The Epson printer is a neat idea, I was wondering if a DVD-W Laser diode would have enough power to burn off the paint like Ben does with the laser cuter. Then it could be as simple as using one in place of the jhead of a 3d printer.
The Epson printer is a neat idea, I was wondering if a DVD-W Laser diode would have enough power to burn off the paint like Ben does with the laser cuter. Then it could be as simple as using one in place of the jhead of a 3d printer.
The dvd-w laser is something i thought of also. I took the diode out. I took apart a laser pointer flashlight combo and put the lens up to the laser with my hands. I was able to burn electrical tape, visible draw lines on the black plastic cover for the cd tray, burn lines on a wooden ruler, burn lines on calluses and scar on my had(kinda smelled bad:-) ), melt black powder coating together, but would not make a mark on a piece of metal that was from what i assume painted black from an old flat bed scanner i took apart. Also it would not burn paper. I bought a voltage regulator and in the mix of trying to get the correct voltage i believe i burnt up the laser diode and have not messed around with it since. After i put the lens and diode together with my hands and it got hot i milled a heat sink/ mount for the diode and lens so i could put it on a gantry system i was going to make out of old okidata dot matrix printer slides and stepper motors. I got into trying to look up the motor controller chips on old cd rom control boards to see if they could take direction and pulse commands for easy integration with arduino and cnc control software as they obviously control stepper motors.
