too long on one spot and you'll cure a much larger, harder piece than intended. Once we have the mirrors moving faster (something we're iterating on), we'll be able to use more power without overcuring and thereby increase print speeds.