Flying Farm Kid
Active member
Does anyone know how the vacuum table works I attempted to make it a few months ago but it did not have enough suction.
Any Ideas?
Any Ideas?
ERC TimSav - Cheap DIY CNC Foamboard Cutter
- Thread starter Edwardchew
- Start date
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
Haven’t tried one yet - that’s next 😆
I need to convert my cheap 300x300 5W laser cutter into one of these.
WHAT TO DO?:
a) Longer rails/ belts
b) extend harness to match longer rails
c) build reciprecating needle head to replace laser
d) make a servo mount for the cutting head to replace laser intensity with cutting height
....
WHAT TO DO?:
a) Longer rails/ belts
b) extend harness to match longer rails
c) build reciprecating needle head to replace laser
d) make a servo mount for the cutting head to replace laser intensity with cutting height
....
Last edited:
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
If it has a Z axis you won’t need the servo for cutting height
No native Z. I was going to use the laser intensity for the z-axis. It is PWM. Only question is what type of pwm, and is it directly compatible with a servo.
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
Here are the files. The tensioners are hacked from X Axis Tensioner for TimSav DIY CNC Needle Cutter by dehager on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4034051. You'll need to down load that to get the internal parts for the tensioners. I'll be uploading to Thingiverse soon.
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
Why would you not just keep the laser? You can cut faster with that and it would be quieter
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
How many of each part do I need? Could you take some more pictures of yours.
And for other hardware I just need an assortment of screws, another stepper motor, and the aluminum extrusion.
Thank you!
Because a 5W laser is not a great option for cutting foamboard. Nothing would stop me from using BOTH the laser and the needle cutter if I do it correctly. Just swap the tool out.
Dudley1001
Member
make sure that your board is running GRBL first. It it is, I would flash it with GRBL 1.1h_servo as it is already setup for pwm for a servo. Your laser may require up to 5000hz while a servo uses 50 hz. Some lasers will also use a wider range of pwm frequency and work fine with the 50hz. GRBL-1.1h-servo
Dudley1001
Member
You are correct, a led laser will only burn the top paper and will not touch the white foam core. If you are cutting black foam board with the black core it will cut. If you want to switch back and forth then GRBL 1.1h-servo is the way to do it as the older servo version used with the timsav does not have the M4 laser mode. I did a quick video on installing it on a uno/cnc shield here
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
Ok that makes sense
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
You need 6 wheel spacers and 1 of everything else. I made mine black so the pictures aren't very helpful but here's a video showing how it assembles (I guess in the video it shows it disassembling
).It takes:
3 V wheels and 3 M5x40 bolts & nuts
2 T nuts and bolts to hold the tensioners to the rails
1 M5x10 to hold the motor mount to the rail
4 bolts to hold the motor to the mount
2 idler pulleys same as ERC original
1 drive pulley same as ERC original
about 2 meters of belt
1 meter of 20x20 V extrusion
Last edited:
I have been able to cut bare white foam core with a Creality 10W LED laser and air assist. See my thread here
The controller has a "proprietary" GRBL controller. I haven't checked lately to see if anyone has the mappings for generic firmware for it. That would be a plus if I could gain full control over it.
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
Wow very impressive video!You need 6 wheel spacers and 1 of everything else. I made mine black so the pictures aren't very helpful but here's a video showing how it assembles (I guess in the video it shows it disassembling
It takes:
3 V wheels and 3 M5x40 bolts & nuts
2 T nuts and bolts to hold the tensioners to the rails
1 M5x10 to hold the motor mount to the rail
4 bolts to hold the motor to the mount
2 idler pulleys same as ERC original
1 drive pulley same as ERC original
about 2 meters of belt
1 meter of 20x20 V extrusion
I will start buying parts for this soon.
I most likely will go threw the whole machine and just reprint every thing, because right now it is green, blue, light blue, white, black, etc
So it looks unprofessional lol because it is
Tench745
Master member
A can of spray paint can accomplish essentially the same thing in a lot less time than reprinting everything.
Mr NCT
Site Moderator
I really like the animations fusion 360 lets you do. To me it's way clearer than pictures and instructions.
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
Yes but the 3d printed parts were made before my new 3d printer so they are very poor quality
Flying Farm Kid
Active member
I use onshape to design my parts I think it can do that to but I would have to pay for it then.
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