Some of the best toys come in boxes that you cannot read. It also helps when said box is rather large.
I do have to say, I've been rather anxious for this to arrive. Its the largest thing I've ever ordered, thats for sure. Inside the box, was another box. Surprise! I'll spare the details, but once I got past the Matryoshka doll packing job I was greeted with my brand new 40 watt CO2 Laser engraver/cutter.
All is not well though. Once I spun the machine around to access the laser tube, I noticed something was a bit off. My brand new laser cutter seemed to be crying. The rear panel was wet. Well, it did just travel halfway across the world for me. I'm sure the trip over was a bit rough. I've been worried about the laser tube breaking during shipment ever since I ordered it. This laser had been test fired before, and seemed to have passed. So, off to packing it went. Unfortunately, they didn't drain all of the water out of the cooling system that surrounds the lasers core tube. Water + Winter = Ice. Ice expands. Glass does not take kindly to this act of physics, naturally, but it does leave some pretty cool icicles behind.
Well, that explains why there is water leaking all over the place. There is supposed to be a glass port for the water inlet over on this side, but the ice expanded inside and broke it off. After letting the ice inside the tube melt, everything else seems to be fine. I've already contacted the seller and told him what happened. Right now they are on holiday for the Chinese New Year, but he said he should have some more information for me by the 25th. Of course I'm not going to settle for anything less than a new replacement tube. If I were to purchase one myself it would cost about $200 before shipping. *NOT* cheap to replace. Once I get the new tube in, this one will be making a trip to Kokomo Opalescent Glass to see if they can stick a new barb where the old one broke off. I don't think the laser core glass is damaged, but if it is I'll still have a really cool looking wallhanger.
As far as the electronics go, the controller and software supplied with these engravers SUCKS. So much so, that it is better in the long run to cut your losses and buy a new off the shelf controller system to stick in here. The nice one I want would double the money I have in this machine though, so I plan to build my own controller board. I have several options here and I've not come to a decision on which route I want to go though. Risha, LAOS, RepRap, etc.. Since this is just a 2 axis machine (X, and Y) the stock controller is pretty dinky.
Yep, that's all there is. Well, a big honking power supply is tucked away in here too since it takes 24,000v to trigger the laser beam.
That's all I have for now. I'm still tearing the rest of the machine down. There is no way I am plugging this into my wall until I make sure that the Chinese aren't trying to kill me first. I've seen the power supplies in machines identical to this one explode, and its pretty common for some other stuff to be wrong inside here.
Aside from adding a new controller, I do plan on adding in a few other features that these machines lack. Namely, safety devices. A 40 watt CO2 laser is a Class 4 laser device, the highest and most dangerous rating of them all. I'll be adding in door interlocks to disable power to the laser tube if any panel is opened, as well as an emergency stop button and a key toggle. Not so much to keep other people from using it, but to make sure that when I am poking around inside here that I don't make any mistakes. The laser beam from a CO2 laser is invisible, and will destroy your vision faster than you can blink your eyes. No, seriously. A class 4 laser can cause permanent blindness faster than your brain can issue a blink reflex. Power comparison... your cat toy laser is less than 5mw. 0.005 watts of power for your cat teasing needs. This cutter is on the small side of the industrial scale, coming in at a measly 40 watts. Should be plenty for me, for now.
I do have to say, I've been rather anxious for this to arrive. Its the largest thing I've ever ordered, thats for sure. Inside the box, was another box. Surprise! I'll spare the details, but once I got past the Matryoshka doll packing job I was greeted with my brand new 40 watt CO2 Laser engraver/cutter.
All is not well though. Once I spun the machine around to access the laser tube, I noticed something was a bit off. My brand new laser cutter seemed to be crying. The rear panel was wet. Well, it did just travel halfway across the world for me. I'm sure the trip over was a bit rough. I've been worried about the laser tube breaking during shipment ever since I ordered it. This laser had been test fired before, and seemed to have passed. So, off to packing it went. Unfortunately, they didn't drain all of the water out of the cooling system that surrounds the lasers core tube. Water + Winter = Ice. Ice expands. Glass does not take kindly to this act of physics, naturally, but it does leave some pretty cool icicles behind.
Well, that explains why there is water leaking all over the place. There is supposed to be a glass port for the water inlet over on this side, but the ice expanded inside and broke it off. After letting the ice inside the tube melt, everything else seems to be fine. I've already contacted the seller and told him what happened. Right now they are on holiday for the Chinese New Year, but he said he should have some more information for me by the 25th. Of course I'm not going to settle for anything less than a new replacement tube. If I were to purchase one myself it would cost about $200 before shipping. *NOT* cheap to replace. Once I get the new tube in, this one will be making a trip to Kokomo Opalescent Glass to see if they can stick a new barb where the old one broke off. I don't think the laser core glass is damaged, but if it is I'll still have a really cool looking wallhanger.
As far as the electronics go, the controller and software supplied with these engravers SUCKS. So much so, that it is better in the long run to cut your losses and buy a new off the shelf controller system to stick in here. The nice one I want would double the money I have in this machine though, so I plan to build my own controller board. I have several options here and I've not come to a decision on which route I want to go though. Risha, LAOS, RepRap, etc.. Since this is just a 2 axis machine (X, and Y) the stock controller is pretty dinky.
Yep, that's all there is. Well, a big honking power supply is tucked away in here too since it takes 24,000v to trigger the laser beam.
That's all I have for now. I'm still tearing the rest of the machine down. There is no way I am plugging this into my wall until I make sure that the Chinese aren't trying to kill me first. I've seen the power supplies in machines identical to this one explode, and its pretty common for some other stuff to be wrong inside here.
Aside from adding a new controller, I do plan on adding in a few other features that these machines lack. Namely, safety devices. A 40 watt CO2 laser is a Class 4 laser device, the highest and most dangerous rating of them all. I'll be adding in door interlocks to disable power to the laser tube if any panel is opened, as well as an emergency stop button and a key toggle. Not so much to keep other people from using it, but to make sure that when I am poking around inside here that I don't make any mistakes. The laser beam from a CO2 laser is invisible, and will destroy your vision faster than you can blink your eyes. No, seriously. A class 4 laser can cause permanent blindness faster than your brain can issue a blink reflex. Power comparison... your cat toy laser is less than 5mw. 0.005 watts of power for your cat teasing needs. This cutter is on the small side of the industrial scale, coming in at a measly 40 watts. Should be plenty for me, for now.
