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How to hook up laser

coltanaconda0794coltanaconda0794
in Questions & Answers
I am currently building a 3d printer for school. I got the printer up and going, and then had the bright idea to fit a laser to it. After a few different firmware configurations, I have everything where it seems to work. Except the laser. Pretty sure I fried that. 

So I have it in laser mode, with 2 extruders in the firmware. The laser being extruder one. I have the laser hooked up to the hotbed port, which is unused. I am using light burn software, which after some trial and error, seems to work reasonably well. 
  
So here is the main question. Should I have strightlined the laser into the hotbed port, or do I need a laser driver board in there?  As soon as I got power from the port the laser fried. 

Comments

  • RepetierRepetier
    I'm no expert for that and there are many different lasers needing different solutions. So you should consult the docs of the laser which voltage it needs and how to trigger. Mine for example needs 12V permanently and also has a TTL input for 5V to enable disable the laser on the board. I'm quite sure you can not simply put 12V on a laser diode if that is what you did. Also quite dangerous since you should not look into it when it is powered. Mine das a control light I can use to focus that is not dangerous and when I enable it (3w) I don't dare to look into it. Like my eyes:-)
  • coltanaconda0794coltanaconda0794
    Yeahhhhhh, didn't work out so well. And no, no looking into the laser. 
  • RepetierRepetier
    Not into laser for sure but also the point where it points too is veryyyy bright and bad for eyes! It's not a laser pointer where this is no problem.
  • coltanaconda0794coltanaconda0794
    Yep. Thats what glasses and face shields are for. 
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